Some time back when I was still residing in Malaysia, something struck me - If I am supposed to be Hokkien by name, but diluted with a Hakka upbringing, why do I speak in Cantonese most of the time?
Coming to London, this distinction has caused a further form of headache especially in the research on segmentation. Looking at the Joshua project list (www.joshuaproject.net) the Malaysian Chinese populations seems to be split in the following:
Hokkien 1,848,211
Hakka 1,679,027
Cantonese 1,355,541
Teochew 974,573
Mandarin 958,467
Hainanese 380,781
Min Bei 373,337
Foochow 249,413
I'm not sure how accurate these figures are, but then again, they seem to reflect the balance of spread between the different types of Chinese in Malaysia. Yet, the thing that bothers me most is that if the Hokkien and Hakka almost dominate half of that total amount, how come we rarely see movies in Hakka or Hokkien?
From a young age, the media seems to be dominated by the Mandarin and Cantonese dialects - making me speak Cantonese to both my Hakka and my Hokkien relatives. Why is this so? Well, my love for TVB series from Hong Kong can partially explain my bias. It’s been an acquired taste developed since I was young.
I can imagine a further dilution of the languages on future generations, just look at the local British Born Chinese, born and bred in the UK - most of them only know Cantonese and English (although I must admit there is a push towards Mandarin due to the rise in China as an economic powerhouse). But is it for good or bad? At least I can say that I do have my own ‘identity’ and that I am able to adapt to situational changes.
This reminds me, I must make an effort to learn some of those delicious Hakka dishes my maternal grandmother used to cook ever so often... mmm.
Before it all gets lost in time.
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