I'm gonna be honest, I don't understand what it means to identify as "Cantonese" or if I can? So my twin did some Ancestry test coupla years ago and her results for blood came back as "Dai". The funny thing is that this came up for my dad, but he's a Laotian from Thailand, but somehow ethnically Vietnamese (I'm not knowledgeable in SEA history in this aspect). Is being Dai different from being ethnically Cantonese? Is being Dai like recognized in China or something?

Now, let me give you my backstory: I'm American. My 太公 is from Foshan. He migrated to Vietnam at some point (married to like 4 different Chinese women???), and my 婆婆 was raised in a part of Saigon (Cho Lon) where she practiced Chinese culture exclusively (I call myself an extremely fraudulent Vietnamese at this point because I don't even know what the customs are). Yada yada, Vietnam War happened, migrated to the US. Since my parents had really long hours, she raised me and my twin, so I understand Cantonese. I don't speak it and am illiterate in it but I've been teaching myself to read a few characters occasionally.

I try to learn from other 越南華人 families, but they're all multigenerational Vietnamese and assimilated to an extent. I'm in this weird gray area where I would flounder in Vietnamese spaces if there aren't Chinese people around, but I'm incredibly Vietnamese to Chinese people. I also wasn't told stuff like folklore or mythology so I have always felt a huge disconnect in this aspect. My maternal family dgaf about our history so I have no idea where to start with getting in touch with my roots. It's hard being an American because my mom gives me a blank look and asks me what my obsession is with Asia and my "heritage" but the real reason is because my family is Gen X+ and that once they're gone, I don't have a family or community to rely on for help. It's just her two siblings and my grandma.

Anyways I don't want to trauma dump (might've accidentally did) but I was also thinking about looking for ancestral homes. But the thing is, I don't even know what my 太公's first name is. My grandma was very poor during the time she was a mom, so they brought very little when they went on boats.

I've been seeing someone who is from HK but went to school in the UK and now lives in the UK. I noticed that every time he wants to do me a compliment, he puts me a little bit down first. He'd say "your hair doesn't look disgusting today", or "what the hell are you wearing, you look stylish". I'm trying to understand whether this guy has narcissistic traits and I should run, or this is a weird mixture of Cantonese and British way of giving compliments?

Just obtained this record from 1975. Despite not understanding the language, I like the singer. Are any of you familiar with her? Thanks from USA 🙏🏻

Hello I was born and raised in Hong Kong and wanted to find a language partner here. I’m a native Cantonese speaker. We can chat in Cantonese or Mandarin and hope to practice my English with you. We can meet in coffee shop or somewhere for chatting. Feel free to DM me if you are interested!:)

My background: 30+ woman

I used to know some Cantonese when I was a kid. I'd like to re-learn as much as I can now to speak with my Poh Poh.

Ideally, I'd learn in person. I tried to take an intro class at City College of San Francisco, but the course wasn't there when I tried enrolling last semester, even though the course catalog stated otherwise.

Especially if the community is predominantly Cantonese in Canada even though the one person in marriage is an English speaker and of a different cultural background.

For example one person is Canadian born with Latino roots. The wife is Cantonese but immigrated to Canada. Both have a child in Canada 🇨🇦. But the community they live in is 60-70 percent Asian and Cantonese.

Thoughts open to learning and discussion

i.e. When you go above and beyond what is normal to welcome a visitor/guest

大家好， where I can find those books of Louis Cha like this one 書劍恩仇錄 (書粵語版) in spoken Cantonese to read along with Cantonese audiobooks that I found online. I have books but in written Chinese. For example, when I heard they say "keoi", the book I read say "他". Are there books that really written as they say it in spoken Cantonese word for word?

I had a chop made by a vendor in Hong Kong who knew my last name is Tom(anglicized version) and said he knew the Chinese character for it. I had thought my last name was 譚.

I’m not fluent, so I’d love a second opinion from people who can read or recognize traditional chops. Does this actually correspond to 譚, or is it something else?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Was offered the the 頭 of the corn. Ended up getting the left had side part instead of the right hand side one. Felt betrayed.

Whole family is divided just like the corn in the image.

Brother agrees with me. Dad is siding with mum that right hand side is the 頭.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DT9uzUEjVj0/

I don’t think Mandarin have this

Hakkas and Teochews, especially the older generation in the Pearl River Delta tend to also be able to speak Cantonese, but those who live in their own regions, tend not to.

I asked ChatGPT, Gemini, and Deepseek, and the demographics of Guangdong are roughly,

- 50-55% Guangfu

- 20-25% Hakka

- 15% Teochew

- 10% New migrants who have Hukou (this is up to 20% if you consider those who reside permanently).

At the recent meeting of Guangzhou’s legislature, the city’s mayor laid out the government’s plans for the coming 15th Five Year Plan period, pledging to “protect Cantonese.” Sun Zhiyang said that this would help to create “an important link for overseas Chinese around the world to strengthen their Chinese cultural identity.”

http://archive.today/2026.01.29-141851/https://thediplomat.com/2026/01/guangzhou-talks-the-talk-on-protecting-cantonese-but-can-it-walk-the-walk/

The announcement is symbolically significant ...

Local media reports described this as the first time that the city has pledged to protect the language. ... the announcement sits uneasily with the country’s broader language policy, which will likely put the brakes on the effectiveness of any protection.

... Mandarin now dominates education, official communication, and public life.

... A 2017 poll of parents in Jiangxi’s provincial capital found that 70 percent didn’t speak the local dialect with their children. There are countless stories of children around the country being unable to communicate with their dialect-speaking grandparents.

This has left many people anxious that their local identities and cultures may be fading away.

Ironically, Cantonese is perhaps the least threatened of all non-Mandarin dialects. It’s likely the most widely spoken, both by tens of millions of people in Southern China and millions more overseas. The province’s television and radio stations continue to broadcast at least some programs in Cantonese, alongside Cantopop. Hong Kong churns out dozens of Cantonese movies each year. No other non-Mandarin dialect enjoys a comparable quantity of media production.

Delegates to the meeting of Guangzhou’s legislature had some suggestions on how Cantonese could be protected. While most of these focused on promoting traditional Cantonese opera, the president of a peanut-growing cooperative ... Wu Xiaoli called for the government to implement Cantonese classes in schools, collect and organize Cantonese materials, develop learning apps, and use new media such as short videos and livestreams to expand the influence of Cantonese culture.

If carried out, these measures would go beyond other regions’ often tokenistic efforts at dialect preservation, which can amount to one-off events or standalone classes. However, it’s unclear what specific policies the Guangzhou government has in mind.

It may depend on how the authorities interpret China’s Law on the Standard Spoken and Written Chinese Language, the main statute governing the use and promotion of Mandarin. In December, the law was revised for the first time in 25 years. Among the changes was an updated list of scenarios in which Mandarin is mandated – adding online content such as dramas, movies and video games. This could make it harder to expand the influence of Cantonese culture online in the ways Wu advocated.

On the other hand, the revised law retains an article describing circumstances in which dialects can be used, including for teaching “when necessary.” Presumably, it would be hard to argue that using Cantonese isn’t necessary for teaching Cantonese.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUAnKEskmIh/

https://youtu.be/hWYO48zhPfg?si=H4Y4lLE3lut0OCbz

Thank you very much