The Ongoing Process of Learning Chinese, HSK5. By Serene Zawaydeh. January 10,
2024
Before completing HSK4 in December 2022, I knew what it was like to learn higher level， 高级, as I took a 4 month course with 天津师范大学, in which we used 发展汉语高级book, developing Chinese. In this book, each chapter is 3 pages long, and the meanings of words are written in Chinese, and not in English. So the level of this book is higher than the HSK5 and HSK6 books.
Following are some examples of Simplified Chinese words and characters.
I had previously authored blogs about learning Chinese, after finishing HSK3 and HSK4 exams. Please refer to list at end of this blog.
Learning Mandarin Chinese gets twice as difficult in
every level. From 150 words in HSK1, to 300 words in HSK2, 600 words in HSK3,
and 1200 in HSK4, and 2400 words in HSK5. So learning HSK5 is much more
difficult.
At the beginning of learning HSK1, the student is
given examples of how to learn each word, and the teacher could even give a story as to why
a word is written like that, making learning Chinese a very interesting
process.
However, the teachers’ expectations change at higher
levels. The student is expected not to only focus on the material that is in the
book, but is also encouraged to expand knowledge to extra curricular references,
such as stories, books, videos, and songs. I started using Language Player while
learning HSK5, and I find it very interesting. While listening to music or a
video, I would add the new words to the dictionary, which will make it easier to
manage having the new words in a list. For every word, there are 50 videos that
show the exact sentence where the word was used.
This is indeed time consuming. However, learning Chinese,
is very interesting. There are always lessons to be learnt about life.
To learn new words, it is not enough to just add the
words to a digital list. It is essential to write the words down in order to
learn them, and to distinguish them from other words.
So this goes back to writing down Chinese as a habit.
Even though at times I would read extra curricular content, I go back to the
need to learn the words one by one. So what should I write down? Writing down
the words is not enough. I need to write sentences.
Just as I have been writing lessons in previous HSK
levels, I continue to write down the contents of HSK5 chapters, and writing
down the list of words with their meanings.
While in HSK4 book there were 5 paragraphs about a
topic, HSK5 lessons are longer. I was listening to the lessons of HSK4 several
times while writing each paragraph, and would understand the meaning by then.
While writing down the text of each chapter in HSK5, I was also listening to the audio of the text. However, I found this method not sufficient, as the audio is much longer. In one of the chapters, I counted the times that I listened to the HSK5 chapter while writing it. It turned out that I listened to it at least 14 times. However, even after listening to it for 14 times, it was still difficult to comprehend. So what I do, is that I would type down the whole chapter content, and then I use the online translation, to get the meaning. I have also been adding the lessons to Language Player, and then adding the new words to the list for future reference. Chinese Zero to Hero is a great reference for Grammar points.
Therefore, in addition to writing down the words using
a pencil, on a specific notebook that has squares for Chinese writing, typing
is essential. While typing, I have to choose the correct word after typing the
pinyin. This is also an opportunity to notice the details and to zoom into the words
and the strokes.
At the beginning of learning Chinese, I was looking up
each word to see the stroke order, and it was very time consuming to write. However,
as writing Chinese becomes a habit, I got faster in writing. I look up new
words using Pleco. I also use the Chinesimple App HSK5, to practice learning
new words, and to do a lot of exercises that help to learn the words, in
addition to using examples of sentences.
The teachers’ expectations for learning Chinese are quite
challenging, as the student is suddenly expected to know a lot more, while not
giving enough feedback on how to correctly say the sentence, as it might be to
encourage the student to continue speaking and express themselves.
Learning HSK5 is a challenge not only for the student,
but it is also a challenge for the teachers. The teacher already knows all the
Chinese words, and they are not sorted in their mind by HSK level. Teachers who
prepare material for teaching HSK5 and higher levels, might certainly be using
words that are higher than HSK5 level. If the student tries to learn each word,
they would be learning words not only from HSK5, but from other levels as well. Meanwhile, the student wants to focus at learning new words for this level, as it
was the case in the first level.
