Is Cantonese spoken in Laos?

Migration history Laotian Chinese are mostly Teochew and Cantonese, but some also speak Southwestern Mandarin from the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan. Most of the ethnic Chinese in Laos fled the country during the Communist takeover in 1975.

Is Cantonese spoken in Cambodia?

About 40\% of the Cantonese are concentrated in Phnom Penh, while most of the remainder are found in Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Kampong Cham, Kampong Chhnang and Kratie where they make up at least 30\% of the Chinese populace.

What country is Cantonese spoken?

Cantonese language, Chinese (Pinyin) Yueyu, (Wade-Giles romanization) Yüeh-yü, variety of Chinese spoken by more than 55 million people in Guangdong and southern Guangxi provinces of China, including the important cities of Canton, Hong Kong, and Macau.

Is Lao a tonal language?

Lao serves as a lingua franca among the citizens of Laos, who also speak approximately 90 other languages, many of which are unrelated to Lao. It is a tonal and analytic language, similar to other Kra-Dai languages as well as to Chinese and Vietnamese.

Are Thai and Lao similar?

Lao and Thai languages are very similar to each other. In fact, the two languages are linguistically similar, though their writing script varies a bit. Thai is the native language of Thailand and is spoken in minority in Cambodia. Hence, the people in Laos are very familiar with the Thai language.

What language did Phnom Penh speak?

Khmer language
Khmer language, also called Cambodian, Mon-Khmer language spoken by most of the population of Cambodia, where it is the official language, and by some 1.3 million people in southeastern Thailand, and also by more than a million people in southern Vietnam.

Why do Vietnamese speak Cantonese?

Mostly because they are ethnic Chinese and speak one or more varieties of Chinese (usually Cantonese and Teochew) as their mother tongues. Many of them went to Chinese schools (Chinese-medium primary and secondary schools) where they were taught some Mandarin.

Is Thai related to Cantonese?

6 Answers. Cantonese does contain a substrate from the Tai languages, which includes Thai and Zhuang as modern members, so that could be a source of similarities. However, the word for chicken (雞), and most other Cantonese vocabulary, can be traced to Chinese sources, so that’s not it.

Is Cantonese a lingua franca in Southeast Asia?

Cantonese has historically served as a lingua franca among overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, who speak a variety of other forms of Chinese including Hokkien, Teochew and Hakka. Additionally, Cantonese media and popular culture from Hong Kong is popular throughout the region.

Is Cantonese a Chinese language in Vietnam?

Over half of the ethnic Chinese population in Vietnam speaks Cantonese as a native language and the variety also serves as a lingua franca between the different Chinese dialect groups. Many speakers reflect their exposure to Vietnamese with a Vietnamese accent or a tendency to code-switch between Cantonese and Vietnamese.

How common is Cantonese in Hong Kong and Macau?

Due to the linguistic history of Hong Kong and Macau, and the use of Cantonese in many established overseas Chinese communities, the use of Cantonese is quite widespread compared to the presence of its speakers residing in China. Cantonese is the predominant Chinese variety spoken in Hong Kong and Macau.

Is Cantonese a symbol of local identity in Hong Kong?

Increasingly since the 1997 Handover, Cantonese has been used as a symbol of local identity in Hong Kong, largely through the development of democracy in the territory and desinicization practices to emphasise a separate Hong Kong identity.