For the purposes of this Toisan Descendant blog, I will
refer to the language as the Toisanese
language. I will also use Jyutping pronunciations to pronounce the
Toisanese language. I will rarely use pinyin for Mandarin speakers.
臺山話 – In Cantonese, traditional characters (toi4 saan1 waa2)
The spelling of
Toisanese/Toishanese/Toishaanese is derived from Cantonese pronounciations.
The spelling of
“Toishan” is recognized by the United States Post Office, the Defence Language
Institute, and the U.S. Census Bureau.
In Toisanese (hoi4 saan3 waa2)
The spelling of
Hoisanese was derived from the local pronunciation by locals, but this term is
not used in literature.
台山话 - In
Mandarin, simplified characters (2 1 4)
The spelling, Taishanese,
is derived from Mandarin pronunciation. This particular term is the most
popular and widely-used term used in literature.
台山話 – I am more familiar with
this character combination to describe Toisanese and will adopt this term
instead for my Toisan Descendant blog.
Toisanese is spoken in Southern China areas like Guangzhou,
Guangdong, Peral River Delta, Hainan, Toisan, Hong Kong, popular U.S> metro
locations in California, New York City, Canada, and Vietnam. Wikipedia
estimates that 1-2 million people speak Toisanese.
Source: wikipedia
The Toisanese language is a Chinese dialect that has
similarities to both Cantonese and Mandarin, though more Cantonese than
Mandarin. However, Toisanese is not an official language of any country, which
is why you are less likely to encounter the language. Many Chinese immigrated to
the United States especially from the mid 19th century to the late 20th
century. Personally, I know that my grandma and parents came to New York in the
1960’s after a brief stay in Canada.
Unless You’re From Guangzhou…
While sitting in on my first Cantonese I class, I got to
know some of the students. One student, an older woman, introduced herself and
told the class that she spoke Toisanese
and wanted to learn Cantonese because everybody seems to be speaking it
around her. I was puzzled by her statement because in my family, we all
understand both Cantonese and Toisanese.
Later that day, I returned to my grandma’s apartment to ask
my grandma if all Toisanese people knew how to speak Cantonese. My grandma
replied, “no.”
Then, I wondered out loud in Cantonese. How come we
understand Cantonese so easily then?
My grandma simply replied, “Because we are from Guangzhou.”
Slowly, this information sunk into my mind. Why did I assume
that everybody lived in Toisan? Of course, my roots are there, but that didn’t
mean that nobody traveled to other parts of China. I slowly began to imagine
what it would be like to make the great journey from Toisan to Guangzhou.
To sum up my experience, do not assume that all Toisanese
people can understand Cantonese!
Even though Mandarin is the national language of China and
Mandarin is taught and spoken in schools, Toisanese people in Toisan still
regard Mandarin as a foreign language since they do not primarily speak
Mandarin. On the other hand, Cantonese still remains an influential language
for Toisanese people due to its geographical influence.
I hope you enjoyed my little introduction to Toisanese. I am still in the middle of researching more information!
