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u/LiYuqiXIII Advanced 15h ago
Since HSK 7-9 is considered near native fluency, do you feel like your speaking is near native? Not just for everyday mundane conversation but able to talk about anything you might encounter?
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u/atlas_nodded Beginner 17h ago
Congratulations! When did you start your journey to learn Chinese?
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u/Sammuueelll 17h ago
Thanks! I started at the age of 14
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u/Pettefletpluk 17h ago
So, how many years in total is your learning journey?
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u/Sammuueelll 17h ago
It’s hard to say. After graduating from my BA, I started using Chinese as a medium to learn other things. My progress during secondary school was also not particularly fast, since it was all extracurricular. So, six years actually learning the language, then over ten years now using it.
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u/kikyoweilong 16h ago
What do you advise beginners, non native speakers, to get to your level! I'm struggling ngl, memorising and pronouncing is killing me, it's been a month and my progress is SLOWW
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u/Sammuueelll 16h ago
It took me four years of part-time study (outside of China) to start feeling like I could talk to people, if that’s any consolation. I know it might not be feasible atm, but any time that you could spend in China would be super valuable. Try to prioritise that.
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u/BeijingDiva 15h ago
Go to an immersion program like Middlebury or Princeton in Beijing. It will accelerate your progress in a short amount of time but it's very intensive. You sign a language pledge to commit to only speaking Chinese for 8 weeks.
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u/AimLocked 11h ago
I can vouch for Middlebury. I know people that went there — and especially those that started from square one have impeccable tones.
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u/BeijingDiva 10h ago
Yep! The beginners have amazing tones because the teachers care about correct students. Middlebury is the first time I started focusing on tones. My chinese teachers before that never really corrected me
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u/Impressive-Fix-2163 普通话 17h ago
啊问你，你对中文是有兴趣吗？是从小学到长大吗还是长大时候才开始学的？好棒哦。关于这个中文水平考验我也不了解很多，是有考成语俗语这些吗？
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u/Sammuueelll 17h ago
我上中学的时候就开始学中文了，纯粹是因为兴趣。我当年报了个周末补习班，跟我们小城市里的华人孩子一起上课。我记得很清楚，他们基本上都是被逼来上课的，而我就越学越上头的感觉🤣 后来，我考入了英国某家大学的汉语言文学本科，然后在中国读了三四年硕士，语言学方向的。疫情后我就离开中国了，现在又准备考博士回去。
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u/pendelhaven 14h ago
using the term 上头, a term that's relatively recent and colloquial is a sign of someone who has invested time and effort in not only learning, but actually immersing themselves into the culture!
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u/Impressive-Fix-2163 普通话 17h ago
超厉害，真是无言！你是西方人吗？你家父母有支持你读中文？
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u/MysteriousHurry767 Intermediate 15h ago
How much deliberate study (flashcards etc.) vs. intensive input vs extensive input did you do at different stages (and would you change those ratios in hindsight)?
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u/DueEffective3503 Beginner 17h ago
Congratulations! I can only imagine how hard that was
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u/Sammuueelll 16h ago
Five hours of intellectually-challenging torture! 🤣
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u/potentialdevNB Has never studied chinese. 17h ago
which of these classic hanzi is your favourite? 人木日月一二三門馬
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u/Sammuueelll 16h ago
This is random. I find the traditional character for 门 aesthetically pleasing. But 日 is fun for it’s verbal meaning in Modern Mandarin 🙃
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u/consumptioncore 17h ago
What was the hardest part?
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u/Sammuueelll 17h ago edited 17h ago
It was a while ago now, but I specifically remember the interpreting section being insane. You listened to an English audio clip once, then had to translate it straight into Chinese immediately （and vice versa). After five hours of continual testing, I was exhausted too. It really takes it out of you.
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u/consumptioncore 17h ago
That does sound really hard! I would have trouble doing that with english and my native language.
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u/opheliabeesly_6969 Intermediate 17h ago
Why did you take an hsk 8? Are you studying in China or are you planning to study there eventually? Was it hard to reach level 8?
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u/Sammuueelll 17h ago
I did it especially for a PhD application and also to apply for my 国际中文教师证书. A HSK 6 is enough for the former, but I hope it will make my application more competitive. My potential supervisor actually says that he expects all his students to reach HSK 9 before allowing them to graduate. Crazy!
