How to type Cantonese on MacOS with Squirrel

Updated: 15 May 2020

Almost everything on this page has been removed. The Rime-Cantonese team have always been trying their best to improve the wordlists and user experience over the past few months. The old jyutping schema has been replaced by the new rime-cantonese schema, with a much improved word list, support for tone, and it comes with a nice installer.

Please visit the rime-cantonese GitHub repository for installation guidelines. Join our Telegram channel if you have any questions.

Thank you again for supporting Cantonese.

How to Type

Now open your favourite editor, and check whether Squirrel is set up correctly. Type NEIHOU and you should see a menu like this one below.

Typing NEIHOU will give you this menu

You can enter a long string of Jyutping, the engine will try to determine the word boundaries for you. For example, to type “今日天氣好好 (gam1jat6 tin1hei3 hou2hou2)”, enter GAMJATTINHEIHOUHOU, you will see the correct phrase on the top of the list. Hit Space and it will be inserted to your document. You can also use the number keys or arrows to navigate through the list.

Note: Some characters can be pages down the list. Do not type character-by-character. You should type the entire word instead, in order to type 告示, you should enter GOUSI, and then choose the first item on the list. If you type GOU, select the correct character, then when it comes to SI, you will need to scroll to the third page to get what you need.

The ordering of items will be adjusted according to your typing habit. For high-frequency words, just type the initial sounds, e.g. HGJ for 香港人 (Hoeng Gong Jan), and hit the number 3. The phrase 香港人 should show on your document screen.

Note: This screenshot is old. (15 May 2020)

If you’re a fast typist in English, you should be able to type Cantonese with just a little practice.

Have fun!