Premade HSK 3.0 Level 1 Card Missing a few Characters

levlaz

levlaz

Member
Hi!

I believe the HSK 3.0 Level 1 test should have 500 characters, but the premade card only has 497, does anyone know why this is the case? I started a spreadsheet to investigate the differnces. It seems these characters are missing.

I got my list from this site: https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-1-word-list/

spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ldIZVmIusUz4l02PqLF-UsYXTat0kwH7kq_cnuK6Yh8/edit?usp=sharing

地 dì ground
干 gān dry (note we do have the 4th tone version of this character - seems tricky to study!)
还 huán return; pay back
Looking ahead I think there may be similar issues with the other levels.
 
Shun

Shun

状元
Hi levlaz!

Nice work; the reason is that about 10% of all Chinese characters are homographs / 多音字, that is, they are written the same, but are actually different characters. This answer on Quora is rather good:


I see the HSK 3.0 list "hsk30-words-pleco.txt" I found in my Pleco only lists the Hanzi, which is why Pleco only imports one of the homographs and skips the others. Both the Hanzi and pinyin would be needed for a complete list. Can you perhaps provide it?

Cheers,

Shun
 
levlaz

levlaz

Member
Shun said:
Hi levlaz!

Nice work; the reason is that about 10% of all Chinese characters are homographs / 多音字, that is, they are written the same, but are actually different characters. This answer on Quora is rather good:


I see the HSK 3.0 list "hsk30-words-pleco.txt" I found in my Pleco only lists the Hanzi, which is why Pleco only imports one of the homographs and skips the others. Both the Hanzi and pinyin would be needed for a complete list. Can you perhaps provide it?

Cheers,

Shun
Click to expand...
Thanks Shun!

Thanks for the info on homographs, this makes sense. It seems like in this case only 干 is a homograph though, the other two just seem missing for some reason.

By the way, any tips on how to think about studying homographs? It seems like a nice easter egg in the language haha.
 
Shun

Shun

状元
Hi levlaz,

You're welcome!

还 hái and 地 de are also homographs of 还 huán and 地 dì, respectively.

Perhaps the best shortcut is that one only has to remember a single character for two or three different pronunciations/meanings. ;)

By repeating characters a lot, our brains will of course store all Chinese characters more efficiently all the time and come up with their own personal, subconscious mnemonics. I felt it was best just to see what associations a new character produced on its own and let our brain do its thing, with only a couple of conscious mnemonics such as "water" in 海、池、汤 or "hand" in 接、授、打 and so on that really helped the understanding of a character. Otherwise, you would need mnemonics too often, and mnemonics often tend to slow down recall because a conscious association first has to be remembered before the actual character comes out. Perhaps try to "feel" the characters aesthetically while studying them. For example, people who are good at remembering numbers, like me, also say that each number produces some unique feeling (or even color or sound) for them.

Cheers,

Shun
 
levlaz

levlaz

Member
Hey Shun,
Shun said:
还 hái and 地 de are also homographs of 还 huán and 地 dì, respectively.
Click to expand...

I see, it seems that 干 is extra special because it has the same character, same pinyin and different tones. At least the other two are different pinyin :)

Thanks so much for helping me understand that, I really appreciate you!
 
Shun

Shun

状元
Hi levlaz,

Yeah, sometimes only the tones are different, at other times it's the initial consonants or final vowels inside the pinyin. You're very welcome! Glad I could strike a chord.

Shun
 
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