Who is Chantoneasy for?

• People who resonate with the arts—with the use of a therapeutic and creative mindset of finding the best ways that you as an individual would learn, with attention to the modality you are most receptive to, whether through visuals, listening, speaking, or active interaction for example, and whether your notes need colours, shapes and lines to strategically prompt things you need to remember or pay attention to

• People who are musically-inclined—the tools connect to concrete musical references, such as to do-re-mi and the manuscript for reading music. However this is just ONE of the references, and you do not have to have ANY musical background. Do-re-mi can easily be replaced by numbers, or simply the concept of levels (like stairs).

• People who benefit from or need personal attention—and want personalised connection and relevant examples related to your personal experiences, in the way that acknowledges particular thoughts and feelings around challenges you face in previous attempts in learning languages, whether Cantonese, other tonal languages, or something else, and feel left behind or would lose interest in group settings

Or if you:

• have tried other methods or felt exhausted from taking various courses from short-term intensives to bone-dry repetitive drills using tone numbers and existing systems that haven’t been sufficiently tailored to the needs of learners who come from the world over

• are bored and tired of dense worksheets and teachers who can’t or don’t really attune to the students

• can follow your own curiosity and be self-driven

• are willing to confront all blocks that come or emerge along the process

• are determined to get the sounds and tones right, so you are understood 100% of the time with every accumulated word you learn even if only one by one — instead of learning 100 words and only being understood 20–40% of the time which of course will leave you feeling aggravated, exhausted and wanting to give up

• want to speak the language with ease, fun, and flow, accurately with the right tones and sounds from the very beginning (not after finally being corrected years later)

Teaching content

Content will vary according to your learning style, speed and experience, adapting to how much you are willing to use and practice in your everyday life.

Strictness in accuracy in pronunciation will also be adjusted according to your sensitivity, receptivity and determination (to surrender/ relax into the right shapes or processes!).

Variations

• FOUNDATION/ REINFORCEMENT IN TONES AND SOUNDS

• NUMBERS (addresses, dates, money/currency, shopping, stats, etc)

• EVERYDAY CONVERSATION

• STREET SLANG/ LINGO USED BY DIFFERENT GROUPS AND AGES

• INDUSTRY-SPECIFIC VOCAB

• SELF INTRODUCTION

• SPEECHES

• LEVELS OF FORMALITY

Guaranteed:

• Busting the 9-tone myth and giving you an abundance of tools for reorganising and re-invigorating existing learning material or customising new material, according to your needs, in a way that would be fun and interesting

• Streamlining your learning through breaking down the various types of romanisation and notation methods, honing in on what works for you

What students say about Chantoneasy

I’ve learned more Cantonese in the last 10 minutes than I’ve learned in the last 10 years of living in Hong Kong — Max Marshall (Scotland) Disney

Within my first hour I was blown away by how intuitive the system was. The combination of physical actions, creative association, and a simple “do-re-mi” technique made it a lot less painful than I thought. Tiff is also extremely patient and encouraging. Would recommend this 100% to anyone with an interest in learning Cantonese — Miguel Mari (Spain) Creative Director, Tatler Asia Group

It’s brilliant how effectively Chantoneasy shortcuts the pain of learning Cantonese, when compared to how grueling it was for me to learn through a yearlong intensive university Cantonese program. The Chantoneasy system almost magically “hacks” your existing skills to rapidly accelerate picking up Cantonese pronunciation, instead of the repetitive drilling we had to do just to learn the tones, three hours every day for an entire month. I wish Chantoneasy had existed when I was learning Cantonese — Prof. De Kai (USA) Human Language Technology Center, Computer Science & Engineering, HKUST, Founding Fellow of the Association for Computational Linguistics

Tiff’s system is brilliantly and intuitively designed for the Cantonese beginner, with a unique approach to teaching tone, where the musical scale is mapped onto the human hand. Tiff will hold your hand until you’re ready to walk on your own [metaphorically!] Tiff is a professional, and very personable teacher, who has been unfailingly supportive and helpful. I recommend her highly — Prof. Darryl Sterk (Canada) Department of Translation, Lingnan University Hong Kong

The idea of learning Cantonese has always felt daunting. Sitting across from Tiff was the first time it felt not only interesting but also fun and totally feasible — Dr. Robert Alexander (USA) CEO / Co-founder, AuraLab

I met Tiff at an event and she taught me her method of learning the tones on the palm of my hand and within 5 minutes taught me how to count to 10 in Cantonese – correct tones and everything. So amazing! She made it so fun and easy!! — Chiara D’Cruz (India) Consultant, PwC

I've grown up and lived in HK for 18 years in total ignorance about the Cantonese language. I have always felt that I don't get learning second languages, I've always felt awkward and unintuitive at it. But hand-on-heart just spent 1 hour with Tiff and, through a series of "A-ha!" Moments, I'm finally beginning to understand. More useful than any textbook and fundamentally easier to understand, too. Brilliant — Alex Hale (UK) Geoscientist

