Learning Cantonese Chinese

The Cantonese language is spoken by approximately 65 million people in the southern China provinces, Hong Kong and Macao as well as other South East Asian countries like Singapore, and in the other large Chinese communities around the world.

Also called Yue, Cantonese is one of the five major languages in China. The Cantonese language is from the Sino-Tibetan family of languages.

The word “Cantonese” originates from the former English name of Guangzhou, which is considered as the area where the language was born in its purest form. The city of Hong Kong, now an autonomous province of China, is the contemporary hub of the Cantonese language and culture.

The Cantonese language is the principal language in Chinese communities abroad because most Chinese immigrants came from Hong Kong. Cantonese is the language predominantly used for business around southeast Asia.

Colloquial Cantonese language is a constantly evolving language, with a large amount of fashionable expressions and slang words. Cantonese grammar is simple, with no verbs conjugations, and no prefixes or suffixes.