Can a Cantonese speaker understand a Mandarin speaker?

Can a Cantonese speaker understand a Mandarin speaker?

However, the two languages are distinct when spoken. Mandarin speakers typically cannot understand Cantonese speakers, and vice versa.

How long does it take for a Cantonese speaker to learn Mandarin?

It would probably take 3–12 months, depending on the person’s language fluency and facility. I can offer my one person’s experience on this one. I grew up speaking Cantonese in Hong Kong and moved to the US in my teenage years.

Is it easy to learn Mandarin after Cantonese?

3. Mandarin is easier to learn. Cantonese is seen to be more difficult because it has from 6 to 9 tones, each of which signify different things (while Mandarin only has 4 tones). In addition, because of its greater prevalence, it is easier to find Mandarin study materials than Cantonese study materials.

Will learning Mandarin help me learn Cantonese?

Of course Mandarin is a big help in learning Cantonese. Once you can speak Mandarin, you have most of the vocabulary for Cantonese. You just have to learn how to pronounce these words in Cantonese, and of course learn a few of the colloquial words that only exists in Cantonese.

Can Hong Kongers speak Mandarin?

Hong Kong’s recent census report states that Mandarin is the second language most spoken on the island following Cantonese. Cantonese remains dominant with 96% percent. As for Mandarin, 48% of Hong Kong’s population can speak it, compared to 46% of population that can speak English.

Can Chinese understand Cantonese?

No, they are completely different languages. Although Cantonese and Mandarin have many similarities, they are not mutually intelligible. This means that, presuming one has no significant exposure or training, a speaker of Mandarin will understand little to nothing of Cantonese and vice-versa.

Should I learn Cantonese or Mandarin first?

It doesn’t really matter which you learn first. Just know that Mandarin is useful throughout the entire mainland, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore while Cantonese is useful in basically just Hong Kong. Sure there are parts of Guangdong that speak it, but it functions more as a local dialect.

Is Cantonese worth learning?

In essence, Cantonese is the second most spoken Chinese language. Many would think that it is better to learn Mandarin Chinese because it is easier to study than Cantonese. However, it is still a very important language that is worth learning, especially for business.

Is Cantonese harder than Mandarin?

Cantonese is harder than Mandarin. Cantonese has a unique pronounication and has nine tones, it is relatively difficult enough for a foreigner compared to Mandarin, nevertheless, it requires lots of listening and practicing with a native Cantonese speaker to master the pronounication and the tones.

Is Cantonese a dying language?

It’s the native language of one out of every 112 people on the planet. There are more native speakers of Cantonese than there are of 99.64% of all of the languages on earth. Cantonese has more native speakers than Thai, Ukrainian and Dutch, and only slightly less than Italian. So, no, Cantonese is not a dying language.

Will Mandarin replace Cantonese in Hong Kong?

The territory, a former British colony transferred to Chinese control in July 1997, is seeing its native language, Cantonese, slowly get replaced by the official language of mainland China, Mandarin. More than 70 percent of Hong Kong’s primary schools now use Mandarin as the medium of instruction.

Where is Cantonese spoken vs Mandarin?

Mandarin is spoken widely in Singapore and Taiwan. Cantonese, however, is spoken largely in Hong Kong, as well as in Macau and the Guangdong province, including Guangzhou.

Where can I learn Cantonese in Hong Kong?

Established in 1985, the privately-owned Hong Kong Institute of Languages offers interactive classes with a maximum class size of seven, all taught by qualified native instructors. Besides general courses catering to varying levels of Cantonese or Mandarin proficiency, it also offers crash courses, business courses, and reading and writing courses.

Is Cantonese the official language of Hong Kong?

Most people in Hong Kong like to speak Cantonese about 89%, but it is not an official language. The official language is Mandarin or Chinese, not Cantonese. There may be few people who wanted Cantonese as an official language of Hong Kong but it may not be possible for the time being, many foreigners are learning Cantonese though.

Is Scolar ‘bribing’ Hong Kong schools to switch from Cantonese to Mandarin?

But Robert Bauer, a Cantonese expert who teaches at several universities in Hong Kong, said Scolar and the Education Bureau were essentially “bribing” schools to make the switch from Cantonese to Mandarin as the medium of instruction in Chinese language classes.

How much Mandarin is spoken in Hong Kong?

When Hong Kong was handed back from the UK to China in 1997, only a quarter of the population spoke any Mandarin. Now, two decades later, that figure has nearly doubled.