Get ready to learn a language spoken by millions: Cantonese is a version of Chinese, spoken mainly in Southern China, Hong Kong, and Macau. Learn Cantonese with Drops, and discover an immersive and playful way of learning! Cantonese is made easy with a visual learning style and useful everyday vocabulary.
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Cantonese is one of the most widely spoken varieties of Chinese. With more than 85 million speakers around the world, learning Cantonese connects you to many others, opens doors to career opportunities, and a deeper understanding of Chinese culture and art. Especially in Hong Kong and Macau, where it is the official language. Cantonese speakers are also spread across southern China, parts of Southeast Asia, and in many communities worldwide, offering a distinct competitive advantage if you plan to study or work in these regions.
The Cantonese language variant is distinct from other Chinese varieties in many ways. It has a unique vocabulary with distinct pronunciation rules, which complicates learning and makes it largely mutually non-intelligible with other Chinese languages. However, many find Cantonese grammar easy to pick up, especially with some background in Mandarin (and vice versa). No more cramming conjugation tables, learning grammatical genders, or special grammar tenses!
Begin your Cantonese language learning journey, and discover a language that challenges your ear, trains your mind, and connects you to millions!
Chinese languages, including Cantonese, are considered to be some of the hardest languages to learn. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by its challenges and where to start. Set aside those fears for a bit - with the right tools, you can learn Cantonese and start using it sooner than you think!
Here are our best tips on how to learn Cantonese:
The best way to learn Cantonese involves consistent exposure, but ultimately, it comes down to your personal goals and needs. Focus on practical vocabulary, and make sure you try a variety of engaging learning methods!
Our Cantonese lessons are designed for both quick progress and long-term retention. With Drops, you can learn Cantonese online through interactive, bite-sized sessions that take just a few minutes a day.
Each lesson immerses you in thematic vocabulary, bringing you new Cantonese words with clear and memorable visuals and audio from native speakers. You’ll work on mastering Cantonese vocabulary in various, playful ways. This approach ensures that what you learn is practical, easy to retain, and builds a solid foundation for communication from the start.
With Drops, you’ll be consistently building practical Cantonese skills and achieving quick mastery, one enjoyable lesson at a time. Try your first Cantonese lesson today!
Ready to learn your first Cantonese words? Starting with essential phrases like common greetings and small talk can quickly build your confidence. Drops introduces you to these fundamentals in an engaging way. Here are a few examples to get you started with Cantonese and what you can expect to see in the Drops app!
Learn these everyday phrases and start chatting with confidence!
Hi - 嗨 (haai1)
Sorry! - 對唔住！ (deoi3 m4 zyu6)!
How are you doing? - 你點啊，幾好啊嘛？ (nei5 dim2 aa1, gei2 hou2 aa1 maa3)?
Look at that! - 睇下嗰度！ (tai2 haa6 go2 dou6)!
I love you! - 我愛你！ (ngo5 ngoi3 nei5)!
Thanks for your help. - 唔該哂你呀。 (m4 goi1 saai3 nei5 aa1).
Learn Cantonese words and phrases for traveling and navigation.
Can I sit here? - 我可唔可以坐呢度？ (ngo5 ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 co5 ni1 dou6)?
Sure, it’s free. - 可以呀，呢度冇人坐。 (ho2 ji5 aa1, ni1 dou6 mou5 jan4 co5).
Sunscreen - 防曬霜 (fong4 saai3 soeng1)
Passport - 護照 (wu6 ziu3)
Bus stop - 巴士站 (baa1 si6 zaam6)
The next station - 下個站 (haa6 go3 zaam6)
Talk about those who are important to you and what’s around you - learn Cantonese for everyday life.
Living room - 客廳 (haak3 teng1)
I live in - 我住喺 (ngo5 zyu6 hai2)
Garden - 花園 (faa1 jyun4)
My family - 我屋企人 (ngo5 nguk1 kei5 jan4)
Friend - 朋友 (pang4 jau5)
Children - 孩子 (haai4 zi2)
Want to learn more? With Drops, you’ll learn many practical terms for everyday conversation about topics that are relevant to you.
The Drops Cantonese learning app is designed to give you a hands-on learning experience that’s both fun and highly effective. We focus on helping you build vocabulary with the following features:
Visual association: Every Cantonese word is paired with a custom, memorable illustration, creating strong mental links that boost recall.
Short and effective daily session: Just a few minutes of focused learning per day can build a significant vocabulary over time. It also helps you develop a routine, making it easy to stay consistent and keep up learning long-term.
