American Chinatown

[jaredh]

Question for all.

On the net I read a post that claimed in American China-towns Cantonese is the common language not Mandarin. If this is so is if even worth trying to use Mandarin in an American Chinatown?

[MA1942]

that is exactly the case in my city(Canada). cantonese is predominate on the street and in restaurants. Amber had a good explanation for this.
i'm at beginner/elemenyary level so i haven't even tried communicating . zaogao
hearing mandarin would help when walking about.

[careyxxx]

Here in Hawaii, it is Cantonese. My grandparents were part of the Cantonese immigration here. I tried buying a Chinese calendar in Chinatown last year; I didn't even try to speak Mandarin. Many of the Chinese people in Chinatown don't speak English. I don't speak Cantonese because although my mother is Chinese, she only speaks English.
We also have a lot of Fujian people here. They go to Chinatown. I should ask them what their experience in Chinatown is like.

[lan_dawei]

In the San Jose area, we don't have a Chinatown per se, but there are a number of Chinese shopping centers scattered about. Here, the predominant language is Mandarin. Many engineers from Taiwan settled down here, followed by a big wave of immigration from PRC. When I recently visited the local Chinese supermarket, I was able to practice my Chinese with the cashier.

Communities such as Cupertino have a huge Chinese population, perhaps a very large minority if not a majority.

Cantonese is spoken widely in San Francisco, but I believe the one time we went to a Chinese restaurant, the help could also speak Mandarin.

Chinese TV is predominately in Mandarin, but there is a Cantonese news program.

[lmcjipo]

I went to a trip to Las Vegas and decided to visit the Chinatown in Las Vegas while I was there. It had a few Chinese businesses, restaurants, and shops (mainly in a shopping-type parking lot). I had dinner at a Chinese restaurant where the owners and staff spoke Cantonese which I can understand a little but can't speak.

In the Montreal's Chinatown (where I'm from), I would say that lots of stores/shops/restaurants speak only or mainly Cantonese or a dialect called Toisanese or Toishanese (台山话) which is somewhat similar to Cantonese. A few of the stores and restaurants will speak both Cantonese/Toisanese and Mandarin.

In New York City's Chinatown, I've heard both Mandarin and Cantonese. In the restaurants that I've tried in New York City's Chinatown, I've heard them speak Cantonese but maybe that is because I generally go to Cantonese restaurants while I'm in New York City

[hjj5599]

Although I can speak fluent Mandarin, I don't speak any Cantonese at all. In fact, dialect accents are very different in China. People may not understand each other easily if they don't speak Mandarin.


hjj
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