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10 Year China / Chinese Anniversary

#1

Hello,

Today I was looking at some old posts on the site and found my old comment about a question about my Chinese name. This year is my ten year China anniversary and I thought it would be nice to share a little about my Chinese learning journey here.
I started learning Chinese using Chinesepod about 10 years ago around the end of 2007, moved to China Jan 2008, moved back to The Netherlands in 2011. Passed HSK 5, had a child in 2012, got diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014 and decided that THIS was the right time to start a master in Chinese studies (there might not be another time in the future). However, luckily I successfully finished my treatment in 2016, and graduated in 2017.
Now I’m finishing a master in Translation Studies to become a certified translator for Chinese English and Dutch, which I hopefully finish next year and can start working in the field I love!
I want to go back to studying for the HSK (6) but have difficulties to get started again : ) I hope there soon will be HSK 6 material here that might be helpful. Any ideas, tips and trick are welcome!

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#2

Wow, that certainly was not an easy path to travel. Congratulations on your successes and I am happy to hear your treatment went well.

I myself have never taken any HSK exam, but maybe I will also try to go for HSK6 next year, just for proving it to myself and in case I ever need it.

My plan is to use an online vocab list and then pick words that I don’t know to look it up for further study in Chinesepod’s database:

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#3

Thank you for your reply, I think this is very useful! : ) Good luck with your HSK 6 prep!

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#4

Wow is right! Congratulations on your accomplishments and your 10 year anniversary with ChinesePod (and surviving the treatment and graduating with a masters)! Thank you for letting ChinesePod help you on this journey.

We are looking at HSK 6 material and will work on it now with you in mind!

Best!

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#5

Congratulations!

As far as HSK prep goes, each person is different. Here is my experience: There is no one-stop solution for getting ready for the HSK.

I’ve taken the HSK 6 twice (once in 2011 with a score of 226, and again earlier this year with a score of 224), and I’m preparing to take it again next year, hoping to break through 270 (essentially an “A”). The language requirements for HSK 6 are so vast that my main approach is simply to hit the Advanced lessons hard, with a goal of getting 160 of them under my belt.

I’m also using Pleco (with the Outlier Dictionary) to nail down the top five thousand characters. This project will continue long beyond next year’s HSK 6 - probably by a few years!

After ChinesePod has built up my vocabulary, I plan to go back to doing practice tests for a month or two before the exam.

Bottom line: I use Pleco to expand my knowledge of characters, ChinesePod to expand my vocabulary, and then HSK 6 practice tests to actually get ready.