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Introduction to Cantonese

Cantonese is one of the five major dialects in China. The population of Cantonese speakers is roughly 71 million. Cantonese speakers are found in southern provinces (52,000,000) of Guangdong and Guangxi, Hong Kong (6,600,000), Vietnam (900,000), Malaysia (750,000), Macao (500,000), Singapore (338,000) and Indonesia (180,000).

A bird's-eye view of Hong Kong by night

Minor communities also exist in Thailand (30,000), Philippines (8,000), Costa Rica, Brunei, Nauru, Honduras, Mauritius and South Africa. Considerable oversea Chinese communities use Cantonese in Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Panama, Holland, and some other European countries.

The Central business district in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The word Cantonese comes from the name of the city called Canton, now known as Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province. Guangzhou was once considered the home of the standard form of Cantonese. However, thanks to the chronic influence of mass media and pop culture, Hong Kong has now truly become the cultural center of Cantonese.

Skyline of Singapore by night

The various Chinese dialects are not mutually intelligible but they have in common the Chinese writing system. Consequently, an educated speaker of any Chinese dialect recognizes written Chinese, but pronounce it in one's own dialect.

The ruins of St Paul's Cathedral in Macao (Macau)

Usage of Cantonese

Cantonese is possibly the most important dialect of Chinese other than Mandarin, the national language of China. It gains high profile not only in China itself, but also in the west, since Cantonese speakers outnumber the speakers of all other dialects combined in most western countries. Up to now, Cantonese has the most significant prestige of all other Chinese dialects due to the drastic expansion of Hong Kong's entertainment industry (kungfu movies, TV series, Canto-pop, teen idols and etc.).

People's Committee Building in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam

In addition, Cantonese has the second largest number of foreign learners among all Chinese dialects. Some universities in western countries even offer Cantonese courses.

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