Chinese is one of the most difficult in the world. But as China is developing faster and takes one of the first places in world culture, studying it is becoming more prestigious. 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
The name Cantonese received from the French name of the province of Guangzhou. He is one of the Yue dialects that belongs to the group of Chinese languages. This dialect is considered the prestigious dialect of this dialect. In China, the Cantonese dialect performs the function of interethnic communication in the province of Guangdong and some other territories adjacent to it.
Also, it is used in everyday communication by residents of Hong Kong and Macau. Cantonese is also spoken by the Chinese from Guangzhou, who live in other countries. This is a feature of Chinese migrants: everyone speaks the language of their home province.
In Hong Kong, most schools teach Cantonese and English. In general, this Guanzhou dialect is considered the language of the Hong Kong government. Hong Kong Cantonese is in many ways similar to the dialect of Guangzhou. But they also have small differences in pronunciation, intonation and lexical component.
Also, this adverb is one of the most used in the literature. Although it is most often written in Hong Kong and abroad China. Most often, traditional characters are used for writing. The bearers of this dialect even came up with special hieroglyphs, and some Chinese use a different meaning than most Chinese. Cantonese is one of the national characteristics of the inhabitants of the southern part of the country.
Other names
The Cantonese dialect of the Chinese language has other names that are used in different regions. One of its popular names is "Guangzhou". The Chinese who do not live in Guangzhou call him:
- dialect of Guangzhou;
- dialect of Guangzhou County.
In this province itself, as well as in Guangdong and Hong Kong, it is called simple 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 in it there are varieties that are understandable only in narrow circles. Since the beginning of the 20th century, China has been popularizing one language common to all - putonghua. But some TV channels and radio programs use Cantonese.
This dialect refers to the Yue 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 Yue language, which makes it the unofficial language of China, which is used in the political sphere.
Also, most of the songs are written in Cantonese in Hong Kong. Musical artists from other regions even specially studied it to give the songs the desired sound. Also, this dialect is one of the first Chinese dialects that appeared in Western countries. Most Chinese who speak Cantonese overseas live in Canada and the United States.
North Chinese
This is one of the largest dialect groups of the Chinese language. It combines the dialects of the northern and western provinces. Its standard version is best known under the name "putonghua", but in other regions this dialect has other names.
In Western literature, it is known as the "Mandarin dialect." This name appeared due to the translation of the Chinese word "guanhua", which means "speech of tangerines." Thus, the Mandarin and Cantonese dialects are the most famous in China and the most extensive representatives of the Chinese language group.
Chinese is one of the most extensive language groups and difficult 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 areas of life. Cantonese and Mandarin dialects are the main dialects spoken in China, so they need to be studied in order to successfully interact with the inhabitants of the PRC. Also, knowledge of the most popular dialects will allow you to easily travel throughout the country.