All Cantonese Learning Resources | Apps, Textbooks, Courses, and More!

Written by Mr. Languagespud in Uncategorized

Cantonese (traditional Chinese: 廣東話; simplified Chinese: 广东话) is a language predominantly spoken by natives of Hong Kong, Macau, the wider Guangdong province, and parts of Guangxi province.

It is also widely spoken among Overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, most notably in Vietnam and Malaysia, and to a lesser extent in Singapore and Cambodia.

While this fascinating language has a reputation as being difficult to learn, if you’re somewhat familiar with Mandarin, then your task to learn it will be nowhere near as daunting.

Although the list of resources to learn Cantonese is nowhere near as long as it is for Mandarin, there’s still plenty to take you all the way to an advanced level.

Make use of the hyperlinks if you’re looking for something specific.

APPS | ONLINE COURSES | TEXTBOOKS | PODCASTS | OTHER CANTONESE MEDIA

APPS

Cantonese class 101

This is an innovative app that offers a decent range of audio and video lessons from real teachers. The advanced course isn’t up to much (same for Mandarin) but it’s really good for the beginner level.

All of the lesson notes, premium tools, and progress tracking are available in the app. If you want to switch the app, you can continue where you left on the desktop. The app comes with an iCloud sync feature that ensures you don’t lose your lesson progress.

Cantonese Class 101 has a free option but it isn’t recommended. Some of the perks you get after upgrading include line-by-line transcripts, PDF notes, and vocabulary lists with audio. A 7-day trial period is available.

PROS:

  • A lot of learning content.
  • Audio and transcripts are very effective learning tools.
  • Podcast format makes it very easy to learn on the go.

CONS:

  • Course pathways aren’t very clear
  • Upper intermediate/advanced material could be better

PRICING: A range of subscriptions can be found here.

RATING: 9/10

Pimsleur

Pimsleur is a household name in language learning, with a well-designed range of speaking courses. With each lesson, you’ll learn new words and phrases gradually through audio and speaking repetition.

There isn’t another course out there like Pimsleur and it’s very effective if you want to be comfortable listening and speaking basic Cantonese as quickly as possible. It really is very beginner-friendly.

Pimsleur doesn’t come without downsides, however: the courses themselves are actually very expensive, especially considering they’re predominantly made up of audio files.

The subscription pricing option is much better, however, there is no subscription option for Cantonese.

There is also only 1 level of Cantonese with Pimsleur as opposed to 5 levels of Mandarin learning content.

PROS:

  • Beginner friendly.
  • Can become confident speaking fairly quickly.
  • Audio only so very convenient.

CONS:

  • The course is relatively expensive.
  • Lacking in learning material.
  • No reading or writing help.

PRICING: Full Cantonese course for $119.95. Other pricing options here.

RATING: 8/10

Italki

THE site and app to use if you’re looking for online teachers.

There are plenty of other places where you can find teachers of Cantonese, but iTalki has the most teachers on it’s platform and the most competitive prices. Every teacher on iTalki is by no means perfect and it will take a bit of searching to find one who’s right for you.

You can watch video introductions and see reviews (although you’ll rarely find bad ones) of every teacher. I strongly recommend making use of the cheap trial lessons available, and it’s always best to have a few lessons with the same teacher before you can give a fair assessment of them.

The extra features in the Italki community are also pretty good. You can ask questions to other users and get your writing checked and corrected.

As always, everyone learns differently, but my personal view on getting a private tutor is to teach myself the basics first, and only when I’m ready to start speaking, use Italki.

PROS:

  • Huge collection of teachers.
  • Competitive pricing for online teachers.
  • You have complete freedom and choice when it comes to class content.

CONS:

  • A lot of bad teachers.
  • The extra features in the italki Community only available on the app.
  • Time differences/lack of convenience compared to self-study methods.

PRICING: Teachers can cost between $5 and $60 an hour, but most cost between $10-$30. Click here to search for teachers on italki.

RATING: 8/10

Mango Languages

The Cantonese course on Mango Languages has a lot going for it, namely, its attention to detail. With each mini-lesson, you’re given short dialogues to learn which get progressively more difficult as you move through the course.

Each dialogue is broken down very clearly in English so you can understand everything. The Mango languages Cantonese course sounds and looks similar to the Pimsleur course, except with Mango Languages, you’re more interactive.

As with most apps, however, learning content in Mango Languages is limited. It has much better coverage of grammar than the Drops app, but intermediate and advanced learners won’t get too much out of it.

The learning style has the potential to become rather boring, too.

