When people find out that Pui, my fiancé, was born in Hong Kong and grew up speaking Cantonese there seems to always come a point in conversation when they ask, “So how closely related are Mandarin and Cantonese?” It’s all Chinese, right? How different can they really be? Truth be told, I don’t have a great answer to this question, or at least not an academic one, but every time they ask I try to respond as best I can.
You see, while I have formally studied Mandarin Chinese for the better part of a decade, my exposure to Cantonese is incredibly limited. I’ve never been to Hong Kong, and during my time in Chaozhou (located in Guangdong) I was breaking ground on a hotel and dining with the mayor, so I didn’t have time to learn any there. Of course, it doesn’t help that Chaozhou has its own local dialect! The first sentence I learned to say was either “I love you” or “these strawberries taste really good,” and I’ve never taken a class on Cantonese, ever.
With that being said, I’ve been exposed to Cantonese often enough to form a personal opinion about these two languages, or dialects of Chinese. Early on, the majority of my contact with Cantonese came in the form of listening to Pui talking to her parents on the phone. Of course, I could only hear what Pui had to say, but during those one-sided conversations I began to formulate my response to that inevitable question.
First, to my ear, Cantonese and Mandarin sound vastly different. Check out the opening segments of the video posted below to see what I mean. While there are elements that seem similar, it might be one or two words in 20; perhaps enough to gleam the rough context of a conversation, but certainly not enough to really follow along with what is really being said (I’ve been trying for years). To me, that means a native speaker of Cantonese, with no prior knowledge of Mandarin, would not be able to carry on a conversation with a native speaker of Mandarin.
Perhaps it is the subtle difference of pronunciation, the 6, 7, 8, or 9 tones that Cantonese has, or the ridiculous amount of slang (Cantonese is a colloquial language after all), but something makes the language sound just foreign enough that you can find yourself lost in the conversation very quickly.
Second, grammatically these languages are pretty similar. Again, I’m not speaking academically, but I’ve found that once I’ve learned a new word or two in Cantonese I’m able to apply the same gramatical rules as I would in Mandarin and generally be understood. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule, but if you are looking to learn a few words of Cantonese for your next trip to Hong Kong be grateful that you will not starting completely from scratch. The grammatical similarity of the two languages also makes for quicker comprehension once you do grasp the basics since you focus more effort on words rather than sentence structure… super awesome!
Third, characters are the saving grace that brings these too languages together. I’ve learned this through first hand experience. While hanging out with Pui’s family we use a linguistic trifecta to communicate: Mandarin, Cantonese, and English. While Pui is around conversation flows pretty well, even if we are bouncing between three languages. However, the second she leaves things get interesting. Pui’s parents pretend to understand all of my Mandarin, and I try my best to get the gist of what they are saying in their Canto-Mandarin. It works, for a while, and then without fail, we get stuck. It could be a single word, or phrase, but it stops the conversation to a grinding halt.
That is until we remember that we share a tool that transcends differences in pronunciation or tone… Chinese characters. Once we remember this glorious tool we put the speaking aside and grab a scrap of paper or our iPhone and start scribbling down whatever it is that either party was failing to grasp. Instantly things become so clear… so that is what they’re talking about! This realization has opened up a whole new level of conversation for Pui’s parents and I. It allows me to send birthday messages, and New Year’s wishes, enjoy reading a poem or even watching some of these Hong Kong soaps together.
There are still some differences with certain characters, especially for regional foods or transliterated foreign words, but unlike speaking or listening I seldom feel lost. Now if I could only figure out some way to install subtitles for all my conversations with Pui’s extended family I might be able to keep up around the dinner table. Heck, it is either that or bite the bullet and actually learn Cantonese, because if nearly four years of being exposed to Cantonese has taught me anything, it’s that Cantonese and Mandarin really aren’t that closely related, except for the characters of course!
Do you have any experience with learning Cantonese? Be sure to leave your story in the comments below.