<p>I wonder how many Cantonese speakers (either native or L2 learners) who don't speak Mandarin exist in the world. At least in mainland China, as far as I know almost all people born in 1980 or later have no problem in speaking Mandarin, but not sure about middle-aged people or elderly, specifically in the region where Cantonese is spoken.</p>
<p>There are likely many people in Hong Kong and Macau that don't speak Mandarin, but both regions don't have that large population.</p>
<p>I'm not sure about people outside of China, but I know there are many immigrants in the West that originally came from Hong Kong.</p>
<p>So I wonder approximately how many people speak Cantonese yet don't speak Mandarin.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-06-06T14:32:46.630Z
I’m voting to close this question because it does not pertaining Chinese learning.
r13
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-06-06T14:36:48.630Z
@r13 This SE is not just for "learning". There are many questions that don't necessarily focus on Chinese language "learning".
Blaszard
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2022-06-06T14:52:42.860Z
Your question is in the interest of the linguistics historian, or sociologists rather than asking for ideas on the method and use of the Chinese language. If you want to know how many people in the US do not speak English, you shall check with the US Census Bureau, not the web. The same applies to China.
r13
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-06-06T15:50:07.827Z
[“Maybe useful to the future generation but not my own”: How “useful” is Mandarin really for contemporary Hoisan-heritage Chinese Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area?
January 2021 Language & Communication 76:121-130 ] (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347892134_Maybe_useful_to_the_future_generation_but_not_my_own_How_useful_is_Mandarin_really_for_contemporary_Hoisan-heritage_Chinese_Americans_in_the_San_Francisco_Bay_Area )
envs_h_gang_5
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-06-06T15:56:41.207Z
Highlights • Chinese Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area don't find Mandarin centrally relevant to their lives. • “Chinese” does not refer to Mandarin for their everyday discussions about language. • More attention needs to be paid to these distinctions across Chinese varieties. [link as above-mentioned]
envs_h_gang_5
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-06-07T04:32:07.700Z
This looks worth bringing up on [meta]; I don't recall the community declaring "demographics" questions off-topic.  And there is precedent [here](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/q/3587/8099) and [here](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/q/10936/8099) that such questions are on-topic.
Becky 李蓓
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-06-07T04:46:55.090Z
If I want to know how many Cantonese speakers and Mandarin speakers are in Canada, I would look at the census. It would be about population statistics, just like the OP's question
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-06-07T05:03:28.453Z
I brought it up on [meta](https://chinese.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1932/8099) here, which is where it should be discussed.
Becky 李蓓
<mandarin><cantonese><topolect>
How many Cantonese speakers who don't speak Mandarin exist?
# How many Cantonese speakers who don't speak Mandarin exist?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-06-06)

I wonder how many Cantonese speakers (either native or L2 learners) who don't speak Mandarin exist in the world. At least in mainland China, as far as I know almost all people born in 1980 or later have no problem in speaking Mandarin, but not sure about middle-aged people or elderly, specifically in the region where Cantonese is spoken.

There are likely many people in Hong Kong and Macau that don't speak Mandarin, but both regions don't have that large population.

I'm not sure about people outside of China, but I know there are many immigrants in the West that originally came from Hong Kong.

So I wonder approximately how many people speak Cantonese yet don't speak Mandarin.

**Tags:** mandarin, cantonese, topolect

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I’m voting to close this question because it does not pertaining Chinese learning.  
> **username_0**: @username_1 This SE is not just for "learning". There are many questions that don't necessarily focus on Chinese language "learning".  
> **username_1**: Your question is in the interest of the linguistics historian, or sociologists rather than asking for ideas on the method and use of the Chinese language. If you want to know how many people in the US do not speak English, you shall check with the US Census Bureau, not the web. The same applies to China.  
> **username_2**: [“Maybe useful to the future generation but not my own”: How “useful” is Mandarin really for contemporary Hoisan-heritage Chinese Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area? January 2021 Language & Communication 76:121-130 ] (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347892134_Maybe_useful_to_the_future_generation_but_not_my_own_How_useful_is_Mandarin_really_for_contemporary_Hoisan-heritage_Chinese_Americans_in_the_San_Francisco_Bay_Area )  
> **username_2**: Highlights • Chinese Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area don't find Mandarin centrally relevant to their lives. • “Chinese” does not refer to Mandarin for their everyday discussions about language. • More attention needs to be paid to these distinctions across Chinese varieties. [link as above-mentioned]  
> **username_3**: This looks worth bringing up on [meta]; I don't recall the community declaring "demographics" questions off-topic.  And there is precedent [here](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/q/3587/8099) and [here](https://chinese.stackexchange.com/q/10936/8099) that such questions are on-topic.  
> **username_4**: If I want to know how many Cantonese speakers and Mandarin speakers are in Canada, I would look at the census. It would be about population statistics, just like the OP's question  
> **username_3**: I brought it up on [meta](https://chinese.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1932/8099) here, which is where it should be discussed.  

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