What are /r/Cantonese's favorite Products & Services?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

Cantonese Class 101 is a pretty good shout for a beginner! The Ling App is great, it's like Duolingo for Canto- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simyasolutions.ling.yue There's also some fantastic YouTubers out there like "Cantonese with Brittany" - https://youtube.com/c/CantonesewithBrittany

I've done some searching before and usually Hanping's Cantonese version pops up as a good offline Cantonese dictionary app. It doesn't seem to have sample sentences though, and you do have to pay for it.

I usually just use the dictionary you linked to on my browser, which is... not ideal.

Hey, I just started a 75 day challenge on the 2nd.... I'll probably go longer than that though. I'm not Cantonese, but I'd like to be able to speak better with my wife's family. You are more advanced than me, but I was able to pick out quite a bit! Keep it up!

I bought this kindle book and I'm enjoying it. Probably too beginner for you, but it's helping me to be able to actually understand the jyutping and be able to kinda read it some.

If you have the Google Translate App, you can use your phone camera to translate printed Chinese characters and get an idea of what a given dialog box means. It's not perfect, but it can get the job done.

Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.translate&hl=en

iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-translate/id414706506?mt=8

use chrome:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/cantonese-popup-dictionar/pjnbhojkojmibobcpfgihhnohboldhip?utm_source=chrome-app-launcher-info-dialog

Otherwise if you have an android phone use Hanping Cantonese clipboard monitor.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.embermitre.hanping.cantodict.app.pro&hl=en

This list of some of the most commonly used Cantonese words has been really helpful to me as a starting point. Your girlfriend should be able to help you with pronouncing the tones.

I use both, and really don't know which one i prefer :-/

for getting pronunciations and definitions I use: bing translate if you are online (https://www.bing.com/translator) pleco dictionary for offline/mobile phone dictionary with pronunciations.

I'm not sure, but this looks like what you are looking for

https://player.fm/series/learn-cantonese-cantoneseclass101com-1450271

https://9to5google.com/2017/10/26/gboard-6-7-beta-asian-languages/

The latest Gboard beta on Android appears to include Cantonese. Hopefully it will appear on iOS soon. In the mean time, you can try using any of the other Cantonese keyboards on the app store. There are at least a handful of apps that pop up using "廣東話輸入法" as the search term that list Cantonese input as a feature. Alternatively, you can use other input methods like voice, handwriting, pinyin, stroke etc.

https://fnd.io/#/us/search?mediaType=ios&term=%E5%BB%A3%E6%9D%B1%E8%A9%B1%E8%BC%B8%E5%85%A5%E6%B3%95

We use Sling. We got a deal last year where we got a year's worth of service + a new Roku for $150. I think they were running it because TVPad was dying and they were capitalizing on new customers. But you can get their services from $15-30/month, and they do have a ton of options for channels, including lots of TVB.

It's a little expensive, but it works quite well and it looks like they will still give you a Roku Stick or discounts on other device options. It looks like there is also a 7 day free trial.

/once upon a time Foreign Language Institute at US Gov't developed a cantonese course.

https://fsi-languages.yojik.eu/languages/oldfsi/languages/cantonese.html

I haven't looked into the material carefully (because I'm a native Cantonese speaker) but I hope these lessons would be useful.

Try this app! (available for iPhone as well) Voice Translator by Hawsoft https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hawsoft.mobile.speechtrans

I was using this app to communicate with my 公公 and 婆婆 a few months back and I'd say it's working pretty well. I also use it when I suddenly remember words. I'm in the same position as you. My 公公 doesn't really speak English that well and I'm trying to relearn the language. I occasionally play sudoku and solitaire along side him when I see him. I just wish I could understand him when he sits and talks with me for long periods of time.

EDIT: Listen y'all, the upvotes are nice, but there are no new comments in that thread since mine. Get in there and drop a comment! (16 comments as of today). Specifically say you want Canto in a comment please. Please. Please.

This is the Cantonese thread, as linked to from GUIDE I would like a new course. They request that users comment in existing threads to request a language. If you've used Duolingo for another language and have an account already, please take a moment to post a +1.

This app is one of the best investments I've ever made. I can get my grandma to say things to it or write characters in it. I can also look up an english word OR write in the sounds. There are also soundboards.. it's incredible.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.embermitre.hanping.cantodict.app.pro&hl=en\_CA&gl=US

I think my cousins got them from their Chinese schools. Only places I can recommend are looking in your local Chinatown if you have one. If not, I'm sure now Amazon would have some.

