Questions tagged [chinese]
Questions about learning or teaching the Chinese languages and their dialects, including, but not limited to, Standard Chinese, Mandarin, Wu, Yue, and Min. General questions about Chinese can be asked on our sister site Chinese Language Stack Exchange.
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Bilingual Chinese poetry books
I am looking for anthologies of Chinese poetry, with the following properties:
bilingual, i.e. includes both original (simplified) Chinese and English translation;
broadly covers classical poetry, as ...
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What is the school grade level equivalent of each HSK level?
I am just getting started learning Chinese. My goal is to be able to speak Chinese at the level of a first grader. My plan is to evaluate this by completing HSK course(s). But I do not know which ...
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How can I improve the sophistication of my Chinese grammar usage?
I'm starting to become aware of a weakness in my Chinese grammar. While in my speaking and writing I'm generally grammatically correct (of course, not always), I don't often use more sophisticated ...
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Where can I get Chinese reading materials to copy/paste into LanguageCrush?
I'm trying out LanguageCrush which tracks your vocabulary while reading and watching videos (kind of like LingQ, but I'm able to use the free version). The feature I like is how it keeps track of how ...
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What is the anticipated usage of this Chinese textbook's long lists of questions and answers?
The Chinese HSK6 textbook series 《HSK规范教程 6上》 by 王璕 has many pages like the following
wherein there are many listed questions and answers, such as
最近一年你身边有什么灾难发生吗？
In the previous year, has a ...
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How can I improve my listening for a selection of Chinese HSK6 words?
I downloaded Mandarin Corner's mp3s where, for each of the 2500 Chinese HSK6 words, Teacher Eileen says the word twice, then its example sentence twice. I note down the words which I don't near-...
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What are the (dis)advantages of learning thousands of Chinese characters one by one via a frequency list?
If you've used Reddit's r/ChineseLanguage or r/languagelearning, you may have encountered people propose studying Chinese characters one by one in order frequency based on lists such as Jun Da's.
This ...
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Are essential Chinese study tools, like Pleco or browser popup dictionaries, mentioned in any Chinese textbook?
If you study Chinese, there are some essential tools, like the Pleco dictionary or a browser popup dictionary. Curiously, I don't recall ever seeing them mentioned in any textbook I've studied. The ...
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What level of schooling does it take for a native-Chinese speaker to understand CCTV news?
One of my iTalki teachers and I study China Central Television (CCTV) news. The hosts are noted for the extremely fast pronunciation (sometimes 280+ characters per minute) and their use of precise, ...
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How does the proportion of Chinese-language students who learn handwriting change with level?
Many students of Chinese as a second language opt out of learning handwriting characters. My impression (from my personal experience) is that the proportion of beginner students who learn handwriting ...
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How many words give 98% coverage in Mandarin?
For Chinese characters, Jun Da's dataset implies 1566 characters gives 95% coverage, 2285 characters gives 98% coverage, and 2838 characters gives 99% coverage. I'm wondering if there's a similar ...
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Is the HSK exam easier outside of China?
It's been known (at least in Confucius institue in my country) if you take HSK test outside of China, it's easier and the grading is pretty lenient.
u/Marizza_Tan, comment on "hsk 6", Reddit ...
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Is Mandarin and character writing easier for people who know Japanese?
I've been planning to study basic Mandarin for some time. Today I had to write neko (the word for cat) in Japanese using Kanji.
I just noticed that Simplified Chinese uses the same characters to ...
user1801060
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How long between each TOCFL level for learning Mandarin?
This is the same question as How long between each HSK level for learning Mandarin? but for the Taiwanese test rather than the mainland one.
A common question among language learners is how long will ...
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Is studying speeches by e.g. Kevin Rudd especially beneficial for improving one's Chinese speaking skills?
On YouTube you can find speeches in Chinese by former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd (Chinese name 陆克文), such as this and this and this. Now I'm tossing up whether or not this (or some similar ...
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What scores should a student get on the Chinese HSK(x) exam before moving onto HSK(x+1)?
Disappointingly, I recently failed the HSK6 (listening: 52; reading: 63; writing: 55); usually 60% is considered a pass. (Yes, I'm quite aware it's insanely hard.)
I previously did well on the HSK5 (...
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How well do native Chinese speakers do on the HSK6?
I see a fair number of posts and videos about native Chinese speakers taking the HSK6, or mock HSK6 exams, so I'm hoping to collect their scores in one place:
Question: How well do native Chinese ...
