Learning Chinese: What kind of effort is needed to complete HSK4, and what is it like to study higher levels?
By Serene Zawaydeh, February 13, 2023.
Serene Zawaydeh at China Cultural Center in Amman with HSK4 Certificate. February 13, 2023.
Last year, I wrote about an article
about the process of learning Chinese, and at that time, I had completed HSK3.
“What does the process of learning Mandarin Chinese look
like? Some tips for new learners.” By Serene Zawaydeh, January 20, 2022.
Having completed HSK4 and taken
classes in higher level curriculum, I thought it would be a good idea to write
an update.
I wrote the following article in Chinese, but it is not the exact translation of this article.
我的汉语学习方式- 做完HSK四之后！
https://serenezawaydeh.blogspot.com/2023/02/hsk.html
The Chinese Proficiency Test, 汉语水平考试（HSK） is a test of Chinese language proficiency
for non-native speakers. HSK3 tests 600 words and was an online exam during the
Pandemic. HSK Level 4 exam was a paper-based exam, which tests listening,
reading and writing on paper, and the material includes 1200 words. Speaking is
tested separately with HSKK, or HSK 口语考试, speaking test. I did the basic
speaking test with HSK3 and the intermediate speaking test was a requirement
for HSK4.
If you are
new to Chinese, I am sure you would have skipped the letters which show the
name of the test: 汉语水平考试. On the left hand side, I have included pinyin on top of each Chinese
character, which provides the pronunciation of the character with the tones.
This is a main difference between the first three levels, which include pinyin,
and HSK4, which does not include pinyin. Another main difference is that the
listening part is not repeated in HSK4 and the intermediate speaking tests, unlike
the first three levels and the basic speaking test.
When I did the basic speaking test along with HSK3, I found the online
test platform to be slow during the preparation time. Students was not allowed
to use a paper and pencil to write down notes during the allocated preparation
time, and typing on the screen was slow, which ended up being confusing while
answering. During the allotted period of time, instead of typing quickly, one
ends up trying to choose the right character, and the system was slower than
the usual typing and was not convenient. In HSKK intermediate test, there was
preparation time to prepare to talk about two pictures and two topics for two
minutes each, and we were allowed to use a pen and pencil to write some notes
and prepare the answers. These notes, however, were definitely not complete
sentences in Chinese, as there is no time for that. The time is just to prepare
some ideas, and then when speaking, one has to just say the sentences, and need
to talk for two minutes for each topic, which might seem like a short time, but
in fact, making correct sentences for two minutes, and getting the content
right, is not that simple.
The
required number of words tested increases, or in fact doubles at each level. From
150 words in HSK1, to 300 words in HSK2, and 600 words in HSK3 with pinyin. The
number of words doubles from 1200 words
in HSK4 to 2500 words in HSK5, and doubles to 5000 words in HSK6.
A new advanced
exam HSK7-9 was introduced in March 2022, after which the student’s score will
be determined, whether it is level 7, 8 or 9. New changes are planned to be
implemented to the HSK tests, possibly in 2024, making the requirements more
difficult for new learners right from the start. The number of required words for
level 1 will be 500, so it will be like the existing HSK3. It will take longer and
will take a bigger effort to finish even the first level. The objective is to align learning Chinese
with international standards, which does not really apply to learning Chinese,
as it is totally different than learning other English and European languages,
which have alphabets.
The new
words in HSK Level 4, 5 and 6 books have meanings of new words in English. Meanwhile,
the curriculum of Developing Chinese 发展汉语, high level, 高级 has the meanings
of the new words are explained in Chinese. Each lesson is 3 pages long, with
around 45 new words, but the actual new words could be 150 including new words encountered
while reading the explanation for the meanings of new words. There are a lot of
four character idioms at higher levels, which usually have a story behind them.
Learning Chinese outside the scope of school and
university, as I am doing, is possible and is an interesting process. Speaking
is the most difficult aspect when there is limited interaction with native
speakers face to face. However, there
are a lot of resources and learning online is possible, but still, there is a
need for getting classes with a native speaking teacher. The lesson, however, would need prior
preparation, and this helps with knowing what kind of questions need to be
answered and where feedback is needed.
Steps for learning HSK4 material
·
Learning the content of HSK books, including studying dialogues,
words, and exercises. HSK4 has two books and two workbooks.
- Preparing before Class.
o Listening to dialogues numerous times.
o Writing the dialogues
o Writing words several times.
o Reading the dialogues out loud.
o Listening to explanation of grammar points.
o Doing the exercises in the workbook after the end of the chapter.
o
Completing studying all the chapters.
o Listening to dialogues several times.
o
Listening to the workbook exercises several times.
o
Solving past exams for both HSK4 and HSKK intermediate
o
Writing about topics from past exams
o Getting feedback about writing from native teacher
o Writing sentences provided by the teacher
Writing
Simplified Chinese is used in HSK, and not Traditional Chinese. Writing
includes following the stroke order. Using Chinese writing practice paper helps
with developing handwriting, as the syllables are written within the grid
borders. I think students should start writing in level 1, to be able to
continue with level 3. At the beginning, writing was slow, and I would look at
every word to see how it would be written. With time and practice, writing
became faster. I also didn’t really know what part needs to be written within
one square. So getting feedback from the teacher about the writing is
important, as sometimes there are words that might be written incorrectly, such
as 块and 快. When feedback is obtained, one would start
noticing these differences.
