Comments on: Mapping the terra incognita of Chinese vocabulary https://www.hackingchinese.com/mapping-the-terra-incognita-of-vocabulary/ A better way of learning Mandarin Wed, 24 Dec 2025 13:17:38 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Reading is a lot like spaced repetition, only better | Hacking Chinese https://www.hackingchinese.com/mapping-the-terra-incognita-of-vocabulary/#comment-144896 Wed, 24 Dec 2025 13:17:38 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=377#comment-144896 […] flashcards, you can control the order in which you learn the words. And so we set the experiment up to learn the words in descending frequency order (most common […]

]]> By: Reading speed: Learning how to read ten lines at a glance | Hacking Chinese https://www.hackingchinese.com/mapping-the-terra-incognita-of-vocabulary/#comment-113946 Wed, 22 Nov 2023 21:38:20 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=377#comment-113946 […] Make sure you know enough words: What “enough” means here depends entirely what you want to be able to read quickly and why. If you lack key vocabulary on a reading comprehension test, you will have a problem, even if you can read words you know fast as lightning. Read more about plugging gaps in your vocabulary here. […]

]]> By: The phantasm of superior studying and what to do about it - marcelalovesafrica https://www.hackingchinese.com/mapping-the-terra-incognita-of-vocabulary/#comment-110135 Tue, 11 Jul 2023 19:53:56 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=377#comment-110135 […] frequency lists – An exquisite strategy to plug holes in your vocabulary is to make use of frequency lists. Because of this if you attain the intermediate degree, you […]

]]> By: How to learn Chinese characters: My best advice | Hacking Chinese https://www.hackingchinese.com/mapping-the-terra-incognita-of-vocabulary/#comment-109381 Tue, 06 Jun 2023 09:08:03 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=377#comment-109381 […] The most common Chinese words, characters and components for language learners and teachers – If you want to find frequency information for components, characters or words, this article is for you. It’s a comprehensive overview of the various resources available, mostly online and freely available. This can be handy if you want to plug gaps in your vocabulary, or in other words, if you want to check if you’ve missed very high-frequency words that are significantly below your general level. Read more about this here: Mapping the terra incognita of Chinese vocabulary. […]

]]> By: What important words are missing from HSK? | Hacking Chinese | Hacking Chinese https://www.hackingchinese.com/mapping-the-terra-incognita-of-vocabulary/#comment-108120 Thu, 23 Mar 2023 08:02:05 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=377#comment-108120 […] a student who focuses on HSK vocabulary only, not to find any word that doesn’t exist in HSK. I normally advise students to only use word lists for plugging holes, not to expand vocabulary in ge… The difference is that plugging holes is about finding words much more common than those you are […]

]]> By: Which words you should learn and where to find them | Hacking Chinese https://www.hackingchinese.com/mapping-the-terra-incognita-of-vocabulary/#comment-108036 Sun, 19 Mar 2023 16:26:18 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=377#comment-108036 […] Mapping the terra incognita of Chinese vocabulary […]

]]> By: 101 questions and answers about how to learn Chinese - Hacking Chinese https://www.hackingchinese.com/mapping-the-terra-incognita-of-vocabulary/#comment-99946 Mon, 22 Aug 2022 17:55:50 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=377#comment-99946 […] I learn characters/words from lists? If so, what lists?It depends, but in general no. They can be useful for plugging holes in your vocabulary, though. Frequency is very important, but mostly for teachers. If you really want frequency lists, make […]

]]> By: Ollie Lovell https://www.hackingchinese.com/mapping-the-terra-incognita-of-vocabulary/#comment-813 Fri, 22 Aug 2014 00:21:01 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=377#comment-813 Hey guys.

I’ve turned the character frequency list here: http://www.zein.se/patrick/3000en.html

Into an Anki deck.

You can download it here: https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/1418386664

Ollie.

]]> By: The kamikaze approach to learning Chinese | Hacking Chinese - 揭密中文 https://www.hackingchinese.com/mapping-the-terra-incognita-of-vocabulary/#comment-812 Wed, 05 Jun 2013 05:19:12 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=377#comment-812 […] One more word of warning. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that just because you master something at a certain level, you master everything below that level. This is a dangerous misconception; I’ve often found that beginner and intermediate textbooks and courses have things to teach me, it’s just that I don’t want them to be my main source of learning. Even if you strive for the stars, be sure to spend a decent amount of time making sure to solidify your foundation. […]

]]> By: Why you should use more than one textbook | Hacking Chinese - 揭密中文 https://www.hackingchinese.com/mapping-the-terra-incognita-of-vocabulary/#comment-811 Wed, 11 Jul 2012 08:32:21 +0000 http://www.hackingchinese.com/?p=377#comment-811 […] However, you mustn’t fool yourself into thinking that being able to walk a distance in one direction means that you can do the same in another. A new language is a huge landscape and even the easier parts of the terrain are vast. Approaching more difficult challenges doesn’t mean that the easier ones are all mastered. This is where additional textbooks come in, but before I explain how, I shall illustrate with an example (if you want to read more about maps, terrain and vocabulary, check Mapping the terra incognita of vocabulary). […]

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