Learn the bricks. Build your sentences.
Instead of memorising lists of phrases, you learn reusable words and the rules that put them together. You build, transform and listen to sentences you have never seen before.
Six families of bricks
Every word comes in traditional characters, with its Yale romanisation (tone marks included), its audio and a meaning in context.
佢 means both “he” and “she”. The plural is made with 哋: 我哋 (we), 你哋 (you, plural), 佢哋 (they).
Verbs never change: 我飲, 佢飲, 我哋飲 – no -s, no past tense ending. 飲 is for drinks, 食 for food.
No articles, no gender, no compulsory plural. The place comes straight after the verb, with no “to”: 去餐廳 (go to the restaurant).
唔 negates, right before the verb; 冇 replaces 有 in the negative. A yes/no question repeats the verb with 唔 in the middle: 飲唔飲？
The assembly rules. Nothing is glued together word for word.
Six tones, shown in Yale romanisation by an accent on the vowel and a silent h for the low tones. The tone is part of the word: 詩 (poem) and 時 (time) are two different words.
The same bricks, everywhere
At a restaurant, on the move or meeting someone new, a few bricks are enough to make yourself understood.
Where is Cantonese spoken?
Cantonese was born in the Canton (Guangzhou) region, at the heart of Guangdong province; it is the everyday language of Hong Kong and Macao. Since the 19th century, emigration has carried it to Southeast Asia, North America, Europe and Oceania, where it was long the language of Chinatowns.
- Guangdong, China — Canton (Guangzhou): the homeland of the language
- Hong Kong — official language: Chinese, spoken in Cantonese
- Macao — official language: Chinese, spoken in Cantonese
- Guangxi, China — Cantonese dialects of Nanning and Wuzhou
- Malaysia — Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh
- United States — San Francisco
- Canada (Vancouver)
- Canada (Toronto)
- United Kingdom — London
- Australia
Homeland or official language Community · Approximate positions. Natural Earth.
The sentence builder
Every combination is checked against the grammar. Bricks marked ≠ don’t go with your choice: pick them to find out why.
Fifteen minutes a day
Adjustable from 5 to 30 minutes. Missing a day costs you nothing: your progress waits for you.
Eight weeks of discovery
A path, not a promise of a level. Each week targets a skill you can see for yourself.
Six tones, visible on every syllable.
Cantonese is written in traditional Chinese characters, plus a few characters of its own for the spoken language. Yale romanisation spells each syllable in Latin letters and shows its tone with an accent (ā, á, à) and, for the low tones, a silent h.
Learn the tones and soundsLearning Cantonese with KilaTalk
What is KilaTalk, and what does learning “by construction” mean?
KilaTalk is a language-learning app. Instead of memorising lists of phrases, you learn reusable words — people, actions, things, places — and the rules that put them together, then you build, transform and listen to your own sentences.
Do I need an account? Is it free?
The sentence builder and the method, pronunciation and reading pages are open to everyone, with no account. The eight-week course, reviews and your word list require an account, which is free to create.
How much time does it take each day, and what is in the eight-week course?
A session lasts fifteen minutes, adjustable from 5 to 30: the day’s reviews, new bricks, sentences to build and a listening task. The eight weeks go from the first sounds to real-life dialogues, through negation, questions, numbers and polite requests; it is a discovery path, not a promise of a level.
How is pronunciation taught?
Every word and sentence has audio you can play at normal speed or slowly (0.5×, without distorting the voice). Words come with a transcription suited to the language: pinyin for Mandarin, Yale romanisation for Cantonese, rōmaji for Japanese, Revised Romanization for Korean, the International Phonetic Alphabet for Vietnamese and most European languages, and a transliteration for Russian.
Which languages can I learn from?
The interface is available in six languages: English, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Chinese and French. Explanations and translations are written for each of them, with comparisons drawn from the learner’s own language.
Who is behind KilaTalk, and can I trust the sentences?
KilaTalk is designed and published by SDiTech, a software publisher based in France. Every sentence in the builder is checked by a grammar engine: a combination that doesn’t work is refused, with the rule explained and correct alternatives offered.
Lay your first brick.
Choose your goal and your pace, and the first lesson starts straight away.