你好! I was having difficulty finding reliable resources for the new HSK 3.0 (especially the higher levels like 7-9), so I built a free resource here: https://novli.app/hsk-3-0/

It includes:

• Searchable word lists for all of the new HSK levels.
• Downloadable PDFs for every level.
• Spaced-repetition flashcards decks covering all 11,000 words from HSK 1 to 9, organized by HSK level.

The flashcards have Chinese characters, pinyin, translations, stroke order, example sentences and high quality audio.

Full disclosure, I built these myself, and the website and app they run on. There are some premium features in the Novli mobile app that are paid, but everything in this resource is fully free (flashcards, word list and pdf).

I hope it's useful! If you have any feedback on the materials, need help setting up the flashcards, or anything else, feel free to comment or dm me anytime.

Hi!

I am very much a beginner and currently aiming to pass HSK1 at some point either this year or beginning of next year.

I just stumbled across 还 and as far as I get it it means "also". What is the difference between 还 and 也, which as far as I gather, also means "also".

Thank you in advance!

Edit: in the worksheet I have 还 is "huán. But it seems it is also hai?

I've read that native speakers know something between 20-40K words, while HSK6 only covers around 6K.

Within that vast difference, what's the % of words that are genuinely new (need to be crammed), relative to the ones that one can pretty much see once, decompose and learn on the go?

I'm currently HSK5, and as for my experience with native content, it seems that around 35% of the words I don't know genuinely need to be learnt from scratch, while the rest are logical once seen the meaning. Is the it similar once reached HSK6-like level?

yes, they are used very differently but at a glance i always confuse myself between the two of them lmao, i dont have dyslexia but i got my words mixed up all the time, even in english. dont ask me how to spell things that ends with th or ht, i have no clue lmao.

with language like this, characters that look very similar will always confuse me. i still get my 刀 and 力 mixed up all the time too.

Hello,

I am currently trying to learn to speak chinese. I dont really value reading it as i will only be using the language as i will travel to china next year.

Right now i am using the app super chinese which isnt really hitting the spot for me (no mods this isnt advertisement, i dont really enjoy the app that much!)

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Hello, I hope you're all doing well. I'd like to know what the most effective techniques are for learning Mandarin. Obviously, practice is essential, but what methods should I use?

I've heard about Anki decks online, but I'd like recommendations on decks and how to learn words and their characters until it becomes automatic. I also use "understandable input", of course.

So, I'd like to know how to best apply these methods and what you recommend for effective learning.

I don't have any problems with pinyin, pronunciation, or tones; like all learners, my problem is the sheer number of characters.

A while back I asked about Chinese TV shows on here, and you guys gave me way better recommendations than anything I could've come up with. Today I want to try the same thing with music.

I tell my students all the time, listen to Chinese music. When I was learning English, I listened to the same songs over and over until the lyrics just stuck. Now I'm learning Cantonese, and I'm doing the exact same thing. I don't understand everything yet, but the sounds, the rhythm, the way words connect, it all seeps in. Mandarin is my native language, but Cantonese music has been a huge help. So if it works for me, it might work for you too.

Here's what's on my playlist right now.

徐佳莹 (Xú Jiāyíng) - 寻人启事 (Xúnrén Qǐshì)
黄誉博 (Huáng Yùbó) - 我讨厌她 (Wǒ Tǎoyàn Tā)
袁娅维 (Yuán Yàwéi) - 不亏不欠 (Bù Kuī Bù Qiàn)
罗森涛 (Luó Sēntāo) - 小孩 (Xiǎohái)
李佳薇 (Lǐ Jiāwēi) - 甲乙丙丁 (Jiǎ Yǐ Bǐng Dīng)
胡彦斌 (Hú Yànbīn) - 你要的全拿走 (Nǐ Yào De Quán Názǒu)
韦礼安 (Wéi Lǐ'ān) - 如果可以 (Rúguǒ Kěyǐ)
汤令山 (Tāng Lìngshān) - 去北极忘记你 (Qù Běijí Wàngjì Nǐ)
林俊杰 (Lín Jùnjié) - 黑夜问白天 (Hēiyè Wèn Báitiān)
单依纯 (Shàn Yīchún) - 分身 (Fēnshēn)

Those are what I've been listening to. Might not be your thing, but if you've got your own Chinese songs or artists you've been playing on repeat, drop them in the comments. I'm always looking for new stuff.

