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A Cantonese app for ages 3 to 5 · built for Hong Kong families overseas

Don't let them lose their Cantonese,
or grow too shy to speak it.

No matter how many time zones away you are, they can still talk to family back home.

One day they'll fly back to Hong Kong, get off the plane, hop in a taxi, walk into a cha chaan teng, and order street food — I want them to speak for themselves.

Built by a Hong Kong father living in Australia, for his own son.

天星小輪 tin1 sing1 siu2 leon4 Star Ferry

Tap any card to hear Cantonese — no download needed

  • App Store — coming soon, not released yet
  • Google Play — coming soon, not released yet

Coming soon to the App Store and Google Play

No spam. One email on launch day, and that's it.

A word is only learned once a child has heard it, spoken it, recognised it, and played with it.

Four modes following how kindergartens teach Chinese: listening and speaking first, reading and recognition second.

ListenSoundboard

Tap a card to hear the word. Traditional Chinese, Jyutping and English appear together — easy for you to follow, easy for them to learn. You can also record your own voice to replace any word.

SpeakEcho

Hands-free listening for ten seconds. The app stops the moment they get it right. It never records their voice — it only listens for the answer. No red marks, no crosses, and no points lost for mistakes.

ReadLiteracy

Once they hear and speak the words comfortably, reading Traditional Chinese follows naturally. No handwriting drills — just recognising the characters on sight.

PlayQuiz

"Which one is the tram?" A correct answer gets a cheer; a mistake gets a gentle try-again. No points, no streaks, no background music — just clean, clear Cantonese.

Inside the app

  • The app's flashcard screen: an illustration of a red Hong Kong taxi, with 的士 / dik1 si2 / Taxi on three lines below it and an orange play button. Listen · Soundboard
  • The app's quiz screen: the duck says a word and four pictures of vehicles are offered — a taxi, a lorry, a minibus and an MTR train. Play · Quiz
  • The app's literacy screen: 消防車 / siu1 fong4 ce1 / Fire Truck at the top, with the character 消 drawn stroke by stroke in a practice grid below and the caption "watch how to write". Read · Literacy

1,000

words. The ones Hong Kong people actually say.

Five free topics: transport, food, animals, nature and numbers. Each with an illustration, Jyutping and Hong Kong Cantonese audio. Tap any tile to listen.

菠蘿包 bo1 lo4 baau1 Pineapple Bun

Want to hear the rest? Available at launch.

Why I built this app

I asked him 「食唔食嘢」 and he answered, "I don't want."

Once he started school, Cantonese faded at home. Bit by bit, he stopped opening his mouth.

So I built an app to play games and read characters with him — something to make him want to speak Cantonese with me again.

Why CantoDuck?

Ever since he was born, he loved ducks. He took a plush duck everywhere, and our home is full of them. So I made a little duck our main character.

A Hong Kong father in Australia

What parents ask

Child's voice
Never collected, stored, or uploaded.
Parent recordings
Saved only on your device. Never uploaded, deleted whenever you like.
Advertising
No ads and no third-party tracking.
Price
Five topics are free, no credit card required. The rest unlock with a purchase.
Offline
Works without an internet connection. All illustrations and audio are built into the app.
Sound
No background music to drown out the voice.
Curriculum
Follows the kindergarten learning order: listening and speaking first, reading second.
Devices
iOS and Android, portrait or landscape. One family account supports multiple child profiles.

Launching soon

Leave your email and I'll let you know the moment it's out.

No spam. One email on launch day, and that's it.