PROS:

  • Good explantions for beginners.
  • Good focus on speaking and grammar patterns.
  • A huge choice of languages other than Cantonese.

CONS:

  • Very limited material beyond beginner level.
  • Potential to become tedious quite quickly.
  • Kind of annoying voices and translation function faulty.

PRICING: Monthly – $7.99 (1 language)
Monthly – $17.99 (All languages)
Custom – Contact Sales here.

RATING: 7/10

Simply Learn Cantonese

Probably the best free app on the market if you’re after only a basic introduction to Cantonese. You can upgrade to the Pro version for a one-off payment of around 10 dollars, and this is excellent value in my opinion.

Simply Learn Cantonese offers a very large selection of useful phrases on different topics for you to listen to and repeat as many times as you like. The audio is from a native speaker.

You can also test yourself using the quiz and study mode.

PROS:

  • Free (premium very cheap)
  • A huge selection of useful phrases.
  • Simple and easy to use.

CONS:

  • Fairly primitive study methods that could be boring for some learners.
  • Beginners only.

PRICING: Free! (Pro upgrade £8.99 one-off payment)

RATING: 6.5/10

CantonSkill

Ever heard of the ChineseSkill app?

It’s basically an improved version of Duolingo with an optional premium upgrade. I often recommend it on my site to total beginners of Mandarin just to get a basic intro and feel for the language.

Well, they have a version for Cantonese too!

It’s not as detailed or good-looking as ChineseSkill and there is less content and fewer learning modes… but you could still do a lot worse with a free app.

Each mini-lesson will introduce you to a small collection of vocabulary and a new grammar pattern, and you can build on this as you progress through the course. As expected, this app is for beginners and offers little to nothing to anyone beyond that.

PROS:

  • Free!
  • Simple and easy to use.
  • Gives a gentle and unintimidating introduction to Cantonese.

CONS:

  • Not the best looking interface in the world.
  • Very limited material.
  • Only a basic introduction for beginners.

PRICING: Free!

RATING: 6/10

Drops Cantonese

Drops keep it simple – simply identify the written word with the picture. Seriously. That’s it. This can be a great way to learn depending on what kind of learner you are.

For example, if you like things kept very simple with plenty of repetition, Drops could be perfect for you. However, if you prefer a much more dynamic learning experience, you’ll need to either supplement your learning or look elsewhere.

For an app that focuses a lot on visuals, it’s to be expected that Drops interface is really clean and slick.

With Drops, you can learn over 2000 plus words and create memorable visual presentations. Best of all, you can choose the words you want to learn and the material that matters most to you.

However, the app’s glaring shortfall lies in its lack of grammar coverage – loads of vocabulary and pictures, but hardly any grammar stuff at all.

Drops premium isn’t overpriced, but I do feel that there are better subscription-based resources on the market. This app is available for android and IOS – you can learn offline too. Don’t forget to check detailed statistics on your progress.

PROS:

  • Really nice interface.
  • Excellent vocabulary learning resource.
  • Very simple and easy to use.

CONS:

  • No grammar teaching content.
  • Potential to get boring quite quickly.
  • Some images aren’t always clear.

PRICING: Monthly – $9.99
Yearly – $69.99
Lifetime – $159.99

RATING: 6/10

ONLINE COURSES

Glossika

One particular method of learning a language is through something called sentence mining. Sentence mining can be summarised as the rote memorisation of a large number of sentences in your target language. In this case, Cantonese. The upsides of sentence mining are as follows:

  • It works in the short term and long term.
  • It can match the level of your Cantonese as you progress.
  • It can improve your reading, listening and speaking.
  • You learn new words in the context of a sentence.
  • It’s an effective way to learn grammar and language patterns.

Glossika is probably the most popular sentence mining resource on the market. There are, however, two primary methods for sentence mining, and Glossika only addresses one of them

  1. Learning a huge number of random, pre-made, non-customisable sentences (Glossika)
  2. Creating your own sentence cards taken from material you’re currently studying (from a textbook, course, etc.)

Although Glossika can very effective for language learning, there are some issues with it. There are frequent language errors in their courses and for some reason, Glossika insists on shoehorning really long, phonetic translations of English names into a lot of sentences.

Glossika is also quite expensive and doesn’t offer an app.

PROS:

  • Effective tool for most learners.
  • Can be used at any level.
  • Good quality audio.

CONS:

  • Course is riddled with errors.
  • Expensive for what the course provides.

PRICING: Monthly (all languages) – $30
Yearly (all languages) – $300
Custom – Check here.

