The xinhua dictionary was first published in 1980, and has since become a must-have reference book in Chinese classes as the nationwide promotion of mandarin has accelerated. Guangzhou is no exception.
Cantopop boomed in the 1980s, giving rise to the likes of xu xiaofeng, luo man and Alan tam. However, the prevalence of cantonese has been more than 100 years since the last time when qianlong was in seclusion.
In 2009, national languages: the language of the world, compiled by global linguists, was revised into the 16th edition. According to the data, cantonese has a first language population of 55.5 million, higher than Turkish (50.8 million), which ranks 21st, with a total of 20 countries.
However, in guangzhou, the birthplace of cantonese, it is extremely difficult to find teaching materials for foreigners to learn cantonese, and there are few formal institutions for foreigners to learn cantonese, and the curriculum of some institutions seems too simple. Even hiring a full-time cantonese teacher is a luxury for a training institution that must crack its fingers.
Asked to promote cantonese can be preferential policy inclination or subsidies, a guangzhou responded, head of the training institutions, reluctantly gives a negative answer – let the self-sustaining training institutions bear cantonese and cantonese culture spread, itself is a not too realistic proposition, and related support, promote, absence of protection policy, and let the reality become more urgent.
Lao she once said, “the best words in the world are the most kind words.” Experts believe that cantonese has always been a vibrant Chinese dialect in terms of its prevailing area, social usage rate and cultural background, as well as cantonese being the main carrier of lingnan culture, the main social lingua franca in Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, and the main communicative language in overseas Chinese communities. Guangzhou is an inclusive city with an eclectic mix of cultures, as evidenced by the trilingual announcements on buses and subways, as well as in neighborhoods that switch from mandarin to mandarin.
“I think I respect my family by speaking cantonese.” For using cantonese in daily life, nobuko sakamoto from Japan has one more point of pragmatic guangzhou neighborhood, no such as “cultural exchange” and other grand goals to pave the way for discourse.
How many foreigners in guangzhou have learned or understood cantonese? Hard to have accurate statistics, but certainly not as much as Hong Kong — as an international city, Hong Kong, “two languages (Chinese, English) three languages (cantonese, mandarin, English)” harmonious co-prosperity, can speak cantonese, English and mandarin at the same time, foreigners, outsiders are not uncommon.
The popularization and protection of cantonese culture in Hong Kong and Macao are commendable.