FSI Cantonese Basic Course

While standard “Mandarin” Chinese may be the lingua franca of mainland China, for historical reasons, Cantonese is one of the most commonly spoken dialects among Chinese communities abroad.

Within China, it is widely spoken in Guangdong and Guangxi provinces as well as in Hong Kong and Macau, but it is also common among Chinese speakers throughout Southeast Asia – and also in the US.

It is a challenging tongue to master, and if you travel to Hong Kong or Guangzhou, nobody will expect you to know it.

But it is a fascinating language and an important part of the identity of those who speak it, so if you do learn, you will be able to surprise and delight native speakers in equal measure. And for anyone who wants to try, this free Cantonese course is the ideal place to start.

Course Details

What is the FSI Cantonese Basic Course?

Mandarin Chinese has by far the largest number of native speakers in the world, and, after English, it is also the world’s second most widely spoken tongue. For this reason, there is an abundance of study materials to choose from for anyone hoping to learn it.

Cantonese, on the other hand, is not so commonly studied, and consequently, the resources you can turn to are far more limited. For this reason, this FSI Cantonese course is an invaluable source of learning materials for anyone who wants to try it.

It teaches the “prestige” variety of Cantonese that is spoken in the city of Guangzhou (formerly Canton), and it provides a wealth of text and audio for you to use.

This course first appeared in 1970, and it contains enough material for around 400 hours of classroom time, consisting of 30 lessons and accompanied by many hours of authentic audio.

How was FSI Cantonese Basic originally used?

These course materials were originally created to teach US diplomatic staff the language before being sent on postings to Cantonese speaking areas. Students were expected to spend around six hours in class each day, and they were supposed to supplement this with a further two hours per day of individual study.

From the beginning, they spoke only Cantonese in class, and even outside of lesson time, they were supposed to speak Cantonese among themselves. In this way, in a short period of under six months, they were able to attain a relatively high level of proficiency in the language.

How can you use FSI Cantonese Basic?

Of course, it will probably be impossible for you to recreate anything like the perfect study environment enjoyed by US diplomats studying this course. However, FSI Cantonese represents a comprehensive introduction to the language, and if you know how to adapt the materials, you can still benefit greatly.

If you have another coursebook, you can use these materials to supplement your learning, helping you improve your fluency while also increasing your stock of vocabulary.

Alternatively, you could use the FSI Cantonese course as your primary study materials while using any other resources you can find to supplement your learning.

For further details on how to make the best use FSI Basic courses, please check out our accompanying post here for more study tips and advice.

Taking it further

Volume 1

Student Text

Unit	Audio
Lesson 01	Tape 1 · Tape 2
Lesson 02	Tape 1 · Tape 2
Lesson 03	Tape 1 · Tape 2
Lesson 04	Tape 1 · Tape 2
Lesson 05	Tape 1 · Tape 2
Lesson 06	Tape 1 · Tape 2
Lesson 07	Tape 1 · Tape 2
Lesson 08	Tape 1 · Tape 2
Lesson 09	Tape 1 · Tape 2
Lesson 10	Tape 1 · Tape 2
Lesson 11	Tape 1 · Tape 2
Lesson 12	Tape 1 · Tape 2
Lesson 13	Tape 1 · Tape 2
Lesson 14	Tape 1 · Tape 2
Lesson 15	Tape 1 · Tape 2

Volume 2

Student Text

Unit	Audio
Lesson 16	Tape
Lesson 17	Tape
Lesson 18	Tape
Lesson 19	Tape
Lesson 20	Tape
Lesson 21	Tape
Lesson 22	Tape
Lesson 23	Tape
Lesson 24	Tape
Lesson 25	Tape
Lesson 26	Tape
Lesson 27	Tape
Lesson 28	Tape
Lesson 29	Tape
Lesson 30	Tape