Quick search I found something that kind of resembles what I'm thinking of

https://www.amazon.com/Langlang-Chinese-Elementary-Textbook-User-friendly/dp/753925842X

Hi Erk-zu,

CantonSkill Android now available. Cheers

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.imxiaowoo.cantonskill.production

I only know of an Android app, Karamation, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.imxiaowoo.karamation&hl=en

It does exactly what you want. Put any lyric LRC in the app, it give you Jyutping. Has a built in Chinese dictionary https://www.facebook.com/pages/Karamation/353695534823066

In order,

太爺

太嫲

太外公

太外婆

外太公

外太婆

外太（外）公

外太（外）婆

For more you can refer to this app on Google Play and possibly Apps Store as well, its basically a "calculator" for tracing all of the names of different relatives.

I have used Cantonese for Everyone to teach and it's quite good!
https://www.amazon.com/Cantonese-Everyone-English-Chinese/dp/9620718615

Also you should check out Jade from Inspirlang's books!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/099969460X/ref=dbs\_a\_def\_rwt\_hsch\_vapi\_tu00\_p1\_i0

Ahh, ok cool. I have heard of those translations.

I've just been using some apps on the Google Play store for them:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.guoyu.sanguoyanyi

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.guoyu.shuihuzhuan

I would love to buy some physical editions sometime though.

It's not as good as Duo, but in the meantime, people might want to try the Ling Canto app. The format is somewhat similar to Duolingo. You can find it here:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simyasolutions.ling.yue

I’m currently using the ’learn to speak Cantonese’ books and find them very useful. It teaches basic vocab and also in the second book teaches some writing.

you can find them on amazon: LTSC 1

http://www.mandarintools.com/family.html I have used this since I was a kid (or at least, since I learned to use the internet) and it is very straightforward.

There is also the android app 三姑六婆 here - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.blogspot.relativescalc although handy in a pinch I find it sometimes a bit complicated to use when it comes to further relatives.

Anyway, have fun, it's a fucking nightmare trying to figure out what to call relatives at Chinese New Year and this has saved my ass a couple of times.

Someone here posted this recently

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cantone.cantone

But to be honest with you. Given your lack of doing even the most simple things by yourself and expecting the online community to serve it to you without effort makes me wonder how far your learning of Cantonese will go. Anyways, best of luck.

One thing I did that I really enjoyed was to read The Little Prince in Cantonese link - I read a chapter each week and added all the words I didn't know as flashcards.

It was very helpful for learning vocab; it's not so easy to find books written in spoken Cantonese (sounds like kind of an oxymoron, I know)

That being said, it was a lot of work and took a lot of time - it certainly helped that I have quite the love for this book in all languages...

For other things, I find the Cantonese clozemaster and Anki Cantonese sets quite useful too.

Hmmm, I'm broadly listing it because it isn't just the U.S Census, lots of private companies like to list it as Chinese, but in fact, it's Mandarin. While not the best case,

Take Duolingo as an example. This list one of their language learning as Chinese, but it is ALL mandarin.

And when you use google translate (you get this....), Chinese is automatically filtered as Mandarin (Cannot see the Yale or Jyutping to understand what is being said in Cantonese) as it only shows Pinyin.)

If the government can broadly list it has its own language, companies based on the U.S. may start following the standard.... but as of now..... it isn't being followed.

I believe these are the same type of noodles:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08527VMZT/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_W3FB8JZHQ2ARFPEB2S35

5 minute Cantonese- YouTube Learn Cantonese daily podcast-Spotify This book -https://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Cantonese-Beginner-Intermediate-Course/dp/1473600820 (comes with a cd) Drops - app Cantoneseclass101 (app is “innovative”) I just use the free trials but it’s really good

My boyfriend is a Cantonese speaker and his parents are native Chinese so I’m in the same boat ❤️ gd luck

Here it is below, not sure if they have an iOS version :P

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.igears.relativesa&hl=en&gl=US

Learning to tell her "lei hou leng ah" and "ngo oi lei" is a good start ;)

Otherwise, listen to music, download the Pleco app and set it to Canto (has a built-in flashcards setting to study), use apps like drops or memrise for vocab study (I was doing this one and this one for a while), sign up for an online class or find a community based one (idk where you live, in my city we had a free canto class at a chinese community center), find a tutor on italki, and most of all speak canto with your girlfriend and her family!

I feel like this isn't going to be all that useful but whateves. This comic artist from Hong Kong, Lai tat tat wing, put up some of his work online. Here is one. It's usually wordless... but occasionally you will see some Cantonese here and there. Sometimes even puns. So it seems like it might be good beginner material.

