What is the most spoken language among 華人

[Chunguang]

i agree that we should accept Mandarin as the unifying language for all chinese all around the world regardless our political citizenship. It's just a convenient tool for all of us. Imagine that all chinese master Mandarin and we can communicate in it! We can preserve our dialects. I am from nothern china and currently am living in new york. I started to speak mandarin after i went to college in beijing. I speak mandarin everyday now. In my hometown i speak a varity of Manarin but it is quite different from mandarin. I love my hometown dialect, but i think promoting mandarin is also important. i wish that every chinese cna master mandarin and speak his/her dialect. That would be great.

[Bravo-Alpha]

Well, pardon me as I make some social commentary, and I hope I step on a minimum of toes... As for unifying Chinese under the Beijing dialect, I think it is a grave error, and that people are confusing the respectable causes of patriotism and global awareness with the cultural attrition found rampant throughout Southeast Asia. Cultural attrition does not only have consequences in loss of language (which is regrettable enough, seeing that it is not primarily Mandarin, but the other dialects which give us the historical Sinitic links with such neighbors as Japan, Korea, and Vietnam), nor only in the sacrifice of a sense of distinct heritage and precise awareness of lineage, but it is a prime factor in both the East and West of social decay, the loss of tradition, and the decline in moral atmosphere which leads to much greater division than "selfish promotion" of culture does. If the speakers of Chinese dialects submit now to the dominance of Beijingese, as they have proudly resisted doing for centuries, they give up their own place in the past, and try to adopt for themselves a heritage that is not fully theirs.

Hong Kong people and other promoters of Cantonese deserve every plaudit for trying, against the backdrop of the monolithic, centrally-enforced encroachment of Mandarin, to save and encourage their own culture, as contained in their language, which culture has already struggled against the imperialism and language of the English and the suffocating anti-culture trends of the early Communist overthrow. Besides... how can a people as historically-centered as the Chinese ever truly come together, unless they know where they are coming from? And how can you know where you come from when you toss your own language, and in a sense, your own identity overboard for the sake of popularity? Cutting oneself off from history is not the best way to unity, any more than butchering and "simplifying" an ancient and artistic language is the best way to literacy. What we have now in China is a generation of people who can't understand the writings of their own ancestors when they see them, and who can only access the classics by translation; can we really call that literacy? We ignore the cost, when we do such things. Or, can anybody say it isn't a sad and shameful thing when a child cannot communicate with his own grandparents? And if we care about preserving historic sites, animals, the environment, the economy, or anything else around us, let us be doubly concerned with preserving what is inside of us, what makes us unique. I believe the Chinese dialects should be preserved.

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[Chunguang]

Preserving various dialects, important. Having a common language for the sake of communication, also important. Let history tell which is more important.

[YenSay]

I truely agree that we should try to have a single united Chinese language and since Mandarin has been internationally accepted being the official language of China, Taiwan and even Singapore, we should try to accept it so that we are able to speak to each other without having to use a foreign language. Historically where Mandarin comes from is no longer important anymore as it is widely accepted. I also agree that preservation of our own dialects such as Hokkien and others are also important and should also be used at least at home and locally to preserve them. However, every one should learn Mandarin at least for official communication and speaking to others not in the same community. I am glad to see that even the latest Jackie Chan's movie is in Mandarin.

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[anya]

I am teochew and i RARELY know how to speak it or understand it. I live in the US and was wondering where the majority of the teochew population lives. I was also wondering if teochew people sang songs or made movies. if so.... can you please let me know where i can find them. thank you.

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[anya]

I am teochew and i RARELY know how to speak it or understand it. I live in the US and was wondering where the majority of the teochew population lives. I was also wondering if teochew people sang songs or made movies. if so.... can you please let me know where i can find them. thank you.

[mengz]

Mandarin is the official dialect or the "chinese" dialect however I want to say, it should not lead to a detriment of ur own dialect. I live in Australia, cantonese is still very much the prevalent chinese dialect. However, with the increase migration of mainland chinese people, it will turn in the favour of mandarin.

Mandarin is good to communicate with the various groups of chinese.

The biggest group in Malaysia is the Hokkiens, followed by the Teochews then Cantonese. Cantonese is popular and well understood in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur and also because of the hk tv programs. I beleive most people understand it (not speaking though) because it is widely available on the tv networks. Cantonese is popular in Seremban, Pahang, Perak. Whereas Penang, Melaka, Terengganu, Kelantan, Northern Perak e.g. Taiping, Butterworth and Johor (southern state) are mainly where hokkien people inhabit. There are more mixed marriages between the dialect groups hence mandarin is increasingly popular as the mother tongue. In KL, cantonese will be popular for a long long time to come.

Thailand is mainly Teochews. Vietnam is also alot of Teochew but also alot of cantonese migrated from the neighboring guandong provinces. Philippines is also hokkien as well as recent cantonese migrants from HK.

Indonesia is mainly hokkien chinese with hakka. a few cantonese here and there.

Taiwan is like Singapore, mainly Hokkiens/Teochews, with sizeable populations of Hainanese, Cantonese and Hakkas. Hence mandarin is the official dialect but some people do speak their own dialect at home.

Canada has 1 million chinese of which 90% came from Hong Kong, therefore the majority speak cantonese, however that could change when mainland chinese people migrate there in large numbers and tip the balance in favourof mandarin. Same with the UK, mainly southern chinese migrated over there. The US have a lot of Hong Kongers, Taiwanese and mainland chinese.


One last more point I want to make is, one should never forget their own dialect. Hong Kong was a different animal compare to Taiwan or Singapore. Hong Kong was governed by the British that let the local cantonese people keeping their own dialect because mandarin was hardly used at all unless communicating with the mainland. Cantonese had an advantage, Hong Kong entertainment industry is huge in asia and well established as compared with their hokkien counterparts in Taiwan/Singapore who are restricted in using mandarin.

Whereas Taiwan was ruled by Chiang Kai-Shek who was a northern chinese from shanghai hence Mandarin became the official language. Singapore was run by Lee Kuan Yew a Hakka who speaks mandarin. Hence that was a good idea. If you look at the situation in India with many languages {writing system and well as speaking} english is the official language. I am trying to say, that all chinese write under a common {unified} writing system but speak different {dialect}. Hence it will be easier to adapt/learn and communicate with other dialect groups.

[puekai]

all those interested in TeoCehw language and TeoChew culture may conntact me.

[Eng Wai]

In southeast asia, hokkien should be the biggest chinese expatriach group but cantonese is widely understood because of the Hong Kong drama. Can't deny there are substantious Cantonese people in ASEAN, but for those young non-cantonese, they acquired it not through inter-mingling with Cantonese, but rather via Cantonese TVB dramas.

I am from Penang where Hokkien is the very dominant Chinese language. However, everyone can understand cantonese, me as well.

If Taiwan did produce good drama in Hokkien/Mandarin, today it would be the Hokkien being widely understood, not Cantonese.

Eygiptian Arabic is the Arabic understood by every Arab, due to the same reason.

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[Nick]

Hi! I am from Singapore, and please allow me to add that dialects (Cantonese, Hokkien, Teochew) are very much in use among the younger generation here despite the government's effort to promote the use of Mandarin.

My nephews and nieces who are still in primary school are able to speak Cantonese very well. We strongly believe that learning English is for survival, learing Mandarin is for school, and learning Cantonese so that we do not forget our ROOTS!