I am fluent in Mandarin, and know little Cantonese. From a young age I could distinguish the two languages by the tone of speaking- I thought Cantonese sounded like angry temple bells, while Mandarin sounded like the firm waves of an ocean. I never thought too much about the two languages, until I actually came to the States.
Growing up in Nanjing of the Jiangsu District, I was pretty much only exposed to Mandarin. The first day of American school, My parents introduced me to another Chinese classmate who knew how to speak Chinese, hoping to help me acclimate to this new environment. When she started speaking fluent Cantonese to me, I was flummoxed, to say the least. That’s not what my language sounds like!
But the reality is that even within these two languages, there are drastic differences. Beyond the sound that each syllable made, the two languages represented different connotations, different traditions, and of course, different cultures. Mandarin only has 4 main tones, whilst Cantonese has 9, a difference that can result in completely different ways of communication!
Even within China, the Chinese language can be split distinctly. The notion that Asians can be simplified to one facet of a culture is a fundamentally flawed ideal.