When I started way back x decades ago, I was reading at kindergarten level.

It is also intentional study. Everytime I saw a new word on a TV show or in a song, I hit the dictionary. This was before google translate or Pleco on the phone were available. It was not easy.

However, people who study Chinese have a good point. They study the most frequently used words first. Start with the first 100 characters, then the next 500 characters and so on.

For study, I use Pleco and AnkiDroid. Pleco is a very good dictionary for learning Chinese. You can lookup words by either handwriting or pinyin. The best thing is if you lookup a character, it has links to the phrases and idioms that use that character. So you see how the character is used in real words and phrases. That helps your memory.

Also AnkiDroid- I used to use that daily- just repeatedly go thru the flashcards during my commutes- 10 minutes a day. You can either make up your word cards or download public sets of flashcards online.

Chinesepod, definitely. Chinesepod was very helpful. The beginner dialogues mix in both English and Mandarin- so you are never in danger. And the site also includes PDFs for study. That was the only resource x decades ago. I am sure there are many available others now on Youtube.

The original offer was for 1 year of the Cantonese and Mandarin channels package plus the Roku 2 for $100 (for new customers). There was never an offer to continue the deal past the first year, though I guess you could just sign up as another new customer because it looks like they're running a similar deal again (but with a Roku Express instead of a Roku 2).

Easy enough to cancel, I did a couple months ago because my original year ended.

Extremely late to this conversation but, our family owns a TVPAD4. We have 100/7 for our internet and while gaming it still gives me ping spikes. The best way is to buy a router with QoS or a flashable firmware that enables QoS and bandwidth control and then limit the bandwidth of the device. Though, TVPAD1-3 is getting cut so not sure if its useful for your family anymore

https://www.sling.com/TVPAD2 has a deal if you want to pay for actual service.

First off, thanks so so much for investing your time into making Cantonese resources! ! !

What I find I'm looking for is actually videos that are just in Cantonese but use intermediate language. I think there are already really good resources out there for learning beginner Cantonese (such as basic vocabulary). I am to the point where I need something to help me jump between intermediate and advanced.

An example would be something like this podcast: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/malateacher

I don't actually think this is meant as learning material, but I find it perfect for my level. The speaker doesn't speak too quickly and he uses pretty simple words, so I can understand. I would love to see Cantonese videos talking about HK culture/life in basic/simple Cantonese.

It seems like you are looking for machine translation. Machine translation isn't 100% reliable. Just to be sure, are you aware of difference between written Chinese and written Cantonese? Assuming that you are, Microsoft (http://www.bing.com/translator) and Baidu (https://fanyi.baidu.com/) have Cantonese as an option. There may be more resources in this area in Chinese. You can also try translating from Cantonese to standard Chinese first, before translating to a third language. I don't know if the results would be any different, but it would be worth experimenting.

For input, the handwriting method is good practice. I think most people would rather not use handwriting. It's just the easiest method (if you already know the characters) without having to learn another system. Another option is speech-to-text/dictation (which may or may not be appropriate for you.)

Duolingo's business model was never for you to learn a language, it was to get translations - which goes against the immersion needed to learn a language.

Drops does a MUCH better job than Duolingo for free Language Learning, and Drops has had Cantonese for a long time. https://languagedrops.com/language/learn-cantonese

Drops seems to be a good app for Cantonese, offering a similar experience to Anki. Even uses Jyutping for romanization.

(As of June 22nd, 2020 - there's still some pronunciation bugs they're ironing out – but its covered the basics thus far, and I'm sure they'll fix the glitches soon.)

I've gone through assimil, I'm currently doing FSI and this https://www.memrise.com/course/726961/no-typing-essential-cantonese-vocabulary-audio/

But I still feel like a total noob when I hear any conversation beyond a couple words.

TVPad 1/2/3 is scheduled to become completely useless after January 1st, 2016. Right now, I'm still able to get some channels to work via a VPN to Hong Kong (https://vyprvpn.com/refer?ar=86kq3c5cpmkoj_1 - 500MB free per month, 500MB if you get referrals to sign up :) Basically, I set up the VPN connection to HK on a spare router, then connected the TVPad to it. I'm getting most of the HK stuff, and a few of the China apps work.

I don't expect anything to work past January 1st, though.

