Why does Cantonese sound vaguely British?
Mandarin has a strong R sound like American English “car”. But Cantonese doesn’t have an R sound.
The Cantonese vowel eoi sounds very similar to British English long O. But neither Mandarin Chinese nor American English have this vowel sound.
Many British English dialects use glottal stops in place of final T, just as Cantonese has glottal stop consonants K, T, P.
Along with the many English loanwords more likely based on British pronunciation, these phonetic features may make Cantonese feel “vaguely British,” at least more than Mandarin...