How to write, type, listen, and dictate Cantonese on Windows Computers.
This guide is written for Windows 10. However, most steps will also probably work for Windows 7.To input Cantonese Chinese by Handwriting:
Now you can tap on the 'Touch Keyboard' button at anytime, and start handwriting chinese characters.
The two most popular programs for typing Cantonese in Windows 10 are RIME and CPIME. Both are free and have support for older versions of Windows.
RIME Weasel (中州韻 小狼毫)
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CPIME (Cantonese Phonetic IME)
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RIME Supports:
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CPIME Supports:
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Do you already have RIME installed?
No, I don't have RIME installed yet. I want to install RIME bundled with Cantonese.
To type Cantonese on Windows:Now, you can select RIME anytime from your Language Picker, and type Cantonese.
Help, I already have an old installation of RIME and I want to add Cantonese to it:
To add Cantonese input to an old installation of RIME:
See instructions on how to install CPIME on Windows 10, by PinyinJoe.
To get your Windows computer to read out Cantonese Chinese text (Text to Speech):
A. | B. |
A Program that will read out Cantonese Text every time it's copied. (To stop it reading out, you have to close the program.) |
A Button in your task bar that will read out Short selected Cantonese Text when clicked. (Limited to short paraphraphs) |
Download & Install Simple TTS Reader | Save Text-to-Speech.exe beta program to your computer (e.g. to C:\Program Files\). (source code on Github) |
Open the program. In the list of voices, select "Microsoft Tracy Desktop - Chinese (Traditional, HongKong SAR)". (If you don't see "Microsoft Tracy", try repeating step 2 and restarting your computer.) |
Right-Click on the program, and select 'Pin to Taskbar'.
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Now, you can Select Cantonese Text and have it be read out loud by Copying it (Control+C, or, Right-Click > Copy). To stop text from being read out every time it's copied, you can close the program or reduce its volume. (If the program is reading out text, but you can't find it, it might be in the "System Tray". The System Tray is on the Bottom-Right of the screen.) |
Now, you can Select short Cantonese text and have it read out in by clicking on the program in the Taskbar. ![]() Note: This program is in beta, and is currently limited to short parapgraphs. It can not read entire news articles yet. |
Cantonese dictation (speech recognition) is currently not implemented properly in Windows. We recommend using third-party applications for Cantonese dictation on Windows.
To dictate Cantonese in a Word Processor (Google Docs):
Note: Microsoft 365 Dictation (including Microsoft Word), do not currently have support for Cantonese Dictation.
To dictate Cantonese on Websites (via a Freemimum Chrome Extension):
Note: Even though Windows gives the impression that it supports Cantonese Speech recognition when the official Windows Cantonese language pack is downloaded, this is not actually true. Cantonese Speech Recognition can NOT be enabled in Modern Windows Text Dictation, nor Traditional Windows Speech Recognition. This is likely due to a bug on Microsoft’s end.
If you'd like to see Microsoft support Cantonese Dictation – please let Microsoft know.
Microsoft’s Cortana does not currently support Cantonese.
Note: The information here is based on Windows 10 (version 1909).
Page last updated Mar 2021.