Last week on the flight I took from Thàikiaⁿ (Bangkok) to Chimcùn, U could hear Teochew being spoken up and down the aisles. I sat next to a young Teochew guy (Tn̂gsoaⁿ lâng) employed in some shady Bangkok-based Teochew syndicate. I mentioned a friend of mine came from Kiat'iông 揭阳. He said (in Mand), "So does that guy," referring to the guy in the row behind us who'd been talking in loud Teochew all the way from the people carrier onto the plane. I also met what seemed like a father-son-son's girlfriend trio where the lovers talked in Thai but the old man spoke to them in Teochew. I'm guessing they were headed for Teochew once they cleared customs.
A wide range of "Hokloid" languages are spoken in Canton. Teochew must be the unofficial third language of the city. I also hear a good deal of Ha̍kláu (Háihong/Lo̍k'hong and Soàⁿboé). This language sometimes sounds identical to Hokkien for one or two full sentences at a time. I also met a Lûiciu taxi driver who said many taxi drivers were Lûiciu in his part of town. Banlamese (surprisingly?) isn't spoken much here, not counting Haklau.
Teochew, Haklau, etc. are "underrepresented" wherever money is being spent, such as malls, esp., where Cantophones wield the cash, and other kinds of people use Canto and Mand to serve the moneyed classes. The 閩 tongues are "overrepresented" in the 城中村 sing-cung-chyns = GHETTOES where the migrant working class sleeps and shits.
Teochew and Haklau are much spoken where I live. By night, Taiwanese ballads and love songs waft in my window from the shops downstairs. "Choē ci̍t ê bô lâng se̍ksāi, chiⁿhūn ê só͘cāi..."
My 包租公 paau-cou-kung = GUY WHO RENTS ME MY ROOM is from Lo̍k'hong 陸豐 and speaks Ha̍kláu (and also Teochew). He says he can understand 70% of my Hoklo. He preferred to converse in Mandarin, and I had to say "Fair enough" to that when he tried to explain something to me in Haklau and I couldn't make heads or tails of it. Actually it was on an "advanced, modern-day topic" where probably few if any TWese, Amoy lâng or M'sians have ever gone using pure Hoklo.
Today in the eastern suburbs of town I was surprised to see a factory with a sign that said 正大XX工廠 CHIA TAI XX FACTORY. The boss was obviously Teochew/Haklau and proud of it, and not too proud to use that colloquial Hoklo.
I knew they had to have been going "Huh?" in their heads -- I wish they would've just laughed in my face!! All in all, a strange place to meet the countrymen.