I recall telling you about a real experience that happened to my two brothers in a previous posting. One day, long after 1997, when they were at Hong Kong airport, they proceeded to an airline counter, trying to get some information regarding their tickets and routing. The elder brother spoke to the counter girls in his Mandarin-accented Cantonese, but the girls ignored him. Then my younger brother asked for the service in English, so strangely, the girls responded to him immediately, with alacrity.

Attached are some exchanged comments about the phenomenon of language problems that may still bother people traveling from inland to Hong Kong after 27 years.

https://user.guancha.cn/main/content?id=932463 

The author admitted there is even no similar problem found in Taiwan; however, spoken language is still a serious thing on the island. In subways, buses, and even elevators, there are usually four different languages coming into your ears: Mandarin, English, Fujianese, and Hakka. So strange, so irritating.