http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/n ... 631128.htm

Posted on Sun, Jan. 15, 2006

The changing sound of Chinese in U.S.
Cantonese speakers learn Mandarin, the new business language
DAVID PIERSON
Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES - Carson Hom's family has run a fortune cookie and almond cookie company in Los Angeles County for 35 years.

For much of that time, the business required two languages: Cantonese, to communicate with employees and the Chinese restaurants that bought the cookies; and English, to deal with health inspectors, suppliers and accountants.

But when Hom, 30, decided to start a food import company, he learned that this bilingualism wasn't enough.

"I can't communicate," said Hom, whose parents are from Hong Kong. "Everyone around used to speak Cantonese. Now everyone is speaking Mandarin."

Cantonese, a sharp, cackling dialect full of slang and exaggerated expressions, was never the dominant language of China.

But it dominated the Chinatowns of North America because the first immigrants came from the Cantonese-speaking southern province of Guangdong, where China first opened its ports to foreigners centuries ago. It is also the chief language of Hong Kong, the vital trading and financial center that became China's link to the West.

Over r the last three decades, waves of Mandarin-speaking mainland Chinese and Taiwanese immigrants have diluted the influence of Cantonese and the pioneering Cantonese families who ran Chinatowns for years.

The surging Chinese economy is also helping to spread Mandarin, because it's China's official language. Entrepreneurs like Hom have been forced to adapt.

Many Cantonese speakers are racing to learn Mandarin -- by watching Chinese soap operas, attending schools, paying for immersion courses and making more Mandarin-speaking friends. Although Cantonese and Mandarin share the same written language, they are spoken as differently as English and French.

At the same time, few people are learning Cantonese. San Jose State University and New York University offer classes, but they are almost alone among colleges with established Cantonese communities.

Some lament the end of an era. Mandarin is now the vernacular of choice, and it doesn't come close to the colorful banter of Cantonese.

"You might be saying `I love you' to your girlfriend in Cantonese, but it will still sound like you're fighting," said Howard Lee, a talk show host on the Cantonese-language KMRB-AM, which serves major U.S. cities. "It's just our tone. We always sound like we're in a shouting match. Mandarin is so mellow. Cantonese is strong and edgy."

At a Chinese restaurant in Monterey Park, members of the Hong Kong Schools Alumni Federation gathered for a monthly meeting of the group, a sanctuary for people who take comfort eating and joking with fellow Cantonese speakers.

"I just can't express myself as freely in Mandarin," said Victor Law, a pharmacist who left Hong Kong to attend college in the U.S. 34 years ago. "That's why we have this association. I feel like we're the last of a dying breed."

Walnut City Councilman Joaquin Lim grew up in Hong Kong and immigrated to the U.S. in the 1960s. For decades in California, he found he could get by with English and Cantonese.

But when he ran for the school board a decade ago, Lim realized his Chinese constituents in the eastern San Gabriel Valley were newcomers who didn't speak Cantonese.

So Lim had his Mandarin friends speak to him in their mother tongue. He watched movies in Mandarin and listened to Mandarin songs. By the time he ran for City Council in 1995, he felt comfortable enough to campaign door-to-door and talk to Mandarin-speaking residents.

Talking Points

Questions to think about as you talk to friends and family about this story. • How might Cantonese-speaking immigrants feel about the newer immigrants who speak Mandarin?

• How is that like what happens in a community when large numbers of Spanish speakers arrive? How is it different?

• Mandarin and Cantonese have very different personalities. Think about how much information we convey, even in English, with the type of language we use -- slang vs. formal, cursing, etc. Do you use different speaking styles with different friends?

In Mecklenburg

About 5,700 Chinese live in Mecklenburg County, according to the U.S. census. About 3,000 lived here five years ago.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is starting the district's first Chinese immersion program next fall at Smith Academy. CMS held an information session last Sunday for parents interested in Mandarin, which will be taught in kindergarten and first grade and will grow a grade level each year.

Parents who want their children to attend Smith Academy first have to enroll their children in CMS and then apply for the magnet program. For details, call (980) 343-5815 or visit www.cms.k12.nc.us/ allschools/smith.