The
first time listening to a dialogue at higher levels, comprehending the meaning
is difficult, as there are a lot of new words.
I started
writing down the dialogue or lesson provided while listening to the audio. As
writing the full dialogue takes some time, I keep listening to the dialogue
while writing the sentences, which helps with practicing talking about topics.
The
writing part includes making sentences out of given words, and writing down
sentences. It is important to finish up all the previous parts quickly, to
finish up all the test. For online HSK3 test, constructing sentences using
given words just needed drag and drop, so it didn’t actually require handwriting
on paper. However, in the paper-based tests, answers are in writing. This is
why it is important to be able to write quickly, and this skill needs to be
developed over time.
Solving Past Exams
Numerous
past exam models can be found online for different levels. At the beginning,
solving HSK4 practice tests was tiring, as there were a lot of questions. The
reading part was long. Finishing up the test requires concentration, being
quick and knowing all the words is a must. With more practice, the reading
section becomes manageable.
I have
also done Coursera course for HSK4, as well as HSK3. It is good to go over the
course after learning all the material.
Preparing
for Lessons and Listening to Grammar Explanations
One of
the resources that I find helpful, is ChineseZeroToHero. It is a comprehensive
resource that starts with level 1 and has material till higher levels. Being prepared
before the lesson is needed. I used to listen to the lessons on the go, and I
also referred to while reviewing the grammar points before HSK4.
Practicing
Reading, Pronunciation, and Speaking
While
learning the material of HSK4, in addition practicing writing while listening
to the dialogues, I was also practicing reading each of the dialogues. I would
repeat each dialogue many times, to be able to read the text without stopping. At
the beginning, practicing reading dialogues several times needed an effort that I felt in the muscles of
my face!
In
order to practice words and reading sentences, I have been using Chinesimple.
It is a great app that I started using in HSK Level 1. I am now in HSK Level 5,
and I find it great to have the professional version. It is very helpful for
learning new words and new sentences as it has a lot of exercises and word games
that are helpful with remembering new vocabulary, including strokes, and helps
develop reading skills through repetition. After recording my reading, each
sentence is checked by Google. Sometimes it feels like an achievement to see
that a sentence was correctly identified by Google! I have repeated some
sentences many times. Repeating the sentences helps with learning new sentences
with correct structure and grammar. I would like to thank Chinesimple for
thanking me for the feedback, and adding a thank you, 谢谢Serene, on version updates for Chinesimple after
providing them with feedback and the strange results obtained after repeating
the sentences. 谢谢Chinesimple!
Another
app that I found useful while studying HSK4, is Hanbook. It includes dialogues
about daily topics, and it was great to use it on a daily basis, practicing
speaking about different topics, and getting a score for reading right away.
The apps
are very helpful, as during the Speaking test, the first section is to repeat
the sentence that is given only once. This requires understanding the given
sentence in order to repeat it. The pronunciation also needs to be accurate.
Practicing
for Speaking Test
In
order to practice for the speaking test, I checked models of previous
intermediate speaking tests, and wrote down my answers. I then checked them
with my teacher, who also provided me with the correct sentences, with the
proper grammar structure, and some idioms too.
Lessons
with Native Speakers
Taking lessons with native Mandarin speakers is needed. The pronunciation is
different as there are a lot of dialects in China. For example, the
pronunciation in Beijing is different than Shanghai. The teacher’s
pronunciation needs to be Mandarin Chinese, and would be aligned with the audio
that is in the HSK material. This could be seen as the Modern Standard Arabic –
Fus-ha, versus learning the dialects in an Arab
country or within one country.
“You
don’t know what you don’t know”, is definitely true. While I enjoy making up
new stories, my sentence structure might not be right. So getting feedback on
how to get it correct is essential. The feedback I get, however, would not be
limited to the level that I am studying, and the teachers always give feedback
of higher levels.
Although
I thought my preparation was well for the speaking test, it seems that I still
need to work on this part. I think the intermediate speaking test needs a
higher level than HSK4, which means using more vocabulary than what was in
HSK4. Students in HSK5 who did HSKK intermediate got a higher score, which
indicates their usage of more advanced vocabulary and better sentence structure,
and probably some idioms.
Typing
Going
back to learning the content of the lessons. In addition to practicing writing
words, dialogues, listening, and reading the sentences, typing is also needed
while preparing for new lessons, especially at levels higher than HSK4, in
which there are a lot of new words, and longer text that needs to be studied.
Typing means knowing the correct pinyin of the word, which means knowing the
pronunciation, and choosing the right character for it. It also helps in
writing the words correctly, as you can zoom into the word.
To get
the correct word in typing, if a word consists of two or three syllables, you
need to write all parts of the word to get the word required. Sometimes, even
finding the right word in typing takes some time especially if it is a new
syllable. You need to look up all the options, and choose the correct syllable.