While learning HSK4 material, I was preparing each
lesson, writing it down, listening to it many times. I would also do the questions
at the end of each chapter, learning the grammar points for each chapter, and
would do the workbook questions, listening to the listening part many times. I was
spending one week on learning each chapter, and it took a lot of preparation. I
was also practicing reading the dialogues, sending my recorded voice to the teacher. I would continue practicing speaking many
times, which was not easy.
While learning higher levels, with the lessons being
much longer, writing and typing the lesson is also very useful to help with
reading the text, if I want to read it. I would add the pinyin on top of new
words.
While written Chinese words have a very wide spectrum,
the more Chinese words I learn, it turns out that they sound like words that I
previously learnt.
This is why I found listening to the contents of a new
long lesson not very useful to understand the meaning of the whole lesson, and
translation is needed to understand the concept. The book does not include the translation of the lesson. The grammar does not have translation into English. The grammar and exercises could contain words that are explained at later chapters or levels.
At this period of learning, listening to music is the
best option. The songs have a meaning, nice music, new words, a story to tell, a
nice description within a limited period of time. As for listening to long
text, or listening to a video at very high speed of speaking, it could be
interesting, if it is accompanied with the translation. However, even while listening
to a new song, I have to listen to it more than once, if I like it. There is
still a lot of information to capture in one sentence. There is the word itself
in Chinese, the pinyin, and the translation, all in quick speed. There is no
time to really read it all at once. While exercising, I would listen to Chinese
music, and would be adding the new words on Language Player. There are also
questions that pop up while listening to the song, but sometimes I would skip them
if I am exercising. I could go back to them in the future, during the process
of learning each word on its own.
As the new HSK exams aim at adding new words from HSK1,
I think this process will not be helpful for students. Instead of making it
more difficult for the students to learn Mandarin from HSK1, it would be better
to keep the first 4 levels as they are currently. If the student finds Chinese
to be of interest, they will continue studying. As for level 5, the current
material and the teachers’ expectations need to be revised. HSK5 material could
be broken into to levels. Instead of keeping the method of doubling the number
of words in higher levels, if more international students are interested
in learning Chinese, there is a need to break down the materials at higher levels.
I have already encountered words that are from level HSK7-9. So with
expectations of reading and listing to material other than HK5, the student encounters
words that are spread out into different levels.
When I did HSK4 exam, there were two other students who
did the exam with me, who were done with their 4 years Bachelor’s degree in
Chinese. It took me less time to reach that level than them, and I obtained a
higher degree than them.
Students get the chance to get a scholarship to
continue learning Chinese in China. This is why at HSK5 level, students would
be learning the language in China. However,
there are age limitations to scholarships. At higher levels, classes are not available
for one student. If there are several students, the teacher would be giving
material at a higher level than expected.
Not only are there age limitations for scholarships,
but age limitations for jobs.
I started learning Chinese as a 5th
language, taking private lessons, along with self-paced learning. It should be a
door opener especially with the Belt-Road Initiative. With Chinese being such a broad language, that
requires a lot of time to study, and in fact years should be spent learning it,
it should be possible to start learning it at any age, if the student spends
time learning it over years. While young students can start learning the
language at university, students who already have other degrees, and have
interest in learning the language, can catch up and get to HSK4 level.
However, with the limitations and expectations for learning
HSK5 outside China, completing HSK5 is a challenge. And if completed, HSK6
would be far more challenging.
Restructuring the higher levels of learning Chinese would
be useful not only for the students, but also for the teachers. Adding more words
from the beginning and shifting words from one level to another is not the best
way to keep the students’ interest in learning the language to reach higher
levels.
For more information about Chinese Characters, please check out my following Blog:
* Examples of Simplified Chinese. There is no end to learning 学无止境! by Serene Zawaydeh, Jan 2024
Other articles I wrote:
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