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Guide to Yale Cantonese romanization

Initial+Final+Tone=syllable.

Cantonese has 19 initials, 51 finals, and 7 tones.  High falling is now commonly pronounced as a simple high level, so that there are only 6 commonly spoken tones.  Although Cantonese Yale romanization uses marks to denote tones, the representative numeral has been used in this website.

Tone	Mark	Level	Description
1	dā dà	High level High falling	Starts high in tone, stays level or falls to middle
2	dá	Middle rising	Starts middle in tone, rises to high
3	da	Middle level	Medium and level
4	dàh	Low Falling	Starts low, dips to the bottom
5	dáh	Low Rising	Starts low, rises to medium
6	dah	Low level	Low and level

“h” denotes low tone and is not pronounced

Schematic representation of Cantonese tones

Initial sounds

Aspirated
p t ch k kw^1	pop tell “ts” as in lots kurt “qu” as in quack
Non-aspirated
b d j g gw^2	ball date “ds” as in reads girl “gu” as in guam
Other
f h l m n^3 ng s y w	fork her let more nice “ng” as in long sit yet want

¹ “kw” is commonly pronounced as “k”

²“gw” is commonly pronounced as “g”

³ “n” is commonly pronounced as “l”

Final sounds

Finals starting with	Long vowels^1		Short vowels^2
a	a aai aau aam aan aang aap^3 aat^3 aak^3	“ah” as in father	ai au am an ang ap at ak	what
e	e eng ek	fed	ei	“a” as in say
eu	eu eung euk	“ur” as in murder	eui eun eut	“ur” as in hurt
i	i iu im in ip it	“ee” as it eat	ing ik	lick
o	o oi on ong ot ok	“aw” as in law	ou	“ow” as in low
u	u ui un ut	“oo” as in too	ung uk	“oo” as in book
yu	yu yun yut	french ü (round your lips into small circle and say “ee”)

¹Long vowels have weak endings.  Long diphthongs have a long first vowel and short second vowel.

²Short vowels have strong endings.  Short diphthongs have both short vowels.

³Syllables ending ini p,t,and k are not aspirated and are pronounced faster with a shorter vowel.

The following websites contain more detailed information on Cantonese Yale Romanization, as well as online Cantonese lessons.

http://www.cantonese.ca

http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk

http://www.chinawestexchange.com