Chinese is one of the most difficult languages in the world. But since China is developing more and more rapidly, and it occupies one of the first places in world culture, it is becoming more and more prestigious to study it. It is divided into several provinces and each has its own language features. One of the varieties of Chinese is Cantonese.
Origin and its role in society
Cantonese got its name from the French name of the province of Guangzhou. It is one of the Yue dialects, which belongs to the group of Chinese languages. This dialect is considered the prestige dialect of this dialect. In China, Cantonese performs the function of interethnic communication in the province of Guangdong and some other territories adjacent to it.
It is also used in everyday communication by residents of Hong Kong and Macau. Cantonese is also spoken by Chinese from Guangzhou living in other countries. This is a feature of Chinese migrants: everyone speaks the language of their home province.
In Hong Kong, Cantonese and English are taught in most schools. Generally thisGuangzhou is considered the language of the Hong Kong government. Hong Kong Cantonese is similar in many ways to Guangzhou. But they also have slight differences in pronunciation, intonation and vocabulary.
Also, this adverb is one of the most frequently used in the literature. Although it is most often written in Hong Kong and outside of China. Most often, traditional characters are used for writing. The speakers of this dialect even came up with special characters, and some Chinese use it in a different meaning than most Chinese. Cantonese is one of the national characteristics of the inhabitants of the southern part of the country.
Its other names
Cantonese Chinese has other names that are used in different regions. One of its popular names is "Guangzhou". The Chinese who do not live in Guangzhou province call it:
- Guangzhou dialect;
- Guangzhou County vernacular.
In this province itself, as well as in Guangdong and Hong Kong, it is called plain or "white" speech. In Macau and Hong Kong, this dialect is also called "Guangdong speech". Due to the fact that it is considered a "prestigious" dialect, it is also called "literary".
Role in culture
The peculiarity of the Chinese language is that it has varieties that are understood only in narrow circles. Since the beginning of the 20th century, one common language has been popularized in China- Putonghua. But some TV channels and radio programs use Cantonese.
This dialect belongs to the Yues language, which is the main dialect of the Chinese language group in Hong Kong and Macau. In these regions, almost all political meetings are held in Yues, which makes it the unofficial language of China, which is used in the political sphere.
Also, most of the songs in Hong Kong are written in Cantonese. Musical performers from other regions even studied it specifically to give the songs the right sound. Also, this dialect is one of the first Chinese dialects that appeared in Western countries. Most overseas Chinese who speak Cantonese live in Canada and the United States.
Mandarin Chinese
This is one of the largest Chinese dialect groups. It combines the dialects of the northern and western provinces. Its standard version is best known as Putonghua, but it has other names in other regions.
It is known as "Mandarin" in Western literature. This name came from the translation of the Chinese word "guanhua", which means "mandarin speech". Thus, Mandarin and Cantonese are the most famous in China and the most extensive representatives of the Chinese language group.
Chinese is one of the largest and most difficult language groups to learn. But more and more people are studying it, because now more and more companies are cooperating with China and it is developing faster and faster in all spheres of life. Cantonese and Mandarin are the main dialects spoken in China, so they need to be learned in order to successfully interact with the inhabitants of the PRC. Also, knowing the most popular dialects will allow you to easily travel throughout this country.
