Languages of China & Inner Asia at SOAS: Cantonese
Cantonese is a vital living language spoken by upwards of a hundred million people in South-east China (including Hong Kong and Macau), Malaysia, Europe, Australia, Fiji, North America and many other parts of the world where the adventurous Cantonese people have settled. It is one of a large family of Chinese languages and retains many more traces of its ancient roots than do most of the other Chinese languages. On the other hand, it is a language which seems unafraid to adopt or adapt, notably from English in the past century or so, and it invents, evolves and discards slang at a frenetic rate. As a result it is a very rich language. (Hugh Baker and P. K. Ho, Cantonese: A Complete Course for Beginners, pp. vii, viii)
If you would like to learn Cantonese, contact Ms Lik Suen (lx@soas.ac.uk) Department of the Languages and Cultures of China and Inner Asia.
Degree Programmes
- BA Chinese Studies
- BA Chinese (Modern and Classical)
- BA Chinese (Modern and Classical) and ...
- MA Chinese Studies
- Degree Programmes with Language Options
Degree Course Options
Language Centre
Other Resources
- Teaching Chinese Tones
Please Note: Not all courses and programmes are available every year