HSK Basic Level

[Paisleydaisy]

I took GCSE Chinese in June 2005 and passed with an A* (highest grade). I now want to continue my studies and am interested in taking the HSK Basic Level but need some advice about textbooks and HSK dictionaries. Can anyone recommend a good textbook and dictionary for this level. I do not want to have to use a elementary/immediate level one and get scared by it being too difficult.

Also I will be studying on my own as I can't find a suitable class at the moment so if the book had at least some english or pinyin in then that would be a great help.

Any advice on suitable materials and where I might purchase them would be gratefully received.

[yingguoguy]

Unfortunately there's a lack of really good Chinese textbooks available in the UK. Also the HSK Basic test is also quite new so there's a lack of good books specifically targeted to it even in China.

I'd recommend the New Practical Chinese Reader series (I'm guessing you'd be at about book 3 level by now?) but I don't think you can buy it off the shelf in the UK. You can often get the old Practical Chinese Reader's and the similar Elementy Chinese Readers second-hand in bookshops in places like Oxford and Cambridge, but I wouldn't pay full price for them.

I'd recommend "A Practical Chinese Grammar" by Hung-nin Samuel Cheung and "Reading and Writing Chinese" by William McNaughton (There are Simplified and Traditional versions of this book so make sure you get the one you want)

If you've done the GCSE I'm guessing your ready for a proper brick sized dictionary by now. I wouldn't buy a HSK specific one, there's a list of HSK vocabulary you can print off on this very site. I'm not sure which one to recommend but I think there was a thread about it somewhere.

My last piece of advice would be to get a language exchange partner as this is the best and most fun way to learn. I don't know what your goals are, (i.e. if you want to have the HSK before apply for University for example), but working towards passing a specific exam (especially one like the HSK which doesn't test speaking or writing) isn't necessarily the best way to develop well rounded Chinese skills.

What's the difficulty of the GCSE like? Is there a reason you've chosen to do the HSK instead of an A-level? There might be better materials available for the A-level.

[geraldc]

HSK is a bit funny, it's not like a GCSE where there's a syllabus, where there are things to learn and tick off etc, it's a purely a test. As a result, the best preparation is just to keep on studying Chinese, but to start practising the tests. There are (or at least was) practise tests to download off the HSK website. That should give you an idea of what level you're at. The most important thing, is to develop a quick reading speed, and that's best achieved by practising the tests. If you've got the basic grammar down, I don't think you really need lessons for HSK, you just need someone to ask why a particular answer is right or wrong when you're stuck, to which they'll invariably reply " I don't know, it just is". So the best book for the HSK is any book of practise tests, I think one of the members on the forum runs a mail order business, so they may be able to help you out. I think most GCSE text books will be fine for the Basic. It's not as if the basic grammar laws change depending on the exam.

Also any beginner dictionary will be fine for the HSK, you won't actually have to read through it, you just need to look up words you don't know when practising. You can't rely on word lists, I remember 娃 coming up in my HSK, in relation to 娃娃鱼, and I'm fairly sure that wouldn't be on the word list.

What dialect did you do your Chinese GCSE in? If you did it in Mandarin, and come from a Mandarin speaking family, then the listening comprehension of the Basic level will be very easy...

[elina]

Even in China, the materials on HSK Basic are rare to find. Although the books on learning Chinese for foreigners are very complete on our site, we can only find:

HSK Intensive Training Before Test (Foundation)

http://shop.aaawww.net/mod8/detail.php?gid=323521&userid=7912&catid=662814

Cassette: HSK Intensive Training Before Test (Foundation)

http://shop.aaawww.net/mod8/detail.php?gid=320117&userid=7912&catid=662814

HSK Answer Guide (Foundation): Exercise and Simulation Test (Record, Note and Answer)

http://shop.aaawww.net/mod8/detail.php?gid=319632&userid=7912&catid=662814

Cassette: HSK Answer Guide (Foundation): Exercise and Simulation Test (Record, Note and Answer)

http://shop.aaawww.net/mod8/detail.php?gid=319633&userid=7912&catid=662814

HSK Mock Test ( Foundation)

http://shop.aaawww.net/mod8/detail.php?gid=314766&userid=7912&catid=662814

HSK Mock Test (Foundation) total three cassettes

http://shop.aaawww.net/mod8/detail.php?gid=314768&userid=7912&catid=662814

I'd recommend the New Practical Chinese Reader series (I'm guessing you'd be at about book 3 level by now?) but I don't think you can buy it off the shelf in the UK.

BTW, we also have the entire series of New Practical Chinese Reader:

New Practical Chinese Reader Textbook (1)

http://shop.aaawww.net/mod8/detail.php?gid=318134&userid=7912&catid=662814

New Practical Chinese Reader Textbook (2)

http://shop.aaawww.net/mod8/detail.php?gid=318177&userid=7912&catid=662814

New Practical Chinese Reader Textbook (3)

http://shop.aaawww.net/mod8/detail.php?gid=318189&userid=7912&catid=662814

New Practical Chinese Reader Textbook (4)

http://shop.aaawww.net/mod8/detail.php?gid=318196&userid=7912&catid=662814

New Practical Chinese Reader Textbook (5)

http://shop.aaawww.net/mod8/detail.php?gid=412826&userid=7912&catid=662814

[Paisleydaisy]

Thank you for such prompt and detailed replies.