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How similar are the "faulty sentence" sections of the Chinese Gaokao 高考 exam and the HSK6?
I recently learned the Chinese Gaokao 高考 exam includes a 病句 ("faulty sentence") section. This has piqued my interest as I prepare for the HSK6 which includes the notoriously hard HSK6 语病 (&...
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Is there justification for the claim that e.g. "3 hours study" ≃ "1 point" on the HSK6 exam?
General rule: it takes approximately 2-3 hours of studying Chinese to earn one point on the HSK 6 test. To make a test preparation schedule, subtract your score on your HSK 6 mock test from your score ...
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For those who didn't blindly guess on the notoriously hard HSK6 语病 ("faulty wording") section, how did you prepare?
The first 10 questions of the Chinese HSK6 reading section are notoriously hard. Each question gives you 4 sentences and the task is to choose the one containing some kind of error.
This part is so ...
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Beyond taking the test itself, what use is preparing for the HSK6 writing section?
Now that I've taken the Chinese HSK5 exam, my mind is turning towards HSK6. However, I find myself lacking motivation to study for this exam, and one of the main reasons is the writing section (also ...
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On the HSK5 exam, if you're asked to use a separable verb in a sentence, can you separate it?
Question 99 on the HSK5 exam asks you to write an approximately 80-character snippet using 5 given words. A typical example looks like this:
Here, we see the separable verb 结帐, so we can write ...
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On the HSK5 paper-based exam, can I do the writing section before the reading section?
Since I can handwrite characters, I signed up for the paper-based (handwritten) HSK5 exam. This will be my first time taking this exam, so I'm not familiar with the specifics.
If allowable, I would ...
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In Mandarin, how can I overcome the problem of knowing all the words, but missing the overall meaning?
This issue arises over and over:
In Mandarin Chinese, I often read a paragraph aloud, concentrating on pronunciation. I've studied all (or almost all) the words, and know what they mean individually....
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Does foreknowledge of Cantonese, rather than Mandarin, assist you more in learning Korean?
This r/korean comment answers my question as "yes", but it contains factual errors like "Cantonese is also much closer to Middle Chinese than Mandarin is". This r/linguistics ...
user90
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For Mandarin, are there estimates on how many repetitions it takes to remember a word through reading?
Nation (2014) (pdf) discusses English vocabulary acquisition through extensive reading alone. While reading at a 98% comprehensible input level, the learner will (probably) remember a word ...
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What do Chinese students do with the lists of new characters in 语文 textbooks?
In my grade-3 语文 textbooks, we find lists of new characters which appear in the accompanying essay, such as the following:
I'm curious as to what what Chinese students actually do with this. I ...
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What are some of the best ways to get a toddler started learning Chinese in a non-native home?
We have a 1.5 year old boy in an English-only household. We'd like him to learn Chinese (Putonghua / Mandarin) over the next ten years or more. What are some of the best ways to get him exposed to ...
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What "homework" can I do to benefit more from watching a Chinese movie?
For me, going to the cinemas is enjoyable, there are no distractions, and it's satisfying recognizing something I've worked hard to learn (other benefits are here). It's finally possible to go to the ...
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Reading and Listening Resources for HSK 6 (B2)?
Those who take the HSK 5 (B1-level exam) are expected to be able to read Chinese novels and news articles and be able to watch movies and TV shows in Mandarin. That being so, are there any reading or ...
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Are there study methods aimed in particular at Chinese measure words?
Chinese has many measure words(*); in the HSK vocabulary, there are at least:
个 本 次 件 把 只 位 条 张 辆 包 双 层 刻 场 份 遍 台 座 节 趟 篇 棵 所 根 首 片 套 支 群 颗 顿 圈 项 顶 匹 团 幅 批 册 届 朵 壶 卷 艘 栋 枚 幢 束 粒 番 枝 株
(There are ...
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How many words/characters do I need to understand Chinese sitcoms?
I'm not sure how to ask this question since English words and Chinese characters are different, but hopefully someone will understand what I'm saying: basically, I'm wondering how many different words/...
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Where can I find example answers to the Chinese HSK6 test composition 书写 (aka 缩写 or "question 101")?
The Chinese HSK6 test has a section called 书写 where you're given an ~1000 character passage and 10 minutes to read it. Here's the introduction:
第101题：缩写。（1）仔细阅读下面这篇文章，时间为10分钟，阅读时不能抄写、记录。（2）10分钟后，...
