Cantonese

< Chinese Department Main Page

Basic Cantonese Chinese Courses for Foreign Learners
For people fluent in English wanting to communicate in Standard Cantonese as spoken in Hong Kong, Macau, and Guangzhou.

Conversational Cantonese
Practical and informative classes for the casual tourist and their families offered in a fun "non-credit" style For native English speakers fluent in written Chinese, and another Chinese dialect (e.g. Mandarin), wanting to also become fluent in Standard Cantonese, and those wanting to focus exclusively on the spoken language


 * Conversational Cantonese One - in development
 * This class will teach you the basics of speaking, listening, and surviving in southern China in a fun and supportive environment as a tourist


 * Conversational Cantonese Two
 * Expand your ability to communicate in practical situations. It will give you more grammer, pronunciation, and conversation. This vocabulary boost will enable you to speak basic phrases with confidence. Includes the introduction of basic business phrases for the occasional business traveler.

Year One
An introduction to Cantonese: Parallel to first-year college courses


 * Cantonese One
 * Cantonese Two


 * Consists of listening, speaking, reading, and writing Cantonese Chinese. The written and spoken languages are presented concurrently throughout both courses.

Year Two
Parallel to second-year college courses


 * Cantonese Three
 * Cantonese Four


 * Continued work in Cantonese, with an emphasis on mastering all basic grammatical structures, developing conversation skills, and building vocabulary in the written and spoken languages using the correct pronunciation. Recommended prerequisite: Cantonese Two.

Intermediate Cantonese Chinese Courses for Foreign Learners
For people fluent in English wanting to become fluent in Standard Cantonese or basic Classical Chinese

Year Three
Parallel to third-year college courses


 * Cantonese Five


 * Cantonese opera:


 * Including 帝女花


 * Cantonese Six


 * Includes intermediate conversation, reading, writing, vocabulary building, and grammar. Introduction to literary texts. Recommended prerequisite: Cantonese Four.


 * Newspaper Cantonese


 * Practical introduction to the reading and accurate understanding of Chinese newspapers and other related styles of writing. Recommended as a complement to Cantonese Five and Six. Recommended prerequisite: Cantonese Four. Recommended corequisite: Cantonese Five.


 * Business Cantonese


 * Practice in oral and written Chinese at the upper-intermediate level, with emphasis on business vocabulary. Recommended as a complement to third-year Chinese. Recommended prerequisites: Cantonese Five and Newspaper Cantonese. Recommended corequisite: Cantonese Six.


 * Introduction to Literary Chinese One with Cantonese, Classical Chinese Wikibook


 * Introduction to Literary Chinese Two with Cantonese


 * Readings in the traditional literary language, designed to provide familiarity with the essential grammer, build vocabulary, and introduce works from all genres and periods. Recommended as a complement to third-year Cantonese; preparation for advanced work in either modern or classical Chinese. Recommended prerequisite: Cantonese Four. Recommended corequisite: Cantonese Five.

Advanced Cantonese Courses for Fluent Speakers
For native English speakers fluent in Cantonese and also wanting to master Classical Chinese or other advanced Chinese topics at the "graduate" course level (links have Wikimedia references)

Year Four/Graduate
Parallel to fourth-year and graduate level college courses


 * Advanced Cantonese One
 * Advanced Cantonese Two


 * Learn complex patterns in conversation including reading and writing. Topics such as Rural China, The Philosophers, Documentary Chinese, The Structure of Chinese are included. Recommended prerequisites: Cantonese Six, Newspaper Cantonese, and Intro. Literary Chinese with Cantonese I & II.


 * Advanced Classical Chinese with Cantonese


 * Readings from classical works of various genres and historical periods, designed to solidify the grammer introduced in Intro. to Literary Chinese with Cantonese I & II, build further vocabulary and introduce the fundamentals of classical Chinese literary history. Recommended prerequisites: Cantonese Six and Intro. to Literary Chinese with Cantonese I & II.


 * Classic Chinese Literature One with Cantonese
 * Classic Chinese Literature Two with Cantonese


 * Reading, analysis, and discussion of representative literary texts. Classic Chinese Lit I focuses on pre-modern topics such as "Traditional Chinese Fiction" and "Chinese Classical Masterpieces," while Classic Chinese Lit II addresses primarily twentieth-century topics such as "Chinese Nativist Literature" or "Chinese Urban Literature." Recommended prerequisites: Cantonese Six, Newspaper Cantonese, and Intro. Literary Chinese with Cantonese I & II.

Resources

 * The Cantonese Wikipedia
 * Words.hk - a dictionary project created by a group of Hongkongers. Words are defined in Cantonese and English