Cantonese in Ireland is a volunteer-run cultural group. We promote Cantonese language, culture, and community in Ireland through cultural events, workshops, and social activities like Dublin Lunar New Year Festival booth.

We organise a variety of cultural and social events throughout the year, such as language workshops, Cantonese movie screening coffee chats, talks, and festival celebrations.

Everyone is welcome to join. You can learn about our upcoming events by following us on social media or scanning the QR code at our booth.

Cantonese is a Chinese Spoken language mainly spoken in Hong Kong, southern China (Guangdong), and overseas communities. Mandarin is another Chinese language and is the most widely spoken one.

Traditional and Simplified Chinese are two different writing systems, not different spoken languages.

Traditional Chinese uses more complex characters and is commonly used in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and many overseas Cantonese communities. Simplified Chinese uses characters with fewer strokes and is mainly used in mainland China and Singapore.

In traditional Chinese calligraphy, Traditional Chinese characters are usually used because they preserve the original structure, balance, and artistic form of the characters. The fuller strokes work better with brush calligraphy and reflect long-standing calligraphy traditions.

That’s why the calligraphy at this booth is written in Traditional Chinese, which is closely connected to Cantonese culture and heritage.

“Chinese” refers to a family of languages rather than just one. Cantonese is one of these languages, along with Mandarin and others. So Cantonese is Chinese, but not all Chinese is Cantonese.

Chinese New Year (or Lunar New Year) is traditionally about family, food, and good fortune.

Many people celebrate by eating lucky foods, giving red envelopes, cleaning the house before the New Year, wearing red, and saying fortuitous phrases.

Traditions can vary from family to family.

There is a growing Cantonese-speaking and Hong Kong community in Ireland.

While it may be smaller than in some other countries, there is an active community, and groups like ours help people connect and share culture.

This is a complex and sensitive topic. As an organisation, we focus on culture, language, and community.

Our goal is to provide a respectful and inclusive space, and we don’t engage in political discussions at our events.

You will find all our contact and social media information here.