Is Cantonese Cantonese? Does that have anything to do with Minnan dialect? Is Cantonese difficult to learn?

The name "Guangdong" comes from the old name "Nanyue [3]" in ancient Lingnan area, which is a general term. Folks are also called "vernacular" and "Cantonese". The two common names "Guangfu dialect" and "provincial capital dialect" specifically refer to Cantonese in the old guangzhou fu area (now Guangzhou and its surrounding Nanfanshun area), Hong Kong, Macao and Wuzhou, which are smaller than the concept of "vernacular" and are now generally called "Guangzhou dialect".

In Guangzhou and surrounding cities, people are used to calling Cantonese (standard Cantonese) from other provinces, while Hong Kong and Macao are generally called Cantonese. Locals in Dongguan and Shenzhen and other places in the province call it provincial capital dialect or vernacular; Cantonese speakers in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region usually refer to their Cantonese as "vernacular" because they have no feeling of "Guangdong". The "vernacular" here refers to Cantonese, and its meaning is different from other provinces and cities in China. Overseas Chinese communities and other non-Cantonese provinces and cities in China generally use "Cantonese" or "Cantonese".

The use of "Cantonese" to refer to Cantonese has not been widely recognized. Many people, such as Cantonese speakers in Guangxi and some other native speakers in Guangdong Province (even if they can speak Cantonese), are opposed to using the word "Cantonese" to refer to Cantonese. First, Cantonese is not only used in Guangdong Province, but also in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Second, speaking Cantonese is ambiguous, ignoring the existence of other Cantonese dialects. Cantonese is widely distributed overseas. For example, in Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh, Malaysia, Cantonese is the first language of Chinese. At the same time, Hakka dialect, Minnan dialect and Cantonese coexist in Guangdong Province, so it is not appropriate to use the word "Cantonese" to refer to Cantonese. Whether the birthplace of Cantonese is in Guangdong or Guangxi is still controversial, because the division between Guangdong and Guangxi began in the Song Dynasty, and the history of Cantonese formation and stereotypes was far before the Song Dynasty. At that time, there was no distinction between Guangdong and Guangxi, and the exact place of birth was difficult to confirm. In addition, some people in Guangzhou disagree that Hong Kong people call local Cantonese "Cantonese" and think that Hong Kong Cantonese should be called "Cantonese". However, people who hold the opposite opinion think that Cantonese pronunciation is widely used in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao except Guangzhou, and should not be called Cantonese. But there is also evidence that the scope of ancient Guangzhou is far from that of today's Guangzhou. If ancient Guangzhou is taken as the boundary, it shows that Cantonese has more historical basis than Cantonese.

The scope of the above-mentioned folk names is smaller than the concept of Cantonese in linguistics. Linguistically, Cantonese is a general term for languages, including various Cantonese dialects, Guangxi Pinghua, Hainan Danzhou dialect, Mai dialect and Jia Dan dialect.

The word Minnan is obviously the language of Fujian tour guides or Fujian southern tour. Southeast Asia is generally called Min dialect, while Taiwan Province Province is called Taiwan dialect and Taiwan dialect. It belongs to a kind of Chinese Min dialect, and it is also the most influential one. Linguistically, China linguists believe that Minnan dialect is a Chinese dialect, while western scholars believe that it is a language belonging to the Chinese language family. The word Minnan has broad and narrow meanings. In a broad sense, it refers to the academic collection of pan-Minnan languages, and in a narrow sense, it only refers to local Minnan languages.

Whether it is difficult to learn is a matter of opinion. Because it is a language in itself, similar to English, it is not difficult if you are interested or study hard.