Why I don’t use HSK
It’s nothing personal.
I’m sure it can be helpful for many learners. But I’ve also met many learners who are HSK4 and have memorized a lot of vocabulary but can’t hold a conversation.
The benefit of the HSK curriculum is that it provides structure which is valuable for beginners who don’t know where to start. It can also be used as a very rough benchmark of one’s level.
But the problem is that HSK textbooks were designed to pass a standardized test (HSK is an exam).
If your main goal is to pass the HSK, it’s the best way to get there. But if you’re goal is to speak Mandarin and have conversations with Chinese speakers, it’s not enough to get you there.
It’s like if NBA players, instead of playing basketball games against other teams to win a title, only practiced the whole year for the 3-point contest at the All-Star Game.
They might be good at excelling at the 3-point content, but it’s only a small portion of what it takes to be a good basketball player.
The HSK curriculum captures a small slice of what it means to be good at speaking Mandarin (if that’s your goal).
Here’s why the HSK falls short:
Based on long vocabulary lists you need to “memorize”
Vocabulary taught is not often used in practical speech
Little real-world context to help you encode vocabulary into memory
Lacks real-world audio input + visual context
Lessons are not realistic and not interesting
The result is that after trying to learn from HSK textbooks, I quickly felt bored, uninterested and overwhelmed with the vocabulary.
Luckily there’s a better way to learn: with realistic native Chinese material.
Native Chinese material does everything HSK falls short on:
Based on vocabulary native speakers actually use in daily speech
Immersive real-world context to help you encode vocabulary into memory
Native audio input + visual context
Interesting material
After focusing on real-world native material, I started having 3-hour conversations with Chinese speakers (this works for beginner learners as well).
This is why we focus on learning from real-world material to improve our listening and speaking in Step 1 of the Chinese Speakers Program.
Step 2 is improving your speaking and building a consistent habit.
Step 3 is making consistent progress with personalized feedback on your tones, pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary so you sound like a native speaker.
Chinese Speakers closes in 4 days.
I have room for 3 more learners in July.
If you want to improve your speaking, reply “native” and I’ll get you the details.
加油,
Danyo
--
PS cool Chinese vocabulary the day:
华而不实 (huá ér bù shí)
华 (huá): Splendid; showy.
而 (ér): But; yet.
不 (bù): Not.
实 (shí): Solid; substantial.
Translation: Flashy but without substance; showy but insubstantial.
Example sentence: 这篇文章看起来很漂亮,但内容华而不实,没有实际价值。(Zhè piān wénzhāng kàn qǐlái hěn piàoliang, dàn nèiróng huá ér bù shí, méiyǒu shíjì jiàzhí.) This article looks beautiful, but its content is flashy and insubstantial, with no real value.