Teaching development grants final and financial report: An online self-access Cantonese learning platform for Putonghua speakers

In Hong Kong, nearly 90% of Hong Kong residents use Cantonese as the usual home language. In tertiary education, the intake of mainland students has been growing and these students are encouraged to overcome the language barrier by mastering the local vernacular, Cantonese, in order to understand local culture and make friends with local students, and make themselves more competitive in job interviews. This online Cantonese sounds and tones learning platform offers a comprehensive course in the Cantonese phonology using the Romanization system created by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong. After mastering the Cantonese sound system, learners can go on with dialogues that are designed for elementary and intermediate levels of learners. It also has the word search function. Learners can find the corresponding Cantonese terms using Chinese characters, Hanyu Pinyin, English and Jyutping. We offer the Putonghua-Cantonese cross-reference lists which learners can use to master the general corresponding rules in initials, finals and tones. It is a self-access learning tool for Cantonese sounds and tones.