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Q: Why are so many English "borrowed" Chinese words derived from Cantonese?
dim sum, bok choy, hoisin, chow mein, wok... these are all words we use in English but they're all of Cantonese origin, not Mandarin. (Although all food related, there are others!)
I've heard from varying sources that its an older language than Mandarin, is this why?
11 years 21 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - China
Hong Kong speaks Cantonese. China has been a closed country for decades while Hong Kong has been an international city trading with the world.
The exchange of words between languages accelerated in the middle of last century as travel became more accessible to all in the west. I think this would have more to do with it, than the "age" of a language.
stan118:
well said mate, you have to remember lots of people left the mainland and went to Hongkong and some mandarin is very similar to Cantonese, and some words we use are actually from mandarin
When Britain 'ruled' Hong Kong it was relatively easy (until the latter days when return to PRC became obvious) for a HKer to get a British passport / citizenship, the language of HK was (and largely still is) Cantonese and English.
When the HKers came to Britain they brought with them their language, many of them opened up restaurants and take-aways (indeed Chinese restaurants are now the most common type of restaurant in the UK) and so the food related words brought from HK in Cantonese, entered the English language.