RATING: 7/10

FSI Cantonese Basic Course

The FSI (Foreign Service Institute) online course contains a comprehensive introduction to Cantonese, with a huge volume of downloadable audio lessons and transcripts. It’s all available completely for free on their website.

I preach a lot on this website about the effectiveness of a reading and listening combination, and this course gives you just that.

The downsides? The FSI courses are pretty ancient, and studying these materials won’t be particularly fun. Still, if you’re on a budget and you’re super focussed, you can learn a lot with FSI materials.

PROS:

  • Free!
  • A lot of learning material.
  • Audio and reading comination is effective.

CONS:

  • Learning material is as old as time itself.
  • Content is pretty dull.

PRICING: Free!

RATING: 6/10

TEXTBOOKS

Textbooks are sometimes criticised for being boring and old-fashioned, but I still think good textbooks have a lot to offer.

  • Textbooks can provide a clear, logical path to your studies.
  • Good textbooks offer a range of study materials for you to learn the language: text, audio, exercises, etc.
  • They’re suitable for all levels.

Complete Cantonese Beginner to Intermediate Course: Learn to Read, Write, Speak and Understand a New Language

A very detailed and comprehensive textbook that covers all bases extensively (seriously, it’s 432 pages long). As you’d expect with such a meaty textbook, you’ve got it all: grammar explanations, dialogues, vocabulary, exercises, and cultural insights.

Learn to Speak Cantonese I

This textbook has a slightly different style and tells the story of Gabriel (narrator), who is trying to impress the mother of the girlfriend he fell in love with. Jenny’s mother only speaks Cantonese, so Gabriel finds himself in a a lot of sticky situations when trying to communicate.

It’s really cute, effective, and useful for beginners. Not quite as detailed as Complete Cantonese, but offers everything you need as a beginner.

Basic Cantonese: A Grammar and Workbook

It’s tough to find learning material out these that focuses solely on cantonese grammar, so this textbook is a welcome one.

All 28 units will help you a lot with formulating the language independently, and there’re a lot of examples to illustrate each point. You’ll also get puzzles after every chapter, and this textbook doubles as a workbook, too.

Complete Cantonese

If you want to develop a solid understanding of the Cantonese language, you can’t go wrong with this book. It focuses heavily on speaking and there are a few issues with the audio.

However, it introduces vocabulary sensibly, provides examples of authentic conversations, and gives a lot of good grammar guides.

Colloquial Cantonese (Colloquial Series)

This book was written by Dana Bourgerie, an associate professor at Brigham Young University. Dana presents in a clear style to equip learners with essential skills that help to communicate effectively.

Each chapter offers a large election of well-explained grammatical points, and there’s a grammar summary at the end, too. There are also realistic and entertaining dialogues to cover a lot of everyday situations.

Make sure you purchase with the accompanying CD/MP3 audio.

PODCASTS

If you want to learn Cantonese on the go, Podcasts are a sure bet. And they are available for students of all skill levels.

Cantonese Class 101

Chinese Class 101 was talked about at the beginning of this post. It’s one of the best resources avilable for learning Cantonese and it’s mainly centred around short podcasts. It’s worth mentioning twice…

Learn Cantonese Daily

Each episode covers currently talked about issues of the day and are around 5 minutes long. The presenter will introduce some vocabulary and a longer phrase. You can download transcripts of the lessons on their website, and they have some other materials like books and online courses.

Cantonese and Mandarin for Medical Matters

This podcast will teach you language related to medical and health-related matters in both Mandarin and Cantonese. You’ll be shocked to learn things beyond the classroom setup.

Popup Cantonese

This podcast is beginner-friendly, and you get some intermediate-episode lessons, too. You can download all of the podcasts and you can transcripts with the premium course, but it’s nearly $100 for the year.

Given how few podcasts are available, I’m not sure it’s worth the price.

OTHER CANTONESE MEDIA

One of the benefits of learning Cantonese over Mandarin is better quality media.

A LOT of TV shows, movies, and music coming from Hong Kong tends to be much better than the Mainland.

TV Shows – Here is a list of the best Hong Kong TV dramas of all time.

Movies – Here is a list of the 100 best Hong Kong movies ever.

Music – Here is a list of the best Cantopop songs of all time.

If the above don’t suit your appetite, use them as a stepping stone to find the stuff you do like.

Remember that although Reddit can often be a hideout for the wierdest people on the internet, it’s also a great resource for finding good recommendations for TV shows, movies, and music.

Further Reading

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