Unless you’re living in Hong Kong or Macau, it can be difficult to learn through the highly effective immersion method. The cool thing about Pimsleur is that it’s mostly focused on conversational skills rather than vocabulary or grammar alone. It brings the traditional flashcard method of language learning to life and is accessible wherever you go! 2. The app has over 2000 Cantonese words and phrases and uses cool graphics as hints if you get stuck. Want to build up your vocabulary skills? Drops is an aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly way to learn more vocabulary in Cantonese. So with Duolingo dropping the ball when it comes to learning Cantonese, what other apps can fill the gap? 1. 3 App Alternatives to Duolingo with Cantonese Courses Now, this is not the case, so development is slower and reliant solely on Duolingo employees rather than utilizing volunteers. Many languages need to be taught in a particular way or order, so having teachers that are familiar with the process, speeds up the development stages for Duolingo.

Previously, Duolingo employees worked alongside native volunteers, who were usually language teachers or tutors, to help them bring their courses to life. This brings us to the fact that Duolingo no longer works with native-speaking volunteers. RELATED: 10 Best Books for Learning French You Need to Get It is more complex than Mandarin and as it’s not as widely spoken, there are fewer resources out there to help the course developers create the course. It uses the Chinese alphabet and has a lot of tonal aspects to it, which is tricky to translate into Duolingo’s no-frills approach to language learning. The next reason is that Cantonese is pretty difficult to teach. In the beginning that was understandable, but now they have the resources to create a Klingon course but not a language that is the first language of both Hong Kong and Macau? Not okay. Firstly, they already have a hugely popular and successful Mandarin course.Īlthough the two languages are not interchangeable, with Mandarin being the more popular Chinese language, the development of that language took precedence. There are a couple of reasons why there might not be a Cantonese course on Duolingo. The fact is that they’ve only recently launched the course on the Chinese language platform, so it’s likely they’ll be working the kinks out on that version before they even think about making a version for English, Spanish and French users among others. They’re usually $9 or less! Are They Planning on Releasing Cantonese on Duolingo?Īt the moment, Duolingo is not planning on releasing Cantonese on any other language versions of the app. I seriously would not be able to learn languages without italki (I’m taking 3 classes per week right now ) try out a class and you’ll thank me later. It’s strange that they’ve developed a course but not made it available on multiple versions. While the Duolingo incubator announced the release of Cantonese on the Chinese version of the language learning app back in June 2022, there still isn’t a Cantonese course on any other version.

Is There a Cantonese Course on Duolingo?Īs it stands there is no Cantonese course on the English version of Duolingo. While not as popular as the other variant of Chinese, Mandarin, which is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, Cantonese has a wide reach thanks to the business importance of Hong Kong and Macau, as well as the emigration of many Southern Chinese families. Spoken throughout Southern China, Macau, and Hong Kong, Cantonese is a popular language spoken by many people around the world. With Duolingo being the go-to place to learn a language, we often expect the app to have every language, but does Duolingo have Cantonese, and if not, why not?