Weekly Intermediate Study Updates - join in!

[mackie1402]

6 hours ago, sekkar said:

Did an HSK 5 test for fun in January and scored 273, happy with the final result even if I did kind of crappy on the writing part. 

 

That's a fantastic score! The writing course I did online really helped me, that I think HSK 5 should be OK when I take it, but HSK 6 still scares me! Any plans to take it?

[sekkar]

I was thinking about it, but I don't think so. I might be able to get a passing score now, but to actually get a good score I would have to study a lot specifically for that test, e.g stuff like find the sentence with an error, which of these really similar words are the correct one in this situation etc. I feel like I would forget Most of this after doing the test anyway, so it feels like a bit of a waste of time. Would be different if I was a student and actually needed the qualification. 

 

Maybe I'll try it for fun later, wish it wasn't so expensive though?

 

 

[Flickserve]

I am afraid to report I have not continued with chinese for a while now. 
 

I tried Hellotalk. In fact it’s more of a distraction than learning. I think the app is good if you want to practice what you already know on other people. 
 

I have another long term project with my sports and that’s distracting my focus on Chinese because of taking up a lot of my free time. 
 

Really I should get myself going on chinese again. 

[BearXiong]

I just finished reading the book 坏小孩 which was recently adapted into the TV series 隐秘的角落. In my opinion the novel isn't as good as the TV series. I highly recommend the TV series for those who like suspense/thrillers. Nonetheless, the book is fairly easy reading so I'd recommend it if you're looking for a novel which is easy to read but is not a translated book.

 

It took me a bit over two weeks to read the novel, which at 300k characters, is almost certainly the most I've read in such a short period of time. Having now read a bunch of novels, I feel like the tides are starting to turn. I'm starting to read fast enough with enough comprehension that it's less a chore and more something I can enjoy. In this regard, I think reading speed is hugely important. Even if something is inherently interesting, if you read at too slow a pace the amount of interesting things per unit time will be too low to engage you.