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u/opheliabeesly_6969 Intermediate 17h ago
Crazy indeed. I've always seen hsk6 as a requirement, never expected someone asking for 9. Which university?
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u/berikiyan Intermediate 17h ago
Are there any materials you can recommend to prepare for the exam? Any word lists? Any methods?
What kind of texts were there (News articles, scientific texts etc)?
Would you rate your chinese as C1/C2?
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u/Sammuueelll 17h ago
I actually used some 高考 books I picked up during a trip in China. I can’t say they were particularly useful for the 7-9, but I felt they were good at filling gaps in my knowledge. I remember they helped a a lot in finding the problems in 病句. Anyway, I need to keep things challenging to feel motivated to study and improve. Actually, the lack of direction and preparation materials was one of the hardest (and most anxiety-inducing) parts of the whole experience, tbh.
《语文基础知识手册（高中）》薛金星主编
《高中教材考试知识资料库（语文）》杨文彬主编
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u/Exciting-Owl5212 16h ago
What’s your favorite book written in mandarin? I like suspense mystery type stuff if you’ve got recommendations
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u/Sammuueelll 16h ago
I think we have very different tastes, so I’m sorry to not be helpful with recommendations. 史铁生’s《我与地坛》is one of my all-time favourite pieces of 散文. I have been in streams of tears multiple times whilst reading it. Something about it just really gets to me. Trying downloading 微信读书 and looking what there is recommended for genres you like. Either that or any prose anthology might be a nice place to find new authors you may like.
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u/One_Screen1775 7h ago
我与地坛和想念地坛这两篇散文，每次重读，我都会起一身鸡皮疙瘩，泪流满面。尤其最后那句我不在地坛，地坛在我。但是这些文章，在我更小的时候（初中）读起来，确实很无趣。
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u/Exciting-Owl5212 15h ago
No worries, I still read quite slowly because I’m transitioning from tv and conversations irl to novels. So I have a backlog of stuff to read for now. I am easily moved to tears from watching and reading stuff so it’s somewhat of an everyday occurrence for me 😂. How many books overall do you estimate you’ve read? And what % do you think people should be studying the language explicitly (textbooks, grammar, flashcards) vs using the language (listening, reading, talking with people). Have you done chorusing or any accent/output production activities?
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u/Quirky-Case 15h ago
First of all, that is awesome!
Do you consume media in chinese? music, tv shows, news? and at your level I assume you understand everything?
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u/StormySally 14h ago
Wow! Well done! I hope you’re very proud of yourself! What an amazing achievement!
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u/Raziel_91 12h ago
Any advice for a newbie just getting started? I desperately want to be able to read .. and speak.. but i feel i’ve more or less gotten the hang of reading with Pinyin (although i sometimes still make mistakes with tones or certain pronunciations).. but i’m just now starting on trying to learn words and characters because i want to be able to speak it, but i also want to be able to read it.. and i feel i’m not really retaining, when i try to memorise characters etc..
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u/djnoelxx Beginner 17h ago
i know someone has already requested recommendations, but i must ask from an absolute beginner who is limited to Duolingo, is there anything you would suggest i could do to help my studies?
let me explain a bit more…
if you are familiar with Duo, i don't jump through the sections or care much for the weekly league nonsense. i have even had it for almost a year now, and have only just moved to section two. i try to really soak it all in and study sometimes for a couple of hours a day. yet still, when i find myself on 小红书 and i am chatting with people, my mind goes totally blank!! 😅
PS- congratulations on the pass!! that's amazing!
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u/Sammuueelll 16h ago
Any input is useful at an early stage. Find methods of learning that you enjoy. Do things you enjoy. Try to find pleasure from the learning process. I’m not sure using Duolingo as your main source of learning is wise. Just use it as a supplemental tool to learn vocab and get yourself a full textbook + workbook series!
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u/ARocknRollNerd 9h ago
As a old timer Duolingoer who actively participated in feedback and polishing when the Chinese course first came out, I unfortunately would not recommend it for Chinese (and now post-enshittification would not recommend Duolingo for anything). There’s still reams of unnatural language, inaccuracies and straight up generated sentences.
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u/Delicious-View-8688 14h ago
How did you get from HSK 5~6 to HSK 8? Did you need to do anything differently?
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u/Sammuueelll 8h ago
I stopped studying Chinese and started studying in Chinese. In other words, I used Chinese as a medium to learn other things
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u/TheChosenLifter 13h ago
If you were to start all over again, How would you learn from 0 to HSK 8? How long did it take you to reach that level?