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Is there a resource which describes Chinese dynasties which is suitable for HSK6 learners?
I'm working my way through a Coursera HSK6 course. In the first lesson of week 3, Professor Wang Yu offers practical advice about how to answer reading [阅读] questions, and among his advice is to gain ...
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How do I make my Chinese listening robust to unknown words?
From my perspective, when reading sentences in Chinese, I might read:
[understandable part] [unknown word] [understandable part].
And I can usually understand the whole sentence to a large degree ...
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Improving vocabulary reading foreign language literature on ebook readers, how to export selected vocabulary into a spaced repetition app?
For improving my vocabulary I read favourite novels and short stories, preferredly in the original (target) language. When my level isn't quite up to it, I read a translation (be that English or ...
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How additionally useful is HSK6 over HSK5 for reading Chinese native news and opinion pieces?
When deciding whether to study Chinese, students often state two goals: (a) to pass a HSK test, and (b) to read Chinese news articles. I'm towards the end of HSK5, and I already read some news-...
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After stumbling upon a word in Chinese, how can I determine if it's worth studying?
Nowadays I'm reading opinion pieces and news articles in Chinese. I'm at a late-HSK5 level. I stumble upon many new words, too many to study them all, so I need prioritize some words and postpone ...
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Is there much point in aiming for the HSK5 or HSK6 Chinese tests (assuming it's not required)?
A lot of Chinese learners aim for passing some level of the HSK tests. Judging from what I've read online, many people become demotivated regarding these tests around the late-HSK4 level (e.g. me), ...
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Does it take "about 50 exposures for most words to be retained in long term memory"?
...per Chinese teacher Terry Waltz, it takes about 50 exposures for most words to be retained in long term memory...
The kind of beginner content I'd like to see, u/Elevenxiansheng, Reddit r/...
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How can I prepare for a discussion involving pre-specified Chinese words with my teacher?
Like a lot of learners, my Chinese reading and writing abilities far exceed my speaking and listening. As a result, my teacher says I should study a certain page (高级口语（I） p.8) in a textbook, and be ...
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Is it more difficult for a native Chinese speaker to learn English, or vice versa?
I am a native Chinese speaker, and it was an excruciating journey for me to learn English. My personal belief is that the reason lies in the linguistics, namely the Chinese language may be somewhat ...
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How can I repurpose the time spent reading random stuff on the Internet to improve my Chinese?
This is my situation most days:
I'm too tired to study Chinese...
...but it's too early to go to bed...
...I know, I'll read random stuff on the Internet.
I feel like I could should be utilizing ...
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How do you learn to read Vietnamese using Chữ Nôm?
I am able to read Chinese characters, and have been exposed to Chữ Nôm, which is derived by amalgamating Chinese characters according to their meaning and pronunciation, so as to represent a Native ...
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Resources for teaching children Chinese
My nine-year-old son is bilingual English/French (British father, French mother) and absolutely devours books for his age in both languages (ie his reading age in both languages seems roughly equal), ...
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I want to train myself to use the Chinese grammar particle 了 correctly: how do I go about doing that?
Motivation: In Chinese grammar, there's a particle 了 which has two main uses: completion 了 (post-verb) and change-of-state 了 (end of sentence). I'm bad at using this particle (see How does someone ...
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Can Speak Chinese; Need Learning Resources to Bring Reading Skill to Same Level (HSK4)
Good Day!
I have an interesting conundrum - I can speak Chinese just fine (in fact I just took an HSK placement exam at the local Confucius Centre and was ranked at 4 for listening and speaking). I ...
user7196
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Helping a Chinese native improve her advanced-level English
I'm helping a middle-aged, college-educated woman from mainland China improve her English. This is a hard-working, well-educated, highly-self-motivated student. She has lived in the USA for many years....
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What are the main causes of foreign language anxiety in learners of Chinese?
Wikipedia defines foreign language anxiety as follows:
Foreign language anxiety, or xenoglossophobia, is the feeling of unease, worry, nervousness and apprehension experienced in learning or using ...
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What is the proper etiquette for a nonnative speaker who wants to practice Mandarin at a Chinese supermarket in the US?
There is a Chinese supermarket in the US I often shop at. I often hear the staff speaking Mandarin or Cantonese, and occasionally Hakka or Fujianese, amongst themselves and to Chinese customers. I can ...
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