Change is the only Constant Thing in the Process of Learning
Chinese. By Serene Zawaydeh. July 19, 2024
I wrote several Blogs about the process of learning
Chinese. Please scroll down for links.
It is strange to see articles that compare testing
proficiency in Chinese language to other European language tests. Learning Chinese
is totally different. This is another article that I am writing, while studying
for HSK5. I have not completed this level yet, but I have taken courses that include
words from higher levels. Furthermore, the
exercises in the books and the workbooks, include words that are not in the
list of new words in each chapter. The student is expected to do the research needed
to solve these questions. Watching other content and videos, a lot of words
would pop up from other levels, whether HSK 6 or HSK 7-9. Taking classes with
native speakers and studying with books other than HSK5 books, one encounters
words from higher levels too. It seems to be inaccurate to say that a student
studying HSK5 only knows 2500 words.
One has to figure out
ways to learn new words, and to do exercises to practice words that were learnt.
The learning process needs to be updated, as the amount of information that
needs to be processed keeps increasing beyond HSK4. As new exams are expected
to introduce a higher number of words starting from HSK1, the new students
learning Chinese might find it difficult to handle the amount of information
they are expected to know right from the beginning.
I would like to share
some notes about the ongoing learning process. This might provide information about
why this language is different than other languages, if someone who does not know
any Chinese reads this article. It might spark interest in learning the
language. It might also provide some insights for new learners, or an indication
of the amount of effort needed for this process. I did not come across articles
by others who share details of their learning experience, and the kind of
process they went through to reach advanced levels in Chinese.
Writing Chinese characters on a paper using a pencil should
start at HSK1. The speed of writing increases over time. Writing can start by
writing the single character many times; moving to writing sentences, and
writing the whole text for the lesson that needs to be learnt, along with all
the new words. Standardized lined paper with squares for writing Chinese
characters should be used.
Typing Chinese characters is an important part of the
learning process. Typing the Characters requires prior knowledge of the needed
character, how it is written, and its pinyin.
Several exercises can be done while typing.
1)
Starting with a word 商; and knowing how it is actually pronounced
compared to other words 商, 场, 成.
2)
The word can be combined with another character to give it
another meaning, and learning a new word while checking meanings. Starting with the word above 商, it is found in other words, such as 商业 business, 商议 to negotiate
业 can be used in other
words. Such as:
作业： homework , 业务: task
3)
Typing down words encountered
that have a similar sound, regardless of the pinyin, then adding the pinyin on
top of each character, to know the differences.
Shi: 时， 事， 实， 式， 诗， 市， 失， 食， 士， 世， 石， 师， 试， 室， 始， 识，匙， 适, 十， 士， 驶， 湿, 狮，使 , 势， 施， 氏，示
Sorting the words by
tone:
First tone: 诗, 失, 师, 湿, 狮, 施
Second tone: 时，实，食，石，识，十
Third tone: 始, 驶, 使
Fourth tone: 事，式，市，士, 世，试, 室，适, 势, 氏, 示
Neutral: 匙
Each one of these
words, can be combined with other characters, to give new meanings. For
example:
故事 story 事故 accident
失去 to lose 失败 to lose
优势 advantage
趋势 tendency 去世dead
实施 implement 措施 measure
实在 actually 做事
In order to get a
specific character, one would have to type the word that has this
character. For example, to get 世, one has to type 世界 which means world. To get 室, one should write 办公室 which means office.
The words can be made
of one character, two, three characters. Idioms made of 4 characters are
encountered primarily in advanced levels, and are interesting to learn at any
level. This is a way to increase exposure to new vocabulary while learning stories
about idioms.
4)
Another exercise for typing, it to write words that have something in
common, learning new vocabulary, and noticing the differences between words.
输 to lose, to transport, to donate
偷 to steal. In order to get this word, need to type 小偷 which means thief.
愉cheerful, as in 愉快 pleasant, which comes in to 周末愉快 Have a nice weekend!
When
new words pop up, one can guess the what the word could be. For example, 褕 means loose garment. Seeing this word for the first time, it looked
like words already learnt that are related to clothes. Such as: 裤子 trousers，衬衫 shirt，裙子 skirt.
