The
Cantonese dialect is one of the major
Mandarin dialects of
China, it is spoken by a relatively large
fraction of
China's population.
Cantonese itself has various
regional dialects within the
Guangdong province as well, although it is collectively known as
Cantonese, many are quite
different from each other. Most of these
dialects have 9
tones, compared to
Mandarin's 4. This makes
Cantonese much more
difficult to learn than
Mandarin. Few
foreigners use
Cantonese as a "
stepping point" into learning
Chinese, most choose
Mandarin because of both its relative
simplicity and the use of
pinyin. Once
Mandarin is mastered, many
Chinese dialects become
easy to pick up.
Being raised in Hong Kong, I was taught the Southern Cantonese dialect, spoken in Hong Kong, Macau, and the lower parts of the Guangzhou delta such as Shenzhen and Dongguan. To non-native speakers there is no difference between the Guangzhou dialect and the Hong Kong dialect, but to natives there is a huge difference, the characters in the Hong Kong dialect being much more distinct and pronounced, the Guangzhou one a tad more sing-song.
As one proceeds North the dialects change rapidly, mingling with the next regional dialect, Fujianese / Taiwanese, a totally different language. I have no knowledge of this dialect, it might as well be Japanese to me. A significant local dialect is the Taishan dialect, used very often in America, because many of the original West Coast immigrants came from the Taishan area. Cantonese is possibly the most widely used Chinese dialect in America, as the Cantonese still dominate the Chinese immigrant community both numerically and politically.