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Q: How long before Cantonese and other lesser spoken Chinese languages go extinct?
This is such a shame, especially considering Cantonese being a much older (and prettier, in my view) language. There are countless other dialects that are slowly dying out with the standardisation of Mandarin. Food for thought - Sun Yat-sen was one vote away from making Cantonese the standard language in China - imagine all the northerners having fun with that! Although Fei Wong didn't do too badly I guess.
Cantonese: a "lesser" language? Have you notified those in Hong Kong and much of southern China about this? I think they may beg to differ on that opinion. Personally, I'd like to see the research that brought you to this conclusion...
In each city, there is a local dialect, which most of the inhabitants converse in daily, choosing to use it amongst themselves over mandarin. The only reason they use mandarin at all is when people from other cities (who are speaking their own local dialect) travel through or do business. For example, if you want to do business with the local businessmen in Shanghai, it would benefit one greatly to know Shangahihua. The same is true for any city.
In my own observation, I don't see any of these dialects, let alone Cantonese, dying out anytime soon.
darkstar1:
He he, don't worry I certainly don't consider Cantonese a "lesser language" as such, only lesser spoken (as written in the question) when looking at the whole linguistic map of China and the amount of Mandarin speakers compared to Cantonese/Shanghainese speakers etc.
giadrosich:
Yes, in that sense, you are correct. By sheer numbers, mandarin is spoken so much more. Sorry I read more into it than was there. Ganbei! 
Cantonese is being undermined at present but it is far from going extinct! The Cantonese would never allow that. As much as they are proud of being Chinese they are as much proud of being Cantonese.
Cantonese isn't going anywhere soon........... Hong Kong, New York, San Francisco, London, Vancouver, Toronto, Kuala Lumpur, Sydney ...... mostly Cantonese in their rather large Chinese communities..............
Where did you hear that they're dying out? I don't believe that for a second. The only way a language dies out is when there's no one left who speaks it. This is happening with some of the ethnic minority languages, but that's because the population who speak them is so small. Cantonese isn't going anywhere, just like Shanghainese and all the other major dialects. While it might not be taught in school, they all speak it at home.
Very unlikely this to happen. Mostly, it makes no sense such prognosis.
darkstar1:
Such prognosis was based on seeing kids and families from certain areas sometimes refusing to speak their local dialect in light of the stigma that it is "uncivilised.," coupled with govt. pushes to heavily standardise Mandarin in almost all areas. Though people have mentioned the prominence of other languages such as Cantonese in HK and overseas communities which has given me hope for their future.
Do you realize that Cantonese is very widely spoken and has ZERO chance of going extinct. The whole province of Guangdong speaks it as well as a few neighboring provinces, on top of that it is the language of HK and is spoken more widely amongst Chinese in other countries in the China Towns.
Other dialects of Chinese are also unlikely to disappear as they are "Hometown" languages and as such are spoken day to day by all residents of the town and their families. My wife always speaks her hometown language with her family even when on the phone. It's what they grew up with and that won't change.