5)
Words that have similar sounds, and have similarities in writing. This helps
with guessing how new words can be pronounced, as well as the possibility of learning
new words
高 tall, high, and 高兴 happy, which can be 高高兴兴 in a good mood
搞 to do, to make, to take care of. The radical 手is the hand, and is
found in verbs or actions.
For
example: 找 to find; 抵 which means to support. While the word that is learnt is 低 which means low.
稿 as in 稿纸 which is the standardized writing paper with squares or lines. The
word that is already learnt is纸 which means paper.
6)
In Chinese, two words can
be combined to give a new meaning. If the person did not see this combination
of words previously, and did not learn it previously, or if they know only one
meaning for this word, they would not understand the meaning of the combination
of the two words.
手means hand.
Adding them together, gives the word手表，means watch.
表 biǎo: can refer to
family relationship via females, for example 表妹 means younger female cousin. Other meanings for 表 are: to show (one's opinion)
手表： a watch which is a noun.
表示 to express ; 发表to publish are verbs.
The same word in
Chinese can be a verb or a noun.
工作 means to work, and also
means job. Following are other words that are combined with it
工作人员 staff member
工作日means workday
工作时间working hours
工作服 working clothes
工作委员会 working committee
工作单位 work unit
工作组 work team
教育工作者 educator
社会工作 social work
新闻工作者 journalist
工作量 workload
While doing exercises in workbooks associated with the HSK5
books, it is noticed that there a lot of new words that pop up in the
exercises, that were not in the list of new words in the chapter being studied.
Although there is a list of words for HSK5, there are a lot more new words in
the workbooks that are might not be listed as new words, but one should be
familiar with them. Solving the questions in the textbook and the workbook is
needed.
The learning process using different sources, provides exposure to more
topics that need to be learnt. The words appear in a different order, rather
than just following the words one chapter at a time. One can also learn material from higher
levels.
In addition to writing down the lesson and the new words; typing
the text for the given lesson and adding the pinyin to words to know the
specific tone; translating the text can be done as part of the preparation for
new lessons. A paragraph is written without spaces between words. One is
supposed to know whether this character should be read on its own, or combined
with the following character or two, or if four characters should be read
together. Having the right tones and
knowing which characters are read together as one word is needed. Reading the
text out loud many times, with the right tones being shown, will help with
getting the correct tones for the words. The reading speed gets better with
repetition.
As the text gets longer, classes for learning the material
provide more information in a shorter period of time. Using tools that can
provide a quicker method for capturing characters can be useful. However, the
results obtained automatically should be revised, as sometimes the characters
are incorrectly recognized. The automatic translation can also provide indications
on errors in typing or automatic character recognition. It should be noted that one word can have more
than one meaning. Looking at the translation is useful for capturing these new
meanings, which could be totally unrelated to given text.
There is a lot of information that needs to be learnt in one
sentence, or a paragraph. It is not just the pinyin that needs to be known or
the meaning of one word. Grammar points are explained in Chinese. There are
textbooks that have the meanings of the words explained in Chinese language. The
examples are given in Chinese and contain new words as well.
HSK Words
The following graph from Chinese Zero to Hero shows the
words that should be learnt in different levels, starting with HSK1, up to
HSK6. There is one exam for HSK 7-9, which has a total of 11,000 word.
https://www.chinesezerotohero.com/hsk-word-vis/
Language Player
The complexity of learning Chinese increases with higher
levels. One should watch more videos, and should look at more content, and
should not only rely on just reading the given text in a chapter.
Language Player is an extremely useful tool that I have purchased, and I use it every day while learning Chinese. It provides a huge library
of videos, songs, resources not only for learning Chinese, but for learning
over 200 other languages. It provides
videos for each word, showing where the word was spoken. It provides
comparisons of words, and examples of sentences that have these words.
One of the amazing features that are really great about Language
Player’s Dictionary, is “Let ChatGPT Explain”. This is extremely helpful, as it
provides detailed explanation of the meaning of the word in the specific text.
If the word is part of a grammar point and is usually associated with another
word, that will also be highlighted. Such cases might not be noticed
previously. Getting detailed explanation
from ChatGPT, shows the meaning of the word in the given text, providing a much
clearer understanding of the given text.
Other Blogs I wrote
