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ChinesePod dialogues per HSK level (HSK 1, 2 and 3)

@dorothycowling Pleco’s import procedure is a little awkward. It’s explained in detail in Pleco’s manual; see https://www.pleco.com/ipmanual/flashtut.html#importingotherflashcardlists . Let me know if you have any difficulty. (The manual says you should first package the file up into a .zip file; this is not necessary. The file is UTF8 encoded and Pleco will recognize this just fine.)

(The easiest thing, I think, is to use Dropbox. First, backup your current flashcard database (Flashcards, Import/Export, Backup Database. This is a useful thing to do anyway. Then Pleco will create a directory Apps/Pleco Chinese Dictionary in your Dropbox account, and store some files there. Put the file from my website there as well. Then Import/Export again, Import Cards, skip step 1, just click on Import, then File, then select the file you just uploaded to Dropbox. and click Begin Import. Like I said, it’s a little awkward :confused: ).

@edsko. Thank you for so generously sharing your hard work with others.

I’ve been using HSK vocab levels as a way to structure my Mandarin learning. So your selection of CPod lessons is very powerful as the lessons you’ve pulled out show and explain with great relevance how to use all this HSK vocab.

Now that I’m using skritter I think I will go through the lessons using this HSK order to slowly build up my reading/writing skills. I’ve decided that this year I am going to really focus on my writing/reading skills to help improve my mandarin.

Thanks again for all the hard work sorting through the lessons to do this HSK listing!

@436865276 and @Matt_T, glad you find the list helpful. Hopefully I’ll find some time to construct a list for HSK4 soon(ish).

Yes, please for an HSK 4 list! I’m only just starting on HSK 3 Ele/Intermediate but I’m sure it’ll be useful for a whole lot of other people.

This is a very creative solution for imposing a different level of organization on the large library of CPod material. I wonder if CPod could incorporate it into a future build of the website. I’m not studying for the HSK, but I can still see the value of this approach. What I would like is a function where I could dump in a block of text (for example, a feature article in the newspaper) and have all of the CPod lessons that are likely to help reinforce the vocabulary in the reading listed in order of (likely) relevance.

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List for HSK 4 now complete; see ChinesePod dialogues for HSK 4.

What I would like is a function where I could dump in a block of text (for example, a feature article in the newspaper) and have all of the CPod lessons that are likely to help reinforce the vocabulary in the reading listed in order of (likely) relevance.

I think this is harder than it sounds. I’ve constructed these lists with the help of a program I wrote specifically for this purpose (https://github.com/edsko/ChinesePodAPI) and while that helps, there is still quite a lot of human input involved; when a word is covered by two dialogues, how do we decide which one to pick? Maybe one covers more “useless” vocabulary (for your specific purpose) than the other, but maybe it also covers more useless vocabulary (two words out of your text, for instance); exploring all options to find the optimal solution is not possible (the program would take far too long to compute). Moreover, how we decide which word is useless? This too involves quite a bit of human feedback (see the detailed discussion I have about marking words as useless in my blog post about the list for HSK 4).

@edsko, I regularly use your HSK lists - most helpful for developing HSK vocab while picking up grammar, sentence construction, etc. gems in the Chinesepod lessons which feature the relevant terms.

But, help! your link hasn’t been working for a couple of days. Any chance you could fix it?

Many thanks in advance,
Katherine

Hi Katherine,

It seems there is a problem with my server :angry: I’ve contacted the admins, but meanwhile, here’s the list:

HSK 1 (92% coverage, 39 dialogues, 51% HSK vocabulary)

For the HSK1 list I gave preference to Newbie dialogues over Elementary dialogues, and included no dialogues of a higher than Elementary level.