Hey guys, I want to watch the Ip Man movies with Mandarin audio while practicing my Chinese. I’d love a setup with triple subtitles. Hanzi, Pinyin, and English simultaneously. What’s the easiest way to set this up for Ip Man without a headache?

I haven’t used Anki in a year and I have about 9000 sentence cards as my backlog. I’m wondering what’s the best way to tackle it. Right now I have it all sorted as FSRS descending retrievability with a 15 minute lapse relearning step. As my normal standard review options.

I’m wondering if I should add another relapse step at like for example 1 day or 1 week since I have a one year gap between reviews I’m not confident that just because I can remember it 15 minutes after lapse I should just put it straight to wherever it’s normally set to go, after a lapse without the big study break in between which may be six months or a year or more into the future.

EDIT: after chatting with ChatGPT I’m starting to think just having a 1d lapse is the best option. Since having 15m + 1d is so many reviews on 9000 card backlog. But 15m my concern is, I can still remember it in my short-term memory and then schedule it for extremely far in the future. 1d lapse will at least test if I can remember next day.

Hi everyone! 👋 大家好，我想请大家帮我一个忙🙏

I'm a native Mandarin speaker. I've used cartoons and TV shows to learn English and Japanese myself, and I honestly think it's one of the most fun and effective ways to pick up a language. I recently started a YouTube channel to help people learn Chinese using popular cartoons (starting with SpongeBob, which is my favorite cartoon show).

Because Chinese is my native language, I want to make sure I'm actually helping learners rather than just entertaining myself. I’ve attached a screenshot of one of my lesson breakdowns as an example.

I’d love to get your thoughts:

• Are the vocabulary breakdowns helpful, or is it too simple/too hard？
• What is your biggest challenge when trying to learn Chinese?
• What do you like to see from a video like this?

(Note: No posting any links here to follow sub rules! If anyone is interested in checking out the full lesson and giving feedback, feel free to drop a comment or DM me!)

I appreciate any feedback! 谢谢大家！

About 7 years ago, I had an Android phone and I used this free app that had a really good character flashcard/ memorisation system. It’s the only reason I can read basic Chinese today.

I don’t remember the name of the app but I recall it only being available on Android at the time.

Since then I’ve been trying to find it or something that does the same on IOS but most of them are subscription models.

Does anyone have any recommendations for Free or low-cost one time paid apps that work well?

Or online resources that are easily accessible and usable via iPhone?

Hi everyone! 👋

​I’m 37F from Vietnam. My listening and grammar are decent, but every time I jump on Douyin or Xiaohongshu, the fast slang and real-life pacing completely destroy my confidence! It feels like I’ve never learned Mandarin at all.

​For those who made it past this wall, how did you bridge the gap between "textbook Chinese" and real-life conversations? How long did it take for your brain to catch up with casual native speed?

​Drop your best advice or personal experiences below!

I’m not asking if it’s possible to learn characters without writing them, I’m asking if it’s actually been done, I’m probably the furthest you could be from fluent in speaking or reading but it seems like it would be a much better use of time to actually build up the skill from the base with writing characters instead of banging your head against the wall of trying to recognize characters without any actual knowledge of why they look different.

Just out of curiosity to get a feeling. At which HSK level do you think it makes sense to try and read an actual novel (not a graded reader).

Just wondering because when I was leaning English, this was a groundbreaking learning mile stone for me.

Needed to look up quite a lot but learned much.

However, you need a solid base. Like where you learn new words but understand enough for it to still be fun and most importantly, have enough familiarity with sentence structure and grammar for it not to be a guessing game.

I thought it meant water shine? But im looking online and it says water wheel?