Tiff is a super enthusiastic teacher. If you are struggling with the tones (who doesn’t ?!) Tiff is a perfect fit for you. Tiff’s method is like no other, it will make you hear and understand the difference. Her unique approach is fun and accessible. Yay to no more accidental swearing — Gedvile Bunikyte (Lithuania) Fitness Professional, Contemporary Artist, Gymnast, Dancer

It’s given me the confidence to start conversations in Cantonese rather than in English. The way I remember the tones at the moment is where they are on the chart – their positions and relationships to each other on the scale. It’s in my visual memory. It’s interesting, just becoming more aware of the relationships, the words flow better instead of them running into each other. Tiff's method is logical and quick to master. I first learned my Cantonese over thirty years ago but have never developed the confidence to use it until now. I even find myself translating road signs into Chantoneasy and have started looking out for characters I recognise. Lessons are structured to suit my needs and I always look forward to them. For the first time, I can pick out the tones when I hear people speaking and have even taken to chatting in supermarket queues and at the dry cleaners — Sandy Pescod (UK) former Head of Science and Physics/Science Teacher, English Schools Foundation

I love your system – so much more intuitive and logical than Jyutping / Yale ridiculousness. I hope this catches on and revolutionizes Canto teaching! — Robyn Crowter (UK) Litigation Lawyer

This week I had the pleasure of starting my 'next' Chinese language course with Tiff Chan. Though I have long understood the importance of learning languages phonetically, I've never formally been blessed with a teacher who actually makes that effective. BUT this time round it's a joy to know I can learn with a fabulous teacher who makes it super interesting and satisfies my inner geek — Jacqueline Faulkner (UK) Permaculture Specialist, Community Manager, Sohofama

My husband and I have been absolutely loving our classes with Tiff. We’ve lived in Hong Kong our whole lives and were so embarrassed at the level of our Cantonese. Just a few classes in, we felt the language coming alive in new ways and we finally understood tones (!) The Chantoneasy method is much simpler to follow than others we’ve tried in the past and makes you feel like it’s easy to dive in and try. Our confidence has definitely improved and we find ourselves actively looking for opportunities to speak the language in our daily lives. Tiff herself is patient and creative and a pleasure to learn from. We cannot recommend her and these classes highly enough! — Cruzanne Macalligan (UK) RTHK Radio Host, Poet, Scriptwriter, Comedian

A fun and easy way to learn Cantonese without being stuck on the tones! Plus, Tiff tailors the content to your interests and needs which is so helpful! My husband and I took Cantonese lessons with Tiff and it was an awesome experience. We quickly learned the basics, so now we can count and deal with money, greet people, and most importantly know what food we're ordering and order two beers Her approach makes learning the tones really easy. And loved that the lessons were tailored to what we wanted to learn. Highly recommend Tiff's classes! — Amanda Cook (USA) Founder of Wellpreneur, Author, Entrepreneur

Tiff is really a great teacher and you'll learn Cantonese like never before. She is so creative that you'll never be bored of learning a new language! — Marion De Sousa (France) Tattoo Artist, Senior Regional Business Manager, Marketing Manager

Tiff has cleverly invented her own simple system for learning the tricky tones in Cantonese. She’s also developed a more easy-to-read spelling system. After just a few classes with her, I’m able to understand much more of the conversations around me and had the courage to start speaking in Cantonese. She’s a dedicated teacher who doesn’t let any mistakes go by without correcting them, which is exactly what I want in a teacher, and always has inventive ways of helping me remember the right pronunciation and tone. I’d highly recommend her to anyone beginning their Cantonese journey! — Mel Patching (USA) Writer, Editor, Storyteller, Content Manager

The hand movements, the music staff and the symbols make hitting the tones so much easier. Without them it would be like walking in a maze blindfolded — Stephen Leung (Philippines/HK) Graphic Designer

It has definitely been a great basis that has helped my Cantonese skills. Without being able to dedicate too much time to proper study, I have still been able to learn and use new words in my daily life. This is especially useful in family gathering environments as my partner’s family can’t speak English. Highly recommended! — Aymeric Vollant (France) Co-founder of IKIGAI and HK Solar Sound System, Entrepreneur, DJ

I like that we can use music notes to remember the tones and use suggestions of objects or ideas to remember the words, feels like learning for a song or a play — Sophie Zwingelski (France) Fashion Marketing

I am half Chinese and half English, although I grew up in Hong Kong I struggled with learning Cantonese. Tiff’s method opens up new possibilities for writing the language without using characters. She also creates an open and encouraging space for learning which makes language flow and builds confidence — Laura Zhang (UK/HK) Artist, Founder & Director, 宀 (Mihn) Gallery

Tiff is a fabulous teacher! She brings enthusiasm and energy to the lesson and makes learning fun. I love her approach to Cantonese – trying to make it intuitive for those whose ears and brains aren’t familiar with the language. I’d highly recommend Tiff! — Becky Light (UK)

Looks like Tiff has discovered something wonderful here!!!!! Teaching accurate pronunciation quickly and easily, using phonetics and what has been described as kinaesthetics by some! Bravo, Tiff!!! — Dina-Anukampana Das (India) Sanskrit Pronunciation Specialist, Personality Development Trainer, Bhagavata Dharma Preacher

