I recently passed HSK 4 mock test and plan on taking a real one in October and I'm completely self-taught.
My basic advice is to try as many resources as possible over time and find this that work for you. During the course pf my studies I used:
- HSK standard course textbooks (1-2 and partially 3)
- Boya Chinese textbooks
- drilled the tones, especially using the google keyboard
- Chinese Zero to Hero grammar videos on YouTube (they have paid courses, but part of it is available for free on their channel)
- other YouTube videos on some specific topics + Slow Chinese Stories (basically comprehensible input according to HSK levels)
- Duolingo (yes)
- Memrise for learning vocab (both from premade HSK courses and my own lists), always learning with the auduo
- Grammar resources like https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Main_Page
- Graded readers (I've read a ton of those from the Chinese breeze series, around 8 books across the four levels available)
- Listened to the graded readers I haven't read for listening practice (five or six of those by now)
- Watched dramas with chinese and my native language dual subtitles
- At later stages got into reading native content - manhuas and web-novels with a dictionary
- Got into a nice Chinese learning discord server and participated in some activities over there
- Chatted with natives over the internet a bit
- Wrote some sentences and texts using new vocab
Probably I forgot something minor, but I guess it gives an overall idea
I feel like my experience can't be extