deciding which new words to prioritize

[markpete]

Hi, all.  Even as I improve my vocabulary, I always see waaaay more new words than I can reasonably learn and so needed some way to prioritize them.  I don't want to spend a lot of time learning a word I won't see again for months/years (at least until after I've learned more of the most common ones).  

 

So I pulled together this spreadsheet that I use when making flash cards.  It uses a few different frequency lists to assign a priority (1, 2, or 3) to any new word I enter.  The most common words are priority 1, least common are priority 3.  Then when I'm ready to study another group of words, I can pull from the top priority ones.

 

As an example, if a new word is on any of the HSK lists, it gets a "1" priority.

 

Sharing here in case others also find this sort of thing useful.

 

Best,

    Markprioritized vocabulary list.xlsx

[vellocet]

One of the most frustrating things you can do is spend a tremendous amount of time learning vocabulary, only to find that it's obsolete or rarely used.  I do not understand why textbooks spend so much time on such words.  

 

What I do is whenever I'm trying to say something, but can't, write that in a note on my phone.  Later, I'll figure out how to say it in Chinese and then add it to the study pile.  It's a decent method, but scattershot.  

[Jan Finster]

Hi Mark,

 

this seem to be a good way to do this if you think that frequency lists reflect what you are interested in.

 

Recently I read the word 斑海豹 in an HSK 4 level text of TheChairMansBao. Since I am interested in animals, this word (Harbor seal) may actually be more important to me than 窗帘 ("curtain"). If someone is interested in 武侠 novels on the other hand, they may have a different priority. This is why I stayed away from frequency lists. 

[markpete]

Yeah, the frequency lists certainly aren't perfect, but they seemed like a better option than what I was doing before.  And by seeing where something falls on multiple lists (including the presumably hand-selected HSK and TOCFL lists), I can get a sense of whether it's an outlier on one list or truly a useful word.

 

On a related note, I do get a little frustrated with the content of TheChairmansBao.  Almost all of their HSK-leveled readings contain things that aren't on the corresponding HSK lists (like 斑海豹).  That's fine -- I don't think they were written to be practice for the HSK-- but on my wish list is some practice reading material that actually draws only from those HSK lists.  Even the "HSK Standard Course", which is put out by the same people who make the test, includes a lot of other words in its readings for each chapter.

[Flickserve]

I think it’s a good idea to study frequency lists. It helps give you a target especially the same word has come up in different lists. Even if you don’t study the list actively, I think it helps reading it over and then you get an idea you might have seen it before if you come across it again. 

[Jan Finster]

5 hours ago, markpete said:

On a related note, I do get a little frustrated with the content of TheChairmansBao.  Almost all of their HSK-leveled readings contain things that aren't on the corresponding HSK lists (like 斑海豹).  That's fine -- I don't think they were written to be practice for the HSK-- but on my wish list is some practice reading material that actually draws only from those HSK lists.  Even the "HSK Standard Course", which is put out by the same people who make the test, includes a lot of other words in its readings for each chapter.

I do not follow HSK, but I wonder if they really use zero non-HSK words in their texts and audios?

I think using non-HSK words is inevitable. The HSK lists are just too limited. If you try to create engaging content only with HSK words that content would sound off. Probably they would have to use 10 HSK words to describe something and still leave you guessing just to avoid using that 1 non-HSK word that describes that concept. Imagine writing 10 engaging stories just with HSK 1-3 vocabulary. Now, try 100 stories...

I think TCB works by mass exposure. If you read and listen to 100 texts per week, then the HSK words are going to reappear more than the non-HSK words. Thereby you instinctively pick up the HSK words more easily.

[markhavemann]

11 hours ago, markpete said:

On a related note, I do get a little frustrated with the content of TheChairmansBao.  Almost all of their HSK-leveled readings contain things that aren't on the corresponding HSK lists (like 斑海豹). 

You will find that the HSK exams - at least level 5 and 6, I can't remember 4 - will often have a few unknown, unlisted words like this as the main topic of the article, needing you to infer what it is about.

 

One HSK 5 text (maybe it was HSK 6...) was all about auctions, even though 拍卖 is nowhere in the HSK list. 

 

I think this is a useful way of working things since HSK isn't really a complete guide to learning the language, but rather more of a framework to facilitate understanding, no matter what you encounter.