About Cantonese Tone Trainer

Cantonese Tone Trainer coaches the six Cantonese tones with live pitch feedback: the 6 tones on 18 common syllables, then 12 real two-syllable words covering the hard contrasts. Your microphone listens, your pitch curve is drawn over the target curve, and one named hint at a time tells you exactly what to fix.

How it works

• Your browser samples the microphone and measures your pitch with autocorrelation, a standard signal-processing method: it finds how often your voice waveform repeats. No model is downloaded, and no audio is sent anywhere.
• Calibrate first. Cantonese tones differ by pitch LEVEL as well as shape: Tones 1, 3 and 6 are all flat, but high, mid and low. Press Set my voice range and slide from your lowest to your highest comfortable note. The app then measures every utterance against your own range: 1.0 means the top of your range, 0.0 the bottom. Recalibrate any time in Settings; your range is stored only on this device.
• For each syllable, the app compares your pitch contour to the target tone's level and shape: high flat, high rising, mid flat, low falling, low rising, or low flat. You are judged on level and shape, not on how high or low your voice is in absolute terms.
• Press Check my tone after saying the syllable. If the contour matches, you score. If not, you get one named hint, such as: Tone 3 sits in the middle of your range: yours was too low, near Tone 6. Start higher.
• Hear the target plays the target shape as a gliding tone, placed inside your own calibrated range, so you can hear the shape before you say it.
• Tone pairs unlock at 50 points. The app splits your utterance at the gap between syllables and checks each half against its target tone.
• Pitch tracking approximates tones. Background noise, a quiet voice, a creaky voice, or a cold can confuse it. If a native speaker says your tones sound right, trust them over the app.
• Native-speaker review sought: we are seeking review of this app by native Cantonese speakers and Cantonese teachers, in parallel with its release. Review is not a gate: the app is live while review is sought, and corrections will be folded in as they arrive.

The six tones

• Tone 1, high and flat (55): sing one steady high note at the top of your range. Example: si1, 詩, poem.
• Tone 2, high rising (25): start in the middle and climb to the top, like asking a question. Example: si2, 史, history.
• Tone 3, mid flat (33): sing one steady note in the middle of your range. Example: si3, 試, to try.
• Tone 4, low falling (21): start low-mid and drop to the bottom, like a sigh dropping away. Example: si4, 時, time.
• Tone 5, low rising (23): start near the bottom and climb to the middle. Do not climb to the top: that would be Tone 2. Example: si5, 市, city.
• Tone 6, low flat (22): sing one steady low note, below Tone 3 but not at the very bottom. Example: si6, 事, matter.

The same syllable with a different tone is a different word. That is why tones matter: say the wrong tone and you may say a different word entirely. The hard pairs are the three flat levels (1 vs 3 vs 6) and the two rises (2 vs 5); the practice words are chosen to drill exactly those contrasts.

Entering tones: 7, 8 and 9

Cantonese is often described as having nine tones. Tones 7, 8 and 9 are the "entering" tones, heard only on syllables ending in -p, -t or -k (like sik6 in 食飯, which ends in -k but carries tone 6). Their pitch contours match tones 1, 3 and 6 respectively; they are shorter because the syllable ends in a stop consonant. This app teaches the six core contours, which cover the entering tones too. A teacher or native speaker can show you the stopped endings.

Learn more

These links open other websites in a new tab. Cantonese Tone Trainer isn't affiliated with any of them and sends them nothing.

Privacy

• Your voice never leaves your device. It is analysed in your browser frame by frame and immediately discarded. Nothing is recorded, uploaded or shared.
• No accounts, ads, cookies, analytics or trackers. The app loads nothing from other websites: the code is served from this site, and a security policy blocks connections anywhere else.
• Stored on your device only: which items you've tried, your points, badges, practice days and settings, your calibrated voice range, and whether you've seen the welcome message, in your browser's local storage. Clear it any time in Settings → Clear progress, or with the Offline proof → Delete all my data button, or by clearing this site's data in your browser.
• Offline copy: after your first visit, your browser keeps a copy of the app so it works offline. Clearing site data removes it.
• The microphone is only on while you're practising or calibrating. It turns off when you go back to the tone list, press “Turn off”, or switch to another tab.
• Hosting: like any website, the server that delivers the app's files may keep standard technical logs (such as IP addresses) of those downloads. The app itself sends nothing.
• Reference links go to other websites, which have their own privacy policies.

Disclaimer

• Cantonese Tone Trainer is a home practice tool, not a teacher, therapist or safety device. Everything runs on your device: no video, audio or images are sent anywhere. Feedback is automatic and can be wrong. For real instruction, learn from a qualified Cantonese teacher or a native-speaker community, linked on the Resources page.
• Pitch tracking approximates tones. Regional variation exists: speakers from different parts of the Cantonese-speaking world realise tones differently, and the app's target shapes describe standard (Guangzhou/Hong Kong) citation tones.
• The app is provided “as is”, without warranty of any kind.

Accessibility

• Everything works with a keyboard. Feedback is announced to screen readers, and animations follow your device's “reduce motion” setting. Sound and confetti can be turned off in Settings.
• The live check depends on a microphone and on speaking. If that doesn't work for you, the tone descriptions, Jyutping, characters, glosses and reference links still work on their own, and the Hear the target button lets you hear each tone shape.

Credits

• Pitch detection: autocorrelation, implemented from scratch for this app (no third-party libraries).
• Tone shapes follow the standard Chao tone-number descriptions of the six Cantonese tones.
• Reference links: Jyutping.org, Wikipedia, Cantonese Sheik, linked, not embedded.
• Built with the on-device coach pattern from the Little Hands app, and the pitch engine of the Mandarin Tone Trainer.

Cantonese Tone Trainer version 1.0.0