Rosetta Stone is a household name when it comes to language learning.
Unfortunately there is no Rosetta Stone Cantonese course.
Why is there no Rosetta Stone Cantonese course?
There are over 70 million Cantonese speakers, so it’s hard to call Cantonese a minority language. Still, Cantonese is often overshadowed by Mandarin Chinese, which is the most widely spoken language on the planet. Mandarin is also the official language of China, so most language learning companies pick Mandarin as their Chinese course, and don’t make much of an effort to teach Cantonese.
Rosetta Stone is no different. The company has been around since 1992, and not once have they announced any plans of releasing a Rosetta Stone Cantonese course.
If you’re waiting for Rosetta Stone to teach you Cantonese I wouldn’t get your hopes up. Your best bet to learn the language is using different courses. Here are some of the best options for learning Cantonese.
Best alternatives to Rosetta Stone Cantonese
If you’re learning Cantonese, your options for courses are a lot more limited than for other more popular languages. Rosetta Stone isn’t the only company to skip Cantonese. Duolingo also has no intention of creating a course for the language.
However, there are still some helpful options out there. Here’s a few of the best ways you can learn Cantonese.
Cantoneseclass101
Cantoneseclass101 is the most comprehensive Cantonese course on this list. It’s essentially a Cantonese course packaged as a podcast. Each episode (lesson) features a conversation between two native Cantonese speakers. The podcast hosts act as your personal language teachers and breakdown any important grammar, vocabulary, and cultural insights from the dialogue.
Cantoneseclass101’s podcast lessons are an excellent way to develop your Cantonese listening and pronunciation skills. They’re also very effective at teaching grammar and vocabulary. Cantoneseclass101 also has a lot of free resources such as a Cantonese to English dictionary, writing lessons and pdfs, pronunciation training guides, lists of important phrases, flashcards, and more.
Cantoneseclass101 is a great resource for anyone learning Cantonese. Most podcast lessons are only available through a paid monthly membership (which starts at $4 per month). However, Cantoneseclass101 also provides a free lifetime account, which gives you access to a limited selection of Cantonese lessons, and all of the site's free resources. There’s even a free monthly prize pack which includes a selection of free downloads and learning materials.
Pimsleur Cantonese
Pimsleur is the only audio course that teaches you how to speak Cantonese conversationally. Pimsleur uses a unique question-recall-response method to train you how to speak and think in Chinese Cantonese. In each 30 minute lesson you are taught how to say a collection of Cantonese phrases word by word, and syllable by syllable. Then you are prompted to answer and ask questions using those phrases (without using any English).
Pimsleur is a powerful way to start speaking Cantonese. The main drawback of the course is that it’s an audio course and doesn’t teach you how to read or write Cantonese (though Rosetta Stone courses don’t always teach that either). There’s also only one level of Pimsleur Cantonese, while most other languages have up to five Pimsleur levels.
If you’re learning to speak Cantonese conversationally then Pimsleur is certainly worth checking out. You can get your first lesson for free, so I recommend trying the course out and making sure it’s right for you.
Italki
Italki is a language learning site that allows you to browse the profile of language teachers from around the world, and book paid one on one lessons with them via video chat. There are over one hundred Cantonese teachers on Italki. You can book lessons for 30 minutes, 1 hour, or 1 ½ hours. Teachers provide learning materials and share texts, videos, and pictures in real time during their lessons.
Speaking Cantonese with a real person, is one of the most effective ways to learn the language. Even if there was a Rosetta Stone Cantonese course, it wouldn’t give you the opportunity that Italki does.
Italki also provides free resources you can use without booking any lessons. There’s a language learning forum where you can ask for corrections and tips from native Cantonese speakers. There’s a blog maintained by the sites’ teachers. There’s also a public notebook where you can practice writing with Chinese characters.
*After a purchase of $20 or more. After you complete your first lesson 10 free Italki credits will be added to your account.
Conclusion
Don’t let the fact that Rosetta Stone doesn’t offer a course for learning Cantonese, keep you from learning the language. Even though Cantonese isn’t the most popular foreign language around, there are still some great courses out there to help you learn it. Try out these choices and find out which is right for you. You can start learning today even without Rosetta Stone Cantonese.
