Displaying HSK level

Peter

榜眼
When I encounter a new or challenging word, I often want to know if it is in the HSK syllabus.

Pleco doesn't appear to have this functionality, but it can be emulated through creative use of user dictionaries. On the definition screen, Pleco always displays an abbreviated dictionary name, followed by the word definition. By creating dictionaries for each HSK level that containing only words (with empty definitions), we can look at the displayed abbreviated name.
  1. Create six user dictionaries, one for each HSK level. Set Icon abbreviation name to HL1, HL2, etc. We are limited to three characters.
  2. For each dictionary, import text file containing headwords and 拼音 for the respective level. I downloaded alanmd's HSK Pleco flashcard file (http://www.hskhsk.com/word-lists.html), and split it into six separate flash card files using a text editor. Conveniently, the function to import dictionary entries also accepts flash card text files.
  3. Adjust settings of each dictionary so it doesn't use the dictionaries for lookups. Uncheck the Use in Reader, Use in OCR and Use in Compounds options.
  4. Organise dictionary order so the HSK dictionaries so that they appear immediately after the first dictionary (e.g. Tuttle or whatever is preferred). This ensures that when you look up a word that exists in the HSK syllabus, the HSK Level e.g. 'HL1' will be displayed close to the top of the screen. If the HSK dictionaries are given highest priority, the HL1 text will appear at the top of the definition screen, but Pleco will want to use the HSK dictionary definitions (which are empty). Unfortunately checking the Search only as fallback option doesn't help.
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Thanks for posting this, but we actually have a much easier solution - category tags. On iOS you can add them by tapping on the (i) button next to a category in Organize, on Android via a long-press menu command - either way you end up with a nice HSK? badge in the definition screen.
 
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Thanks for posting this, but we actually have a much easier solution - category tags. On iOS you can add them by tapping on the (i) button next to a category in Organize, on Android via a long-press menu command - either way you end up with a nice HSK? badge in the definition screen.
Hi Mike

I just found this « old » trick to display HSK level in dict entries. That’s great but I have a problem now.

My cards database is usually empty except a few dozen words waiting to join my Anki db. Then I delete them.
In order to make this trick work, I downloaded HSK premade cards and created tags for each level.

But now when I try to add a word to my own database (the few running dozens) Anki tells me there’s a card for this word already. Of course the word exists in HSK lists (a tag is displayed) but I don’t really care about those as actual cards. I just need the HSK tags…

It means that every time I add a word with + to study for myself, I’ll have to click 2-3 times to tell Anki I still want that card even if it does exist… That’s probably why I did erase the HSK lists in the first place.

Do you see a way around this? I’m not sure if it’s clear, I can make screenshots later.
Thanks !
 

mikelove

皇帝
Staff member
Sorry, this is adding cards in Pleco directly to Anki? Best fixes there would either to be disable duplicate checking in your Pleco/AnkiDroid settings or just to create a new model for your new Pleco cards.
 
Hi Mike,

Thank you I completely missed those settings about duplicates in Flashcards -> card creation.
I set both to "Create new card" (not "Skip") and it works fine now !

Sorry my remark about Anki was confusing. I create all my Anki cards by hand so I record Pleco cards only as a "TODO list" of sorts.

Best,
Julien
 
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