Engaging game-like exercises: Our lessons feel like games. The various exercise types and lesson modes keep you motivated and improve retention through active participation.
Practical vocabulary: Take control of your Cantonese language learning: choose and learn useful words and phrases for everyday life, curated by language experts and organized into useful topics.
Get started with Drops and kickstart your Cantonese learning journey!
The most effective approach to learn Cantonese combines consistent daily practice with engaging methods that focus on both vocabulary and pronunciation, including tones. Using a visual Cantonese learning app like Drops for vocabulary, listening to native speakers, and starting to speak early are key strategies. Since Cantonese uses Hanzi characters, it’s important to practice their writing and pronunciation too. The best way is always one you can stick with and enjoy!
Depending on the definition of basic and the skill you’re focusing on, you can get to a beginner level of Cantonese in just a few months. You can understand basic conversations with a couple of months of focused studying. Conversational fluency will take longer, but a solid foundation can be built relatively quickly.
Reading and writing are more difficult: with thousands of characters, you need to know around 2000-3000 characters to read a newspaper with ease. If you’re not familiar with Hanzi, this can take years of practice. Keep at it, consistent practice pays off!
Absolutely! Online platforms and apps like Drops offer interactive exercises and the flexibility to learn at your own pace. You can find free and low-cost materials to learn Cantonese online, so you don’t lose out on anything by giving them a try. If you’re intermediate-advanced level, you may want to incorporate talking to native speakers and getting lessons from teachers to improve your conversational skills. Nowadays, you can do that online as well!
Drops makes learning Cantonese efficient and fun. Our visual learning method and bite-sized lessons help you quickly learn and retain essential Cantonese words and phrases. We focus on practical vocabulary and provide clear audio from native speakers, making it easier to grasp pronunciation and tones.
Cantonese is very different from other languages, but there are some aspects of the language that make it easier than others. There are many recommended ways to learn Cantonese.
Become familiar with the Cantonese writing system:
Tackle Cantonese grammar:
Listen to lots of Cantonese audio:
Cantonese is a variety of the Chinese language that originated in the Canton region. It has about 68 million speakers. It differs in vocabulary, lexicon, and grammar from Mandarin Chinese, and thus, the two are not mutually intelligible. It’s spoken in both Mainland China and in Hong Kong and Macau.
Cantonese is one of the most widely spoken varieties of Chinese. With more than 85 million speakers around the world, learning Cantonese connects you to many others, opens doors to career opportunities, and a deeper understanding of Chinese culture and art. Especially in Hong Kong and Macau, where it is the official language. Cantonese speakers are also spread across southern China, parts of Southeast Asia, and in many communities worldwide, offering a distinct competitive advantage if you plan to study or work in these regions.
The Cantonese language variant is distinct from other Chinese varieties in many ways. It has a unique vocabulary with distinct pronunciation rules, which complicates learning and makes it largely mutually non-intelligible with other Chinese languages. However, many find Cantonese grammar easy to pick up, especially with some background in Mandarin (and vice versa). No more cramming conjugation tables, learning grammatical genders, or special grammar tenses!
Begin your Cantonese language learning journey, and discover a language that challenges your ear, trains your mind, and connects you to millions!
Chinese languages, including Cantonese, are considered to be some of the hardest languages to learn. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by its challenges and where to start. Set aside those fears for a bit - with the right tools, you can learn Cantonese and start using it sooner than you think!
Here are our best tips on how to learn Cantonese:
The best way to learn Cantonese involves consistent exposure, but ultimately, it comes down to your personal goals and needs. Focus on practical vocabulary, and make sure you try a variety of engaging learning methods!
Our Cantonese lessons are designed for both quick progress and long-term retention. With Drops, you can learn Cantonese online through interactive, bite-sized sessions that take just a few minutes a day.
Each lesson immerses you in thematic vocabulary, bringing you new Cantonese words with clear and memorable visuals and audio from native speakers. You’ll work on mastering Cantonese vocabulary in various, playful ways. This approach ensures that what you learn is practical, easy to retain, and builds a solid foundation for communication from the start.
With Drops, you’ll be consistently building practical Cantonese skills and achieving quick mastery, one enjoyable lesson at a time. Try your first Cantonese lesson today!
Ready to learn your first Cantonese words? Starting with essential phrases like common greetings and small talk can quickly build your confidence. Drops introduces you to these fundamentals in an engaging way. Here are a few examples to get you started with Cantonese and what you can expect to see in the Drops app!
Learn these everyday phrases and start chatting with confidence!
Hi - 嗨 (haai1)
Sorry! - 對唔住！ (deoi3 m4 zyu6)!
