How do or have you used HSK Vocabulary Videos?

[Rajesh Koothrappali]

I have obtained the HSK vocab videos from Mandarin Corner but still don't incorporate them well.  Have you used any of those vocab videos to help you ingrain the HSK vocabulary? What was your method with them? Apart from going on a walk while listening to the audio, I can't make use of them too much. My goal is to take the HSK 4 in about 6 months.

[suMMit]

I recently stumbled on this video series. It's not going to win any awards for being exciting or groundbreaking, but it is great listening for reviewing Hsk 4/5-ish vocabulary and structures while going for a walk or doing the dishes. Really easy listening and should be like 98% comprensible for someone at HSK 4, zero English.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqO6SFMavmM&list=PLoRFgwjifcVzZe8mm7sOYdQYMnMq9GLUG&index=6

 

This channel by the way has tons of videos, as in 5000! All kinds of stuff, some very weird, some quite interesting. For some reason, I suspect that this channel might run by a university and students studying media are making these videos. Many of thier videos have very few views.

[becky82]

I've used Mandarin Corner (those HSK vocabulary videos which are just sentences said aloud) for identifying weaknesses in my listening.  If it takes too long for me to understand, then I jot it down.  I subsequently try to eliminate these weaknesses through practice.

 

 

I've studied these words, and can read them with minimal effort, but sometimes I don't recognize them fast enough when listening.

 

(PS. Nowadays you can get ChatGPT to generate a batch of example sentences, and generate mp3s from them using https://ttsconverter.io/.)

[Rajesh Koothrappali]

@becky82 Nice notebook and thanks for showing what you do.  

[Rajesh Koothrappali]

@becky82

 

I was wondering if you might share how you ingrain vocab in your head? I recently read this blog of a forum poster here. She successfuly passed the HSK 7-9 and got an 8. She seems to feel that reading can be enhanced by writing and that meaning and memorzing can be enchanced by handwriting characters. I‘ve basically been studying HSK4 vocabulary since last year (2023). 

[becky82]

Me?  I don't think I have any magic.  I just study words.  And study them again and again and again.  And get lots of exposure.

• At first it was about recognizing that a certain word exists, knowing their English translation(s), and reading a few example sentences;
• then it was more about study (i.e., learning its meanings, collocations, synonyms, antonyms, grammar, what things an adjective can describe, what objects a verb can take, etc.) and getting lots of diverse exposure;
• then it was about fluency: identifying them with ease during listening and reading, and utilizing them with ease during writing and speaking;
• and now it's more like I strive to study words to exhaustion---to the point where there is nothing left to learn about a given word.

Any time I encounter a word that I thought I had studied to exhaustion being used in an unexpected way, I'll check it out: sometimes I find new usage, sometimes I find the word was incorrectly used.  There's also many rare words I don't think I need to know (at least not yet); any words I use/encounter less frequently than, say, once every three months, I probably don't need to know.  Most of the time, they're some flowery adjective, or specific type of vegetable, or something that nobody is expecting me to know.

 

By diverse exposure, I mean encountering vocabulary in different ways on different days.  Perhaps through reading a novel, perhaps through watching a movie, perhaps through chatting with ChatGPT, perhaps through word games, perhaps through a website, perhaps when chatting with friends, ...  So yeah, writing (whether by hand or by typing) is one possible way to thinking about vocabulary.

 

In the past, I've used two ineffective handwriting methods:

• Handwriting e.g. 谢 100 times over in a single sitting, thinking it'll help me remember.  (It was no better than handwriting it once.)
• Copying down entire articles.  (It's better to just write down important sentences.)

Does handwriting help learning vocabulary?  I would guess no more than other activities.  The important thing is you think about each word over and over again.  So I would not recommend giving up your optimal study time to practice handwriting.  But if you're waiting for the bus, sure use Skritter or TOFU Learn.  I far prefer handwriting sentences over individual characters (especially when I think "oh, that's a good sentence, I'll jot it down").  I flick through my notes every now and then, and think "oh yeah, I forgot I was meant to remember that."  (By the way, here's a video of my old handwritten notebooks, and here's a video of me handwriting ChatGPT-written sentences.)

[Rajesh Koothrappali]

@becky82

Such a detailed write up. I got a lot of ideas from it. I suppose I will just have to exploit every resource I got. In time some will sink in like the character 我（wo3) which I can recognize instantly. 

 

I'm glad you mentioned handwriting words (or a word) 100x. I was going to try writing my unknowns 20x. But the way I think while writing is more like calligraphy.  

Step 1: "Oh a line here".
Step 2: "Oh a box". 

 

I am not really saying the component in my head,for example (口 kou3), as I write. It might not be such a boost to my vocabulary study. I may try writing out the sentences of this vocab video when I have some time. 

 

It is cool that even though you are HSK6+ and have probably studied double the time that I have, you are still on the journey. Versus someone who sort of has arrived and is considered an expert or at least near the tip of the mountain (C2). The advice is helpful because you yourself are stuyding actively right now also. Reading your tips I feel I can also try some of those methods.