Welcome to the GuangDong Hua Website!
What is GuangDongHua?
"GuangDong Hua" is the Chinese name for "Cantonese". It is the language of the GuangDong province of southern China.
What many people think of as "Chinese" is really a group of related languages, not dialects; many of which are unintelligible from each other.
For example, Mandarin Chinese is a Northern Chinese language adopted for use throughout all of China as a national language. Cantonese is a Southern Chinese language primarily spoken in the southern provinces of GuangDong, GuangXi, and in Hong Kong. Shanghaiese is spoken in the city of Shanghai and surrounding areas.
Because China is such a large country with an extensive history, most areas have developed their own local languages. The language landscape is similar to Europe's if Europe were all one nation. While Spanish, French, and Italian speakers acknowledge a shared linguistic heritage, their languages are not mutually intelligible. A student in Madrid cannot easily understand a professor in Paris. Similarly, a German mother cannot relay her concerns to an English doctor.
The language landscape in China is considerably diverse and fragmented. Often, a broker in Beijing must speak English to communicate with her counterpart in Hong Kong.
What is this website?
This is a website dedicated to the exploration of the Cantonese language.
Included on this page will be links to several resources dedicated to the Cantonese language.
The best Cantonese dictionary on the web is called Cantodict
The definitive grammar reference for the Cantonese language written in English is:
Cantonese: A Comprehensive Grammar by Stephen Matthews and Virgina Yip.
It is available through Routledge publishing ISBN: 978-0-415-47131-2
Given that Cantonese is a tonal language, the most daunting aspect of studying Cantonese is learning how to recognize and reproduce the proper syllable.
A wonderful resource for the Cantonese sound systems is: Cantonese Character Database
Here is a list of vocabulary from Teach Yourself Cantonese textbook.
Resources for Studying Cantonese
| title | description |
|---|---|
| The Linguistic Society of Hong Kong | a Hong Kong-based academic institution that studies and promotes Cantonese |
| Cantonese: A Comprehensive Grammar | Cantonese Grammar Website |
| Cantodict | The Internet's Best Cantonese Dictionary |
| Cantonese Syllabary | Cantonese Syllable Database |
| FSI Cantonese | free Cantonese book and audio files |
| Cantonese Wikibook | Cantonese Wikibook |
| Cantonese Travel Phrases | Cantonese WikiTravel Phrases |
| Learn Cantonese | Cantonese Learning |
| Qingwen Dictionary | a iphone / ipad dictionary based on JyutPing |
| Online Cantonese | interactive media site to learn Cantonese |
| Hong Kong Cantonese Corpus | collection of Cantonese language samples and statistical information |
| Cantonese Lessons and Podcast | Cantonese Lessons and PodCast |
| Cantonese Blog | Cantonese101 Blog |
| CantoFish Firefox Add-on | Cantonese Firefox extension |
| Input Cantonese into your Computer | Cantonese IME for Windows |
| Online Cantonese Input Method | Cantonese input method for the Web |
| Cantonese book publisher | Greenwood Press |
Email us your favorite Cantonese resource and we'll include it on this page! Language Society