Pleco mobile app is very useful app for looking up the meaning of words and I use
it on a daily basis. I can write down the strokes with my finger on my phone,
and get the word needed to know what it means, without knowing its pinyin.
Sometimes the stroke order has to be correct on Pleco, to get the word
required.
While
writing Chinese, if you don’t see the word correctly, and if you can’t see the
details of the strokes, you will definitely get it wrong, and would mistake it
for another word, completely changing the meaning. If the book has fine print,
it is not going to be helpful for reading!
Writing
down the word in hand, helps with retaining information and identifying the
word when seen again.
Studying
Higher levels
Writing the words and
the sentences by hand, does not necessarily mean understanding new sentences,
and sometimes some words might be written incorrectly, as some words look
similar. This is why typing is needed at higher levels and when there are a lot
of new words in the text. After typing the paragraph, I would look up the
translation and get a better understanding of the content.
While taking the advanced
level course, writing the pinyin on new words made the book look more difficult
to read. Reading the sentences after typing them down, makes it easier to read,
as the pinyin can be included on top of new words. Reading the whole paragraph
as a whole without pinyin on any words is the optimal scenario.
When
looking up new words, it is interesting to see other words that are used with
the syllable, and this would enrich the vocabulary over time.
What
is more challenging at HSK5 and above, is that the content of the exams is not
limited to just the words in the HSK material, and other words can pop up.
The
Complexity of Simplified Chinese!
Some
words are the same in Simplified and Traditional Chinese. In Chinesimple app,
there are exercises to identify whether a word is the same or not in both Simplified
and Traditional Chinese. The strokes in traditional Chinese are more
complicated than Simplified Chinese. The HSK tests use Simplified Chinese.
Traditional Chinese is used in Taiwan and in Hong Kong.
There
are a lot words that have the same sound, but the writing is totally different.
Examples
of Syllables that sound (fu)
服，夫，付, 附, 府， 负， 富, 复， 福
Examples of words that contain each of the above syllables.
衣服，丈夫，付钱，政府，附近， 符合， 负责，重复，丰富， 幸福
Idiom that contains 符
同符合契 joint aim (idiom)
幸福means happiness.
福 on its own, means good fortune or luck. You might have seen a sign that has the word at Chinese restaurants
Source: https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%A6%8F%E5%AD%97
The Complexity of
Chinese Words and Sounds
There
are many words that sound the same in Chinese. The more I learn Chinese, the
more words pop up that sound like words learnt previously.
However,
as the number of new words keeps increasing, recognizing new words that were
not encountered before becomes easy. Meanwhile, writing all new words without
looking at them, is definitely a challenge.
You
might have come across paragraphs in English with the order of the letters
mixed up, but you can still read them. For example, if you see the word:
snetnece, your mind can pick it up as “sentence”. As long as the first and the
last letter are the same, we can identify the meaning of the word although the letters
are not in the right order.
However,
in Chinese, the word cannot be missing a stroke. The correct writing also has
to follow the correct stroke order as previously mentioned. There are rules for
the stroke order as well. Following is an example of the word: School - 学校
https://www.archchinese.com/how_to_write_chinese.html
After
providing this description of the learning process, I think the effort I put into
studying HSK Level 4 was adequate. It enabled me to complete both HSK4 and HSK
intermediate speaking tests. I think my speaking test result was lower than
what I expected, as I talked for two full minutes about each of the four topics. So in the next phase, I need to work more on
correct sentence structure, in addition to learning all thousands of words!
In
order to develop speaking skills, interaction with native speakers outside the
classroom could be helpful. Since the advent of the 2020 pandemic, classes
turned online, and my speaking practice was based on apps and reading the
dialogues.
Learning
Chinese is a very interesting process. The HSK material is very interesting and
meaningful. The process is time consuming, and takes time, that is years. I
will continue putting an effort into it.
Given
the effort needed to learn Chinese, I think comparing Chinese to other European
standard is not a useful process for the sake of the students who want to learn
Chinese. The best thing would be to keep the current pace of learning Chinese,
especially at the beginning. The students can decide whether they want to
continue learning, or might drop out if they find the process too difficult and
too time consuming. If a student is interested in the continuing their learning
journey, they could get scholarships for studying in China.
Translation
to Arabic
For Arabic speakers, it is worth noting that there are a lot of books that have
been translated from Chinese to Arabic, and some books have both Arabic and Chinese.
Egypt’s publisher, Bayt al Hekma, was at book exhibitions in Jordan, and it was
an opportunity for me to buy a lot of books, which I am reading. Some books in
Chinese are accompanied with CDs. https://www.facebook.com/baytalhekma.arabic.
In addition to learning Chinese, I also read books that have Arabic translation, and translated books. This is a very interesting domain, and there is a lot to learn. The Chinese economy developed at a high pace, while eliminating poverty. There are books about this domain in Arabic. It would be interesting to learn about the process in Arabic, while learning the language. In fact, after I started learning Chinese, I also started reading more in Arabic!
谢谢Ruben @ Chinesimple!
* Article prepared independently to share the learning experience.
Blogs I wrote about the process of learning Chinese