How are you doing? - 你點啊，幾好啊嘛？ (nei5 dim2 aa1, gei2 hou2 aa1 maa3)?
Look at that! - 睇下嗰度！ (tai2 haa6 go2 dou6)!
I love you! - 我愛你！ (ngo5 ngoi3 nei5)!
Thanks for your help. - 唔該哂你呀。 (m4 goi1 saai3 nei5 aa1).
Learn Cantonese words and phrases for traveling and navigation.
Can I sit here? - 我可唔可以坐呢度？ (ngo5 ho2 m4 ho2 ji5 co5 ni1 dou6)?
Sure, it’s free. - 可以呀，呢度冇人坐。 (ho2 ji5 aa1, ni1 dou6 mou5 jan4 co5).
Sunscreen - 防曬霜 (fong4 saai3 soeng1)
Passport - 護照 (wu6 ziu3)
Bus stop - 巴士站 (baa1 si6 zaam6)
The next station - 下個站 (haa6 go3 zaam6)
Talk about those who are important to you and what’s around you - learn Cantonese for everyday life.
Living room - 客廳 (haak3 teng1)
I live in - 我住喺 (ngo5 zyu6 hai2)
Garden - 花園 (faa1 jyun4)
My family - 我屋企人 (ngo5 nguk1 kei5 jan4)
Friend - 朋友 (pang4 jau5)
Children - 孩子 (haai4 zi2)
Want to learn more? With Drops, you’ll learn many practical terms for everyday conversation about topics that are relevant to you.
The Drops Cantonese learning app is designed to give you a hands-on learning experience that’s both fun and highly effective. We focus on helping you build vocabulary with the following features:
Visual association: Every Cantonese word is paired with a custom, memorable illustration, creating strong mental links that boost recall.
Short and effective daily session: Just a few minutes of focused learning per day can build a significant vocabulary over time. It also helps you develop a routine, making it easy to stay consistent and keep up learning long-term.
Engaging game-like exercises: Our lessons feel like games. The various exercise types and lesson modes keep you motivated and improve retention through active participation.
Practical vocabulary: Take control of your Cantonese language learning: choose and learn useful words and phrases for everyday life, curated by language experts and organized into useful topics.
Get started with Drops and kickstart your Cantonese learning journey!
The most effective approach to learn Cantonese combines consistent daily practice with engaging methods that focus on both vocabulary and pronunciation, including tones. Using a visual Cantonese learning app like Drops for vocabulary, listening to native speakers, and starting to speak early are key strategies. Since Cantonese uses Hanzi characters, it’s important to practice their writing and pronunciation too. The best way is always one you can stick with and enjoy!
Depending on the definition of basic and the skill you’re focusing on, you can get to a beginner level of Cantonese in just a few months. You can understand basic conversations with a couple of months of focused studying. Conversational fluency will take longer, but a solid foundation can be built relatively quickly.
Reading and writing are more difficult: with thousands of characters, you need to know around 2000-3000 characters to read a newspaper with ease. If you’re not familiar with Hanzi, this can take years of practice. Keep at it, consistent practice pays off!
Absolutely! Online platforms and apps like Drops offer interactive exercises and the flexibility to learn at your own pace. You can find free and low-cost materials to learn Cantonese online, so you don’t lose out on anything by giving them a try. If you’re intermediate-advanced level, you may want to incorporate talking to native speakers and getting lessons from teachers to improve your conversational skills. Nowadays, you can do that online as well!
Drops makes learning Cantonese efficient and fun. Our visual learning method and bite-sized lessons help you quickly learn and retain essential Cantonese words and phrases. We focus on practical vocabulary and provide clear audio from native speakers, making it easier to grasp pronunciation and tones.
Speak like a Native
Dive into language learning with Drops' crystal-clear audio. Our native speakers ensure you master perfect pronunciation while relishing every step of your journey. Listen, learn, and speak like a pro!
Stay Motivated
Easily form a language learning habit with our game-based features, enjoyable challenges, and personalized lesson recommendations. Our tailored lessons ensure you learn at the perfect level and pace for you.
Effective and Fun Learning Games
Brace yourself for an adventure of a lifetime! With Drops, learning becomes playtime. Engaging games, review modes, and interactive challenges transform language acquisition into a joyful expedition. Unleash your potential while having a blast!
Memorable Illustrations
Boost your memory retention with our captivating visuals and vibrant illustrations. Each word is accompanied by an eye-catching image, forging strong associations between the word and its meaning. Say goodbye to forgetfulness, and hello to seamless language recall!