I took GCSE because I had been studying mandarin chinese 3 hours/week at work for four years. At the end of the first year we took a London Chamber of Commerce Exam but they then stopped offering it in Chinese due to lack of demand !!?? Our tutor really struggled to find an alternative exam at a suitable level. We tried studying for HSK Basic but it was too difficult, but without something to aim for I found it hard to study and judge how I was doing. Our tutor felt that we could not attempt GCSE as we would struggle with the writing part so I found an evening class and took GCSE there. The writing part of the exam was hard but the rest of it was relatively straightforward so long as you knew the minimum vocabulary.

I do not have a long term goal in mind. I am a part time Chartered Engineer and part time stay at home Mum who enjoys the challenge of studying something different. I might reconsider AS/A level (any suggestions on material ?? - I notice the EDEXCEL exam board recommends Practical Chinese Reader III & IV).

[yingguoguy]

I have the "HSK Mock Test" book and cassettes that Elina mentions. They contain 5 complete tests which I'm working my way through at the moment and aren't a bad place to start.

SOAS seem to recommend "Chinese for Everyone 4" and "A Trip to China" for their intermediate courses. They might be worth investigating.

I agree with Geraldc, if you're studying for fun, the best thing to do is study at your own pace and follow your own interests, but occassionaly looking at an exam to help point out where your weak points are. I'm in a bit of a different situation as I want to have the piece of paper before I leave China, and am having to stretch a bit to get to the required level.

Out of interest, where did you do your evening classes and how were they? I'd be careful about going to long without a class or language partner or pen-pal. Again Gerald's right that you don't need them to pass the HSK, but to develop good communication skills you definately do. Having studied Chinese for two years in England mainly from books, coming to China and finding out how remedial my converstation skills are is very disheartening even if I can understand 50%+ of characters on signs.

Incidently there was talk of the HSK exam changing sometime after 2006, does anyone know whats happening about this?

[davidj]

I sat this at SOAS, yesterday (I was the one that was twice as old as anyone else). As the last language exam that I took was a GCE O Level, I'd be interested to know how those who have done GCSE Chinese (with the UK, rather than the Far East, syllabus) would compare the level of the HSK Basic exam with the GCSE.

Also people discussed getting text books. I also found that text books for the Basic level were thin on the ground, and I couldn't find any pre-recorded material. However, it is worth noting that it is possible to order from joyo.com, which appears to be the PRC franchise of Amazon, using UK credit/debit cards. As long as you select the slow delivery option, which in my case seemed to end up with things being airmailed from Hong Kong and arriving in less than two weeks, it's much cheaper than buying in the UK, for books in the text book price range. The one caveat is that they charge the card at the time of order, and they hold any balance on credit, rather than returning it, it the order fails or is cancelled.

Although I think their site says all foreign orders are first converted to US dollars, the conversion to GBP seemed to have been direct.

[wrbt]

Isn't there supposed to be a NPCR 6? I wonder when that is coming out.

[elina]

It’s said by BLCU Press that New Practical Chinese Reader 6 will be published in May, 2007.

[kdavid]

Is this out yet? NPCR 6, that is?

[elina]

Please see here:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/15-cctv-learn-chinese424

[kdavid]

Got it.

Elina--you seem to be the book expert around here. Any recommendations for intermediate + books similar in format and presenations to that of the NPCR series? I'm about to start the 5th book and trying to look ahead for something afterwards.

[elina]

you seem to be the book expert around here.

Thanks for your compliment, but I’d like to slightly change the sentence into this one:

We’re book expert on selling.

Our company’s staffs are all Chinese people, I’m afraid that we cannot give really helpful advices about the books from a foreigner’s perspective. What we can do is to try our best to make the introduction on the books on our site more detailed, so that it will give enough reference to our customers when ordering. If you check my posts, you could find I seldom recommend books, but most of the time I provide the relevant information, I fear to misguide others. Meanwhile, there’re many other good books published outside mainland China, which we even don’t know. I see you’re in 哈尔滨, but if necessary, you still could order online or let your friend abroad mail the book to you. So please wait for some other people writing reviews about your situation. And I think perhaps you’d better start a new thread with an appropriate title for your question, because this thread may not draw people’s attention.

By the way, if you want to know a certain book’ info, for example, if it is published or not, how many other products (including books and accompanied CD/VCD/DVD etc.) there’re in the same series, how much it is, and so on, I’m sure we’ll not make you disappointed, so far as the book is printed in mainland China. Sometimes, our customers want to purchase some books that are not on our web, we can always add them to our site with their original prices, if they are not out-of-print.