Changing faces and language around us
Being brought up as a Hakka-Cantonese kid, I noticed that Cantonese was predominant language amongst the Chinese community when I was young. A day trip to Dublin would entail dimsum at The Imperial before loading up with Chinese goodies from The Asia Market in Drury Street. All you hear around you is Cantonese. Today, my brother, his girlfriend and I went into the Asia Market, my brother commented to me that it’s so weird how things have changed, as most people around us are speaking Mandarin. The feeling that Cantonese slowly being evolved out like the Hakka language. It’s just another generation, another time that will be forgotten, and we are not the only ones feeling alienated with the changes.
Saw this article about Chinese in NY and how the language shift is moving towards Mandarin as well. Chinese being practical minded as usual, bring their kids to Chinese school to learn Mandarin instead of Cantonese. It’s still important to know how to read and write Chinese though.
I wonder in the future, will there be another dialect that will overtake Mandarin in such global scale?
(Source: NY Times)