The following HSK 1 words are not covered by this list: 读, 些, 医院, 饭店, 米饭, 商店, 电脑, 中午, 电影, 后面, 电视, 苹果. Some words were covered in a slightly different form: 什么时候 instead of 时候, 你的 instead of 的, 多少 instead of 少, 下个月 instead of 月; 看见 is covered by the combination of 看 and 听不见, and finally 上 and 下 are both covered in various combinations (下午, 一下, 上海, 晚上, 上午, etc.).

HSK 2 (94% coverage, 58 dialogues, 38% HSK vocabulary)

For the HSK 2 list I consider all HSK 1 vocabulary known (but not the non-HSK vocabulary that was covered in the dialogues we picked for the HSK 1 vocabulary). For this list I gave preference to Newbie and Elementary levels, and included one Intermediate level dialogue.

The following HSK 2 words are not covered by this list: 公共汽车 (though 公交车 is included instead), 妻子, 铅笔, 正在, 打篮球, 跑步, 帮助, 事情, 着, 高 (though 高兴 is included). Some words were covered in a slightly different form: 足球 and 踢 as two separate words instead of 踢足球, 外卖 (and 老外) instead of 外, 晴天 and 阴天 instead of 晴 and 阴, 问题 instead of 题, 出去 instead of 出, 每天 instead of 每.

HSK 3 (93% coverage, 108 dialogues, 29% HSK vocabulary)

For the HSK 3 level I consider all HSK 1 and HSK 2 vocabulary known (though not the additional vocabulary covered by the above dialogues). I have used dialogues at Newbie, Elementary and Intermediate level; none of higher level.

Hope that helps :slight_smile:

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Hi edsko,
Thanks so much. Very generous! I would add emoticons with large bunches of flowers but have no idea how to do it…but you get the picture.

Would it be possible to have the HSK4 list too as I’m between the 2 levels?

Your selection is such a useful way to navigate the rich and vast ChinesePod library.

Kind regards,
Katherine
P.S. I tried to reply earlier but made the mistake of replying to the no-reply email.

I had kind of been hoping edsko.net would not be down for so long, but since it’s still not up… here you go: ChinesePod dialogues for HSK 4 .

Super THANKS, edso!
:rose::rose::rose:

Sorry, I of course meant “edsko”

Best regards,
Katherine

Just taking a look at your playlists as I’ve been finding the other playlists pretty useful.

What I like about these playlist is that, being HSK vocabulary, they tend to cover more random subjects than say, the Daily Life series, (which are amazingly useful in themselves). I think for any beginner, the Daily Life series together with your HSK series would be a very, very fine start indeed. In fact, I couldn’t think of anything better. Saying that, ATWTI seems to be developing very well. I’m very interested in seeing where that goes.

Thank you!

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At first I was unable to understand what to do with the link with your code but after some experimenting I used the “save as” on my Mac. That got me the .txt file. I used Airdroid to upload to my phone and it work like a charm ! Thanks Edsko!

@antony73, @mikerivamonte , glad you find the playlists useful! Sorry for the slow reply; to my shame, I’ve not been very active on ChinesePod for quite a while. I lived in China for a year, then moved to Europe,… it’s just been a very busy time. I’ll need to start working toward HSK5 now so perhaps I need to start thinking about constructing a playlist for that too :slight_smile:

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More kudos from me Edsko! Just found the edsko.net “Resources”, “Western Mind Chinese Grammar”, and “Pleco” online and your insights seem spot on! The ‘ergative’ language idea is very unique! I view Mandarin musically much of the time which makes its’ grammar seem less definitive and more rhythmic. Xie xie ni!

Thanks @stevinsjs ! Very glad to hear that my website is helpful to someone :slight_smile: I wish I could say Chinese grammar hurts my head less now, two years after writing that blog post. And in way, actually, that is true: but that’s simply because I think less about grammar and spend more time just speaking :slight_smile: And in daily life, as well as in exams up to HSK4 that has served me just fine, even though I am sure I make plenty of mistakes. Nonetheless I think read more, talk more, rather than study grammar more, is still the way forward for me :slight_smile:

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You are the best person that have ever existed

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