I haven't studied the traditional way of learning Cantonese but it sounds very scary, all the tones and things, and when I look up this way of learning and try to sing it, I feel it's so enjoyable it actually makes me want to learn it, so I'm very happy I have discovered this, thank you! — Oriana Matthies (Venezuela/Germany) Fashion Design, Tzuri Gueta

Learning the tones is such an integral part of learning vocabulary and seeing it written down helps to remember the tone of each word. It clarifies everything and makes it a pleasure to learn and much easier to review and practice afterwards — Anna Bate (UK) Examiner for IELTS

I’ve found this Cantonese class the most realistic of all the Cantonese classes I’ve attended to date. Realistic I say because of its very sensible explanation of the tones of the language, making the analogy to the human hand, an item that is always handy — Graeme Morris (UK) Musician

Chantoneasy is an innovative system in learning Cantonese for Westerners. It combines music melodies, a specially designed symbol intonation system and phonetics. Since it is quite difficult for western people to get the correct intonation in speaking Cantonese, the Chantoneasy system makes it easy for people who have no idea about Cantonese speaking and could make them speak more like the local Chinese. It's a super user-friendly-designed system that requires no special knowledge in pronunciation. Bravo! — Daniel Chu (HK) Vice Principal and Teacher, Sacred Heart Primary School

Your “visual tone-based" Cantonese-teaching method integrated perfectly with Western musical notation is creative. The method is especially useful and effective to the learners whose native languages are not tonal, such as many European languages, Japanese and so forth. The learners can pick up the 6 to 9 tones of HK-accented Cantonese within a shorter period of time of learning and they can learn to speak Cantonese in a more “language-friendly” way. I appreciate your sincere and hard effort on bridging the cultural gap between East and West and introducing Hong Kong to the world through teaching Cantonese to people of other nationalities in English as a medium of instruction — SK Sye (HK) History and Chinese Language Teacher, Islamic College secondary school, Chai Wan

A very unique and simple way of learning a tonal language, in an enjoyable relaxed way. Tiff was very good at finding out what we wanted to use our Cantonese for, and changing her lesson plan to our needs — Zak Mazeika (UK/US) IT Security Specialist

I enjoyed the classes a lot. My own circumstances were that I had learned some Cantonese previously, as well as even more Mandarin, and so was some way from being a total beginner. For this reason I tended to ‘drive’ the class quite a lot with my searching questions, which worked for me. She focuses strongly on getting the Cantonese tones right – a very important factor in the language, and has her own system for this, a practical and user-friendly system that does speed up the whole process. So if you want to enjoy the experience, I recommend classes with Miss Tiff Chan — Barry O’Rorke (UK) Film/Theatre Actor, English/Drama Teacher

I like the visual tone tracking. It works for me. Living in Hong Kong, I need to talk to my students, to get around, to truly identify with being a Hong Kong person – it should be my culture. It’s embarrassing that I’ve lived here for so long and still don’t speak the language. I like the musical quality and uniqueness of Cantonese — Fiona Kaaka (UK) Actor and Drama Teacher

The tone chart suits me – I like the way colours are used to separate the words and the visual aspect of the chart so I can see if the tones are going higher or lower — Deepa Kamath (India) Founder of Amplify Digital, Graphic Designer, Design Thinking Practitioner

For me this is easiest [among the systems] because it’s visual and reminds me of sheet music; it’s more advanced. If I forget the tones, I can use the piano to remind me by playing it out. There’s more space in the visual field, and once I know the meaning I can switch between Cantonese and Putonghua, because I already know Putonghua. Cantonese is very symbolic – there’s lots of heritage and tradition, lots of wisdom that I’d like to explore. I want to learn Cantonese to communicate with local people — Sophia Wunderlich (Germany) Educational Therapist

I like that it looks like a music stave. I want to learn Cantonese to be able to talk to my wife’s family, and for our new baby girl as we are raising her in Hong Kong. I don’t want to miss out. I like that Cantonese is a sung language. There’s so much personality in people’s chosen words or phrases – it shows their sense of fun and humour — Brendon Gold (UK) Musician

The fact that you've made learning Cantonese more accessible to me is amazing. I’ve been taking a public Cantonese course in Wanchai from a teacher who DOESN’T TEACH TONES, only drawing one arrow for all low tones, ZERO INDICATION OF SLIDING TONES, and teaching j sounds (instead of dz/ z) on cramped worksheets!! And your enthusiasm for teaching is great; it makes me want to learn even more. For the first time, I feel like I can learn this language — SM (UK) University ESL Teacher

Not a day goes by when I try to say something in Cantonese and I’ve not been understood. I talk slowly but I’m understood, and people enjoy it — B. Edwards (UK) Clothing Manufacturing

Get in touch!

Feel free to let me know your learning needs and goals,
or discuss support for what you've been finding challenging

Email: tiff.chantoneasy @ gmail.com

Facebook / Instagram: @chantoneasy