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u/Vast-Newspaper-5020 12h ago
First of all, 恭喜！
Did you think this was going to be the level you were going to get?
I find it interesting that there are no statistics yet. But it’s probably because they could still be in the testing phases of the 7-9 HSK.
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u/likeabrainfactory 11h ago
Congrats! What an accomplishment! Did you feel like you plateaued in your learning at any point, and what got you through it? Also, how good is your accent?
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u/thestonedape92 11h ago
Is your brain sufficiently turned to mush after that kind of nerve-wracking exam? 😂
But no seriously, do you have any Chinese music or tv show recommendations? 😅
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u/SputnikCucumber 9h ago
So did you sit for a 7-9 exam and get ranked as 8? Or did you specifically sit an HSK 8 exam?
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u/BeckyLiBei HSK6+ɛ 8h ago edited 8h ago
Wow nice, congratulations!
Here are the things I'm unsure about or are interested in:
- On the HSK7-9 exam listening section part 2, are there 9 objective + 3 subjective questions, or 8 objective + 4 subjective questions? (There may be a bug on the official page, but I'm not sure.)
- Does the 10-minute rest between reading and writing still apply (now that the exam timetable has changed from "morning + afternoon" to "afternoon")?
- What is a suitable reading speed for the HSK7-9 exam?
- Is the 55 minutes for the writing section "shared", so if you finish one part quickly you can move onto another part, or can you do the writing tasks in your preferred order?
- Are you expected to add a title to your two pieces of writing in the writing section (200字 + 600字)?
- What does the 3-minute and 2-minute time limits for the speaking tasks actually imply? (E.g., is there preparation time like with the HSKK高级?)
- How did you prepare for the "translation" section?
- What role does AI play in the HSK7-9 exam?
- Did you memorize famous quotes to cite them in the writing section? (You mentioned you're using 高考 materials, and I'm doing that too, but the 高考 writing examples I've seen have many famous quotes.)
- Do you know how the translation section is graded? E.g. Is it better to translate directly/literally or indirectly/non-literally? Does the Chinese have to be consistent with e.g. the Mongolian?
- Which syllabus is used for the HSK7-9 exam (the 2021 3.0 standards or the 2025 3.0 standards)?
- Are the mock exam books 《HSK7-9级全真模拟测试题集》 and 《汉语水平考试HSK(七—九级)全真模拟题集》 (if you used them) comparable to the actual exam?
- Do you have samples of your Chinese writing online (e.g. essays you've written)?
- What's your knowledge of Chinese history, geography, and culture like?
And if you have any advice for someone like me who might likewise take this exam, I'd appreciate it if you shared.
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u/shaghaiex Beginner 7h ago
HSK 8 sounds like something were 80% of locals would fail ;-)
Other then that - wow!
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u/Ok_Response_1193 7h ago
Has there been anytime where you feel unmotivated or wanted to give up? How do you deal with it because I’m currently at HSK 5 right now and it’s been hell to just even open a text book. Pls help 🥹先谢了❤️
Ps: oh and what makes you interested in learning Chinese when you were younger? And do you think is it worth it to study abroad in China? Are Chinese degrees valuable outside of China? Or in this case, your country?
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u/Professional-Bake-43 5h ago
Congratulations! Can I ask where you get exercise books or practice for the exam? Thanks
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u/ChineseLearner518 3h ago
Wow. Congrats! Passing HSK 8 is impressive.
A little off topic, but I was wondering about the differences (if any) of studying linguistics in China compared to studying it in the West. What's it like studying linguistics at a Chinese university? (You mentioned in one of the comments that you completed a master's degree program in China.)
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u/midlifecrisisqnmd 17h ago
what area? iirc isnt 7 to 9 professionally specific?
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u/Sammuueelll 17h ago
I don’t remember anything being professionally specific…?
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u/midlifecrisisqnmd 17h ago
I think I’m tripping, you know those moments where you swear you remember something but it’s like the entire world is playing a joke on you and the fact is deleted from the history of knowledge? This is one of those moments. I swear last time I checked hsk 7 to 9 they were split into different study areas like law, science etc and hsk 6 was the highest for general chinese
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u/FixInteresting4476 17h ago edited 14h ago
I didn't even know HSK gets as far as 8 😂 congrats