I was born in Guangdong Province, China near the city of Guangzhou (previously known as Canton) in 1975. The region, which goes by the name of "Renhe" (人和) in Mandarin (Jan4wo4 in Cantonese (Jyutping transliteration)), lies only 30 minutes by car (or metro) from downtown Guangzhou. Back in the 1970s, however, the only option was a full-day’s trip by bicycle (or an infrequent local bus). Renhe has its own dialect of Cantonese. The difference in our version is mostly a “lazy” tone and pronunciation. However, we also have a rich portfolio of words (and word usages) distinct to us. When people from my village speak our dialect in the city (i.e. Guangzhou), most just assume (and somewhat correctly) that we are farmers. Or in the case of Hong Kong for me, the assumption often is that I am an overseas Chinese who speaks poorly and/or with a strong accent. At one point in my life I did speak Cantonese poorly. I left my childhood village at an early age and grew up in Toronto. For fear of not being able to learn English, my father forbade me from speaking in Chinese with my siblings. Therefore, growing up I spoke (dialect)…
