For years, learning to speak Cantonese was not that hard in San Francisco. It is a place where Cantonese speakers from South China have moved for over 150 years. But now, there is fear that the Cantonese language and culture might not survive present social changes. Cantonese is spoken by some 85 million people worldwide. In comparison, there are around 1 billion Mandarin (or Putonghua) speakers.
In Britain, as in the U. S. , most schools that offer Chinese usually teach Mandarin. As a result, many families are struggling to find ways to pass on their Cantonese language and culture. Ceci Pang runs classes for children at Rainbow Seeds Cantonese School in London. "Many parents want their kids to be able to communicate with their grandparents, " she said. "It's just so hard here, there are so few learning resources and lots of parents get upset. That's usually the point the parents come to me. "
In China, there are Cantonese television programs as well as Cantonese announcements on public transport. In Hong Kong, however, Cantonese remains the city's top language. It is used by 90 percent of the population according to an assistant professor at the Education University of Hong Kong.
It is a different story in the U. S. The teaching of Cantonese has decreased somewhat, including in San Francisco, a city that has drawn many Cantonese speakers over the years. The San Francisco school system has Cantonese and Mandarin programs for younger students. But in high school, Mandarin is the only Chinese language available. This spring, some independent Chinese schools are helping to teach the language as Cantonese-speaking communities grow. Aleyda Poe has been managing the Cantonese kindergarten at Merit Chinese School in Plano, Texas, for more than 10 years. Poe put her two sons in the school so that they could learn about Cantonese language and culture. Now, she is helping other families do the same.
