when I shop at Chinese shops here in Toronto, Canada. People used Mandarin on me when I said I am from Mainland China in English. I get no such problems in Chinese Malls in the "Hong Kong ghetto" in the suburbs. why so? I thought Cantonese is the dialect of Guangzhou City, not Hong Kong?( My mother was born and raised in Guangzhou.) doesn't anyone know that, people in at least two provinces of China uses Cantonese with about 200Million souls? { I know this because my uncle is a wholesale lock salesman in China.}
The thing is that even though residents of the Canton (and surrounding area) speaks Cantonese (often as their mother tongue), they DO comprehend Mandarin too... so the chance of making a mess with Mandarin is LOWER when conversing with someone from mainland... The only place which doesn't speak Mandarin is Hong Kong... so yeah.
yea, also when you aren't within a group of chinese people, they dont know much about chinese dialects, so . . .
yeh people from mainland do also speak canto, but its just assumed if your from mainland you can speak mandarin and are more likely to do so
Well when I go Hong Kong and they ask me what part of China I from I just say to them "Baba mama hai Guongdong ah" in Cantonese after I was talking in English. Total surprise to them.
well....its cuz mostly hk people are in toronto...i guess... and most people say they speak canto other people asume ther from HK....
Isn't HK the most famous Cantonese city of them all? People seem to think that coming from Mainland means you speak Mandarin as a primary language, though Guangzhou and Macau are exceptions to that...
To me, I would talk to Chineses who I am not certain if he/she speaks Cantonese in Mandarin first. It's just equally, if not more, annoying for someone to talk to you in a language you do not understand... Personally I wouldn't mind talking in Mandarin (being mistaken to be a Mandarin-speaking person is somewhat flattering... until they realize my Mandarin is kind of accented), if they are more comfortable speaking in Mandarin, why make the conversation awkward and uncomfortable?
well my Mandarin is pretty much "rusted", I was 11yo when when immegrated to Canada. ( grade 5 education level in Chinese) I do understand Mandarin very well, but cant speak it correctly, ouch... the place where I came from, Zhongshan( where Dr Sun Yetsin is born; if dont know who he is then you dont know modern Chinese history. Father of Modern China---hint hint), people only speak Cantonese, althought they are taught Mandarin in schools.
