How to use this website

This website's main purpose is to provide revision aids in order to learn Chinese.  Many of the notes have been designed to be printed out for use away from the computer.  These notes will complement a formal course in Cantonese, whether from books, tapes or tuition.  It is also my hope that teachers will find some of the print-outs useful for lesson plans.

The notes are roughly in a suggested order of learning so sheets such as Numbers and Natural Objects will contain simple words which will help you learn the more complex sheets faster.  At the time of writing, the sheets are split up into "Absolute Beginners" and "Beginners" sections but this is really only an arbitrary grouping.  You have to start somewhere and subjects such as Numbers and Dates are popular because you can write meaningful sentences after learning only a few characters.

Before you start using the revision sheets I recommend reading the guide to jyutping pronunciation.  This will help explain how to pronounce the words on each sheet.

Finally, if you can't see Chinese characters on this website, please read How to view Chinese Characters on your PC.

Listening to Cantonese

Some words have a sound file which plays when you click on the jyutping pronunciation.  For example, if you click on "faa1" below you should hear how to say the word:

Written and Spoken Cantonese

Learning Cantonese involves further difficulties as the written form is not always the same as the spoken form.  For more information please see Difficulties for Western students. As it is important to know which form is which this website uses the following conventions.

Unless otherwise noted, words and phrases will fall into one of three categories:

• Acceptable in both Cantonese and Mandarin.  Words in this category may be written and understood by Cantonese and Mandarin people alike.
  Phrases in this category will not have a background colour.
• Mandarin Chinese - these will only be of interest to students wishing to learn how to read and write.  ie: You cannot speak these phrases and hope to be understood by a Cantonese person!
  Phrases in this category will have a background colour of yellow and a Mandarin icon: 
  Like this. 國
• Cantonese - Obviously you can speak these phrases and be understood by a Cantonese speaker. Remember that the written forms of these phrases may only be used in Cantonese media and would be considered incorrect or illegible by a Mandarin reader.
  Phrases in this category will have a background colour of pink and a Cantonese icon: 
  Like this.粵

Here is an example of all three categories:

Chinese Characters 

 Try and recognise patterns in the characters.  They all contain common radicals which greatly assist the memory process.  Consider 木.  This is the character for tree or wood and it appears in many other characters.  Often, its presence will imply a wooden structure or connection with a tree.  For example 果 means fruit and is made up of a field 田 in the branches of a tree 木.

By the way, there is no Chinese Alphabet, in case you were wondering!

The best way to learn how to write Chinese is to keep writing the characters out.  Guidelines on the correct way to do this may be found in the section, 'How to write Chinese characters'. Doodling the characters whilst on the phone or at work is a great way to get in the habit of writing the characters instinctively.  Remember not to draw the characters, your goal should be to write them with no more thought than if you were writing in your own language's script.  Examples of different styles of writing may be found in the Compound Word section.

We have found that most people will benefit from frequent short study periods. Set yourself a small task, such as revising the directions and then test yourself at the end to see how many you can write out without looking at the notes.

There are also many projects you can print out from these pages, the most useful one being the Cantonese Flashcards.  Flashcards are used by Chinese children when learning - and for good reason.  They take up very little space and are incredibly good for helping you remember Chinese words.

Finally, to really jog your memory, there are some tests you can try on the main page.

Print out the pages!

Studying in front of the computer isn't always the best idea for everyone.  Some people prefer to print out sections and forum posts to read later on.  If you do this, you might want to file away pages in certain categories.  There is a helpful forum thread that contains suggested categories and the Chinese characters to use as folder labels.

Asking For Help

Everyone that uses this site has experienced the frustration of not understanding various aspects of this difficult language - speaking personally, I feel this at least once a day!  When you need to ask questions, share experiences or just generally ask for support, there is no better place than our friendly discussion forums. If you are going to be online for a while, the Chat Room is also worth dropping in to.  Anyone can login without a password and if you wait around for a few minutes it is likely someone will come in to join you.  The Chat Room allows writing in Chinese, which is an excellent way of practising with real people.

Further Study

This website also aims to be a portal to other useful resources.  I maintain an extensive Links Collection which will point you to some wonderfully interesting and useful websites.  If you want to escape from the Internet there are many books and other study materials available and if I can obtain them I will review them in the Reviews Section.

Have you Read...?

Our Note to Parents or the Frequently Asked Questions page?

If you have any questions I would recommend posting them to the discussion forum as then everybody can benefit from the answer.  Also, it is read by people that are much more knowledgable than myself!