Language wars

IT struck me as odd that someone would write to complain about how offensive the writer of the Gong Li article was [Letters, Aug. 20] when the writer said “Chinese -- not the most sonorous language to Western ears ... “ and this same person (Pamela Liu) then went on to insult Cantonese speakers by saying that it was her “bet that whatever bad experience Abramowitz had with Cantonese that inspired her to write this shockingly generalized comment misled her into thinking all ‘Chinese’ language sounds the same.” Ah, ignorance indeed! Ms. Liu should see how much she is stereotyping and promoting a misconception that the Cantonese language is the poorer of the Chinese dialects.

As a native Cantonese speaker, though by no means fluent, I take huge offense to people denigrating Cantonese. Does she even speak a word of Cantonese? Has she ever tried? While Ms. Abramowitz made a stupid comment in her article, Ms. Liu is the true offender.

IVY CHAN ANDRADE

Los Angeles