How to learn Cantonese by reading

Cantonese is the language of Hong Kong, Macau and much of Guangdong, and of Chinese communities from Vancouver to Kuala Lumpur. It has its own films, songs and slang, and a sound that’s very different from Mandarin’s: six tones instead of four, and syllables that can end in a clipped -p, -t or -k, as in 十 (sap6, “ten”) and 六 (luk6, “six”).

For learners, Cantonese poses an unusual reading puzzle. There are two ways of writing it, and fewer books written for learners than in Mandarin. That makes adapted, narrated reading especially useful.

Two ways of writing Cantonese

Formal writing in Hong Kong, including newspapers, official documents and most books, uses Standard Written Chinese, whose grammar and vocabulary follow Mandarin. Cantonese speakers read it aloud with Cantonese pronunciation, but it isn’t how anyone talks.

Written Cantonese records the spoken language as it is, with characters for words that standard Chinese doesn’t have. You see it in comics, advertising, messages and social media, and in some fiction. Compare one sentence, “He said he didn’t know”:

• Standard Written Chinese: 他說他不知道。
• Written Cantonese: 佢話佢唔知。

The words differ: 佢 (keoi5) for “he” or “she,” 話 (waa6) for “say,” 唔 (m4) for “not,” 知 (zi1) for “know.” Other characters you’ll meet constantly in written Cantonese include 嘅 (ge3, possessive), 咗 (zo2, completed action), 喺 (hai2, “at, in”), 冇 (mou5, “not have”), 睇 (tai2, “look, read”) and 嘢 (je5, “thing”). Both registers are written in traditional characters in Hong Kong and Macau.

What else makes Cantonese hard to read

• Tones. Six contrasting tones. The syllable si alone gives 詩 (si1, “poem”), 史 (si2, “history”), 試 (si3, “try”), 時 (si4, “time”), 市 (si5, “market”) and 事 (si6, “matter”). Characters don’t show tones, so listening is essential.
• Romanization. Jyutping, devised by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong, is widely used today, with a tone number after each syllable. Yale romanization is common in older textbooks. Pick one and stick with it.
• Different word order. Cantonese puts some words where Mandarin doesn’t. 你行先, “you go first,” puts 先 (“first”) after the verb, and 我畀本書你, “I give you a book,” puts the book before the person.
• Classifiers doing the work of “the.” Cantonese can use a classifier where English says “the” or “my”: 本書好好睇 (bun2 syu1 hou2 hou2 tai2), “the book is a really good read”; 我架車 (ngo5 gaa3 ce1), “my car.”
• Comparisons. 佢高過我, literally “he tall-past me,” means “he’s taller than me.”
• Sentence-final particles. 啦, 喎, 囉, 咩, 啫: small syllables at the end of a sentence that carry surprise, insistence, doubt or reassurance. They’re everywhere in dialogue and rarely translate neatly, so you learn them by hearing them in context.

For a first look at characters, our guide to learning a new script has practical advice on starting with audio.

Cantonese reading at each level

Here is roughly what each CEFR level looks like in Cantonese:

• A2, elementary. Short sentences with everyday words and the aspect markers 咗 (completed), 緊 (in progress) and 過 (experienced). Simple dialogue with a few common particles.
• B1, intermediate. Longer sentences, comparisons with 過, reported speech, and more particles in dialogue to show attitude.
• B2, upper intermediate. A wider vocabulary that mixes in more formal, written words, long descriptions before the noun, and idioms.
• C1, advanced. Lightly condensed, and otherwise close to the original. C2 is the complete novel.

Our guide to CEFR levels explains the scale as a whole.

Around the World in Eighty Days at A2 and at B2

Phileas Fogg’s race around the world passes through Hong Kong, which makes it a fitting book for Cantonese. Two moments, written for this page in written Cantonese:

A2

福克先生同朋友打賭。佢話：「我八十日就可以環遊世界。」當晚佢就同僕人出發咗。

Mr. Fogg made a bet with his friends. He said, “I can go around the world in eighty days.” That same night he set off with his servant.

B2

喺香港，個偵探故意灌醉路路通，等佢冇辦法通知主人話隻船提早開，結果福克先生錯過咗去橫濱嘅船。

In Hong Kong, the detective deliberately got Passepartout drunk so that he couldn’t warn his master that the ship was leaving early, and as a result Mr. Fogg missed the boat to Yokohama.

Look for the Cantonese words. In the A2 text: 同 (tung4, “with”), 佢話 (keoi5 waa6, “he said”), 日 (jat6) for “day” where Mandarin writes 天, and 咗 marking the completed action. In the B2 text: 喺 (hai2, “in”), 冇辦法 (mou5 baan6 faat3, “no way to”), 嘅 linking 去橫濱 (“going to Yokohama”) to 船 (“ship”), and two classifiers doing the work of “the”: 個偵探, “the detective,” and 隻船, “the ship.” Passepartout is 路路通 here, one of his usual Chinese names, meaning “every road open.”

How to practice reading Cantonese every day

1. Listen first. Play a section with the text highlighted as it’s read. In Cantonese, the tones and the particles live in the sound, so the audio is half the lesson.
2. Then read along. Go through the same section again, pausing on the sentences that surprised you.
3. Tap a word to hear it alone. When a word catches you, tap it for its meaning in context and play it on its own. Say it back with the same tone.
4. Keep Jyutping as a tool. Note the romanization of words you want to keep, with the tone numbers. Over time you’ll need it less.

The research on audio is encouraging. Webb and Chang (2015, “Second language vocabulary learning through extensive reading with audio support”) found that reading graded books while listening taught learners a substantial share of the words they hadn’t known, and that much of it was still there months later. For a language as sound-driven as Cantonese, reading and listening together is the obvious way in. More in reading while listening and extensive reading.

Classics to start with

• Around the World in Eighty Days stops in Hong Kong, where a detective’s trick nearly ends the bet. A perfect first book at A2 or B1.
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes gives you short stories, each solved by the end, at B1 and B2.
• Treasure Island is fast and full of dialogue, good practice for particles and everyday speech.
• The Count of Monte Cristo is a long, gripping revenge story for B2.
• Journey to the Center of the Earth is simple and linear, easy to follow at A2.

Cantonese in Lexo

In Lexo, Cantonese is a language in its own right, separate from Chinese (Simplified) and Chinese (Traditional), and its editions are narrated in Cantonese. That’s the heart of it. The whole book is read aloud, with different voices for different characters and each word highlighted as it’s spoken, and every word can be played on its own, which in a language where tone carries so much meaning is the help you’ll use most.

You can tap any word, even though the text has no spaces, and the card shows what the word means in that sentence, its part of speech, and the meaning of any phrase or idiom it belongs to. The card also spells out the word’s reading in Latin letters, a useful anchor for characters you haven’t met before. The whole sentence is translated into English, words you want to keep go into your Words list, and sentence-by-sentence mode shows one sentence at a time with its audio and translation.

The level is set book by book, from A2 to C2. Most Cantonese editions won’t exist until someone asks for one; asking starts the writing. Chapter 1 is ready in minutes, the app can notify you when it is, and the rest follows while you read, with a dated “First edition” mark for the first reader. No account is needed, and books work offline.

Learning Mandarin as well? See Chinese.

Lexo is coming soon to the App Store for iPhone and iPad. Get notified at launch.