The other people kept commenting with a link that looks it's for this textbook but the link is dead.

https://www.amazon.com/Learn-Chinese-Using-Cantonese-Comparison/dp/962279257X

Hope that's the right one lol

This book was written specifically for your situation! I haven't used it personally but I've heard good things about it, including the accompanying free audio and flashcard resources you can download from their website.

Three kingdom tactics is in cantonese. You would need to set play store or AppStore to Hong Kong region.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.qookkagame.sgzzlb.gp.sea&hl=en_US&gl=US

Complete Cantonese (New Edition)

Yes so many people (including Stephen Matthews himself) recommend using Basic (and intermediate) as a supplement to another course book to use together. I’m going to buy it pretty soon I think bc it seems very very helpful. I’m also using another series called Cantonese in Communication which I think is good too. It has 3 books in it that are only like $10 each but I can only find it on the Google books store, no hard copies unfortunately. It uses characters and has online audio as well. If you are interested in that I can send you a link as well, as it’s not super well known

For TTS, the program I’m using only has one Cantonese voice unfortunately

Yeah also when people download the deck they can edit it however they want so luckily if someone wants to add or remove things it’s super easy even if not familiar with Anki. And yes also I’ve tagged each card based on Unit and type of vocab. For example, the word for Hong Kong is tagged “Unit_1” and also “Countries_and_Nationalities” like it is in the book. So they can be organized by unit and by type

Thank you a ton for your suggestions! I don’t think I’ll add any other things to them unless I can think of more tags that would help

This book is really nice and it goes over the writing system with audio for the dialogues:

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Cantonese-Beginner-Intermediate-Course/dp/1473600820/ref=sr_1_1?crid=22SQRARMVCODX&dchild=1&keywords=complete+cantonese+beginner+to+intermediate+course&qid=1606862156&sprefix=complete+cantonese%2Caps%2C258&sr=8-1

Rhythmic Cantonese (Chinese) Vol. 1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001U7Z4P8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_xz-KCbE0NJMHW

I heard some people hate musical language instruction but it's perfect for me.

This has 3 Cantonese albums that i know of. Available in cd, mp3 (download), & Amazon Music streaming (not audible specifically).

I chose mp3 so i could exclude the author's clips explaining his personal memetic devices, of which there are tracks on each album. But some ppl may find those helpful.

Essential Cantonese Phrasebook & Dictionary: Speak Cantonese with Confidence (Cantonese Chinese Phrasebook & Dictionary with Manga illustrations) (Essential Phrasebook and Dictionary Series) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0804847088/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_z62IFbR48PTCM

You can also download an app called Pleco. It has both traditional and simplified characters AND pronunciations for both Mandarin and Cantonese. Just go to the settings and turn it on. And yup, it’s free!

I created an app years ago that might help. It's a sort of Anki inspired notepad for saving words/phrases. It has pronunciations. But it's not perfect! (Many shifted tones in compound words might be wrong).

It's also a little rough around the edges but it might do what you're after.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ijmacd.cantoneasy

I bought books for my kids on Amazon called "My First Animals in Cantonese" and "My First Words in Cantonese" I like them a lot. It's not a board book for toddlers, but it has good big pictures that they will like. There's a paperback and kindle version.

https://www.amazon.com/My-First-Animals-Cantonese-Kids/dp/0999273000/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

I downloaded the free Cantonese related add-ons so I'm assuming the features I mentioned in my previous comment are from those? I'm not too sure since I bought & use the Hanping Cantonese Dictionary for my Cantonese needs instead of Pleco. On that note: The Hanping Cantonese Dictionary is expensive but I've found it incredibly useful!

Most of the second and third words are either the first tone or the forth tone. You can check the pronounciation of words here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nesnet.android.cantonese

Using g board to input the word with jyutping should be easy, as the video has shown all the jyutping under the word.

Do note that some of the words are not well supported by jyutping. You will need to handwrite some words like "黚".

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.embermitre.hanping.cantodict.app.pro&hl=en

​

Han Ping Cantonese dictionary. The term, "dictionary" doesn't do it justice though. It is *gigantic* in terms of all the things it offers in regards to learning Cantonese.

​

Edit: It is exclusively on Android.

I'd be so up for that, but I think they'd have to have some sense of maturity.

When I was round a friend's house we played a mainland version of 誰是臥底 with simplified text (I think the app is this one https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.art.zok.whoisundercover ) and it was really fun because the subjects were simple and easily discussable. I wanted to download the app for myself and I downloaded the Hong Kong version to see what it was like https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=silver.code.undercoverhk which was pretty much a mistake. About half the topics were sex jokes, the other half being somewhere in between HK "golden forums humor" and some jokes about the politians and such. Even as a native HKer it just felt "edgy" and cringy for most of the subjects. So if any game is going to be translated into Cantonese, I would recommend that they either stick to source material, or at least have some maturity about it.

This is what I've basically concluded from the comments here and perusing the other resources online. For example, I found this great series of books for learning SWC,
Written Standard Chinese, Volume One: A Beginning Reading Text for Modern Chinese: Beginning Reading Text for Modern Chinese v. 1
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Written-Standard-Chinese-One-Beginning/dp/0887101291/

but of course it refers to Mandarin exclusively. Despite searching high and low, I cannot find an equivalent course with Cantonese pronunciation.

That's pretty annoying because I've just bought this book on Cantonese, but it's probably better to find it out sooner rather than later.

If you are a seasoned language learner and want a structured course, try Speak Cantonese

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Speak-Cantonese-Book-One-Publications/dp/0887100945

I found it very useful

You can get those on Amazon such as this somewhat popular brand. There are cheaper ones too if you prefer. I still remember using those while I was in elementary school :)

He didn't do anything like this for Cantonese but he release short stories in a bunch of other languages. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spanish-Short-Stories-Beginners-Unconventional/dp/1514646080

Sorry if I was unclear before. > passage drill

Hi! I'm also learning Cantonese so that I can communicate with my SO's parents. These are the resources I'm using:

Teach Yourself book: Get Started in Cantonese Absolute Beginner Course: The essential introduction to reading, writing, speaking and understanding a new language (Teach Yo https://www.amazon.com/dp/1444174991/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_wsXojef7SxFh4

They also have beginner to intermediate on Amazon. The great thing about the Teach Yourself series is that it comes with an audio file so you can practice listening and understanding. It also has practice problems and reviews to make sure you understand the materials.

Chineseclass101.com Memrise for vocabulary - it's a website but they also have an app Anki for flashcards YouTube videos for listening

I am always looking for speaking partners. Are you living in America now or something? I am British so im not sure how easy it would be with the time difference. I can recommend two things for speaking practice: https://www.italki.com https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hellotalk&hl=en

If you want to learn how to read characters, the later is really good because you can practice texting people with a bunch of translation features added into the app to help you out.

Hi lumoslite, try CJK Viewer, its a neat little tools for learning Cantonese. Speak or type to it for translating from English to Chinese or visa versa. Click on the word to learn its meaning.

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.imxiaowoo.cjkviewer&hl=en iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cjk-viewer/id1016286988

Hi ytqt, try CJK Viewer, its a neat little tools for Cantonese. Speak to it or type english to it to get Cantonese. Click on the words to see the meanings of each words.

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.imxiaowoo.cjkviewer&hl=en iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cjk-viewer/id1016286988

Hi An_Anonymous_sauce,

try CJK Viewer, its a neat little tools for learning Mandarin, or Cantonese. Copy & Paste any Chinese lyric, text and click romanize to learn its phonetics. Click on the word to learn its meaning. If you want, you may also translate from English to Chinese or visa versa.

Android:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.imxiaowoo.cjkviewer&hl=en

iOS:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cjk-viewer/id1016286988

Hi Jgj7861, try CJK Viewer for Android, specialized in romanizing Chinese text to Cantonese. I am sure it would benefit you learning. ^^ https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.imxiaowoo.cjkviewer&hl=en

> However, I'm still working on typing Chinese. Can't seem to get the hang of it.

Do you use an Android phone? Google has an IM for Cantonese. There's also a version for Chrome as a plug-in. It allows Yale Romanization, Jyutping and Cantonese Pinyin, in addition to the most common Cangjie and hand-writing.

Hi meowmiixx, try the Android app CJK Viewer, an app that romanizes any Chinese text to Cantonese! Save to PDF or PNG and print it out for reference ^^ https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.imxiaowoo.cjkviewer&hl=en

Have you tried Karamation? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.imxiaowoo.karamation&hl=en I think its exactly what you need. The app will need the audio file and lrc file. You probably have the audio file. Search for 夕陽無限好 lrc [Google or Inside Karamation app] and download it. Put the lrc file in the Karamation app folder and then play the audio, it will show you the English(Cantonese) phonetic. It also have a built in dictionary if you are interested in the meaning of the song. If you need help, let me know ^^

Great, it sounds like you would enjoy Karamation, a Cantonese lyrical app. Give it a shot! It would be helpful for learning the Cantonese sounds/tones/pinyins/meanings https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.imxiaowoo.karamation&hl=en