Additional Resources

Recommended Tools & Resources

The following is my recommended list of Cantonese tools and resources. I'm not sponsored by any of these organizations, and have spent my own money for all of my material. If I ever do become sponsored in any way, I'll mention it.

Cantonese Books

My Cantonese book collection consists mostly from books purchased at the Greenwood Press. They have an amazing, high quality Cantonese book collection, and they definitely deserve support. I've also recently started purchasing some nice books from Amazon, that weren't available above. You can find my ordered list of recommended Cantonese books at different levels of competency. I would recommend getting them from top to bottom, however, if there is a certain book that excites you, then get it! All of the below books are fun and enjoyable in their own unique way. I thank all the Authors and Publishers for making these books a reality.

Beginner Level

  1. Cantonese Chinese Characters, Level 1 Basic 250: In Truly Traditional Script - Tao Yung (ISBN: 979-8328120524)
  2. Cantonese for English Speakers Book 1-2 - Dr. Esther Yuk Wah Lai (ISBN: 978-962-279-256-2)
  3. A Cantonese Book (3rd Edition) - Chan Kwok Kin, Betty Hung (ISBN: 978-962-279-266-1)
  4. Cantonese in Hong Kong - Kwok-kin Chan, Chung-mou Si (ISBN: 978-962-279-247-0)
  5. Discover with Jade: Gung Gung's Garden (Cantonese) - Sheun Lee, Tammy Do (ISBN: 1998215024 / 978-1998215027)

Intermediate Level

  1. About Hong Kong - For Intermediate Cantonese Learners - Betty Hung, C. M. Si (ISBN: 962-279-225-1)
  2. Talk to Me in Cantonese - Betty Hung (ISBN: 9888455869 / 978-9888455867)
  3. A Feng Shui Master - Learning Cantonese through Stories - Lee Siu Lun (ISBN: 962-279-244-8)

Advanced Level

  1. Wedding Bells: Cantonese Reading Material for Intermediate and Advanced Learners - Cream Lee & Shin Kataoka (ISBN: 9622792030)
  2. Advanced Level Current Cantonese Colloquialisms - Yin-Ping Cream Lee (ISBN: 9622791883)

Cantonese Dictionaries

I normally use a combination of Pleco w/ their paid Cantonese Dictionaries & Extensions, and Cantodict

Cantonese Keyboards (iOS & Android)

You can type Cantonese on your phone as follows:

iOS

  1. Go to Settings -> General -> Keyboard -> Keyboards.
  2. Select Add New Keyboard.
  3. Search for Cantonese, Traditional
  4. Select Phonetic
  5. Click Done.

Note: The iOS Cantonese Phonetic Keyboard is not Jyutping, but a close variation. Hopefully one day Apple will support the native Jyutping keyboard directly.

Android

  1. Download Gboard.
  2. Search for Cantonese in the Languages section and select 粵語.
  3. Then select 粵語拼音, and unselect any other options (feel free to select what you do want though).
  4. Make sure that for the 粵語拼音, that Jyutping is the chosen format under the Romanization scheme category.