Writing systems:
abjads |
alphabets |
syllabic alphabets |
syllabaries |
semanto-phonetic scripts
undeciphered scripts |
alternative scripts |
your con-scripts |
A-Z index |
Direction index
Writing systems:
abjads |
alphabets |
syllabic alphabets |
syllabaries |
semanto-phonetic scripts
undeciphered scripts |
alternative scripts |
your con-scripts |
A-Z index |
Direction index
Cantonese is spoken by about 66 million people mainly in the south east of China, particularly in Hong Kong, Macau, Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan. It is also spoken in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines and among Overseas Chinese communities in many other countries.
In many schools in Hong Kong and Macau, Cantonese is the medium of instruction, though the students are taught to read and write standard Chinese, which they read with Cantonese pronunciation. Cantonese is also the main language of business, the media and government in both Hong Kong and Macau.
Cantonese has appeared in writing since the 19th century. It is used mainly in personal correspondence, diaries, comics, poetry, advertising, popular newspapers, magazines and to some extent in literature. There are two standard ways of written Cantonese: a formal version and a colloquial version. The formal version is quite different from spoken Cantonese but very similiar to Standard Chinese and can be understood by Mandarin speakers without too much difficulty. The colloquial version is much closer to spoken Cantonese and largely unintelligible to Mandarin speakers.
In Hong Kong, colloquial Cantonese is written with a mixture of standard Chinese characters and over a thousand extra characters invented specifically for Cantonese. The extra characters are included in the Hong Kong Supplementary Characters Set (HKSCS).
Many different systems for writing Cantonese with the Latin alphabet have been devised. These include:
The Meyer-Wempe romanisation system was developed by two Catholic missionaries in Hong Kong: Bernhard F. Meyer and Theodore F. Wempe during the 1920s and 1930s.
The Yale romanisation system was developed at Yale University by Parker Huang and Gerald Kok. It is designed for American students learning Cantonese so the pronunciation is based on American English.
The Sidney Lau romanisation system was developed by Sidney Lau, the principal of the Hong Kong Government Language School, for the radio series, "Cantonese-by-Radio", which was broadcast during the 1960s. It is an adaptation of the Meyer-Wempe system.
The Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK) came up with a new scheme for Cantonese Romanisation known as Jyutping, in 1993. Jyutping can be used to write all the sounds of modern Cantonese and uses numbers to mark tones. It can also be used as a computer input method for Cantonese.
Penkyamp Romanization is a joint effort by enthusiasts in Guangzhou with a aim of coming up with an alternative script to write Cantonese.
Yàhnyàhn sàangchēutlàih jauhhaih jihyàuh ge, hái jyùnyìhm tùhng kyùhnléih seuhng yātleuht pìhngdáng. Kéuihdeih geuihyáuh léihsing tùhng lèuhngsàm, yìhche yìnggòi yuhng hìngdaih ge gwàanhaih laih wuhsēung deuidoih.
Yantyant sänk yi jìyaw, hãy jeünyim tonk keunlèy seòng yätlòt penkdãnk. Kóydèy fûyáw léysênk tonk leongsämp, bènk yënkgöi yí hënkdày guänhày gê jënksant seöng dôydòi.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason
and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Longer sample text (Tower of Babel)
Cantonese language courses, dictionaries, etc
Chinese Translation
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Online Cantonese lessons
http://www.cantonese.ca
http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk
http://www.khuang.com/chinese/cantonese.asp
http://www.chinese-lessons.com/cantonese/
http://www.learnchineseez.com/lessons/cantonese/
http://www.cantoneseclassroom.info
Cantonese Pod - learn Cantonese through podcasts
http://cantonesepod.chinese-central.co.uk
Online Cantonese dictionaries
http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/scripts/wordsearch.php
http://www.mandarintools.com/chardict.html
Online Cantonese radio
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cantonese
http://www.rthk.org.hk
http://www.rfa.org/cantonese/
Linguistic Society of Hong Kong
http://www.lshk.org
Free Chinese fonts including the Hong Kong Supplementary Character Set
http://www.info.gov.hk/digital21/eng/hkscs/download.html
Yuetyue Lomaji - a Cantonese Romanization system developed by Desmond Lee
http://input.foruto.com/ocj/yuetyuelomaji/
Penkyamp - a joint effort of enthusiasts in Guangzhou with a goal of devising
an alternative script to write Cantonese
http://cantonese.wikicities.com/wiki/User:Penkyamp
Glossika Chinese dialects - an introduction to all major varieties of Chinese and to many dialects and sub-dialects: http://www.glossika.com/en/dict/
Cantonese, Dungan, Gan, Hakka, Mandarin, Shanghainese, Taiwanese, Teochew, Xiang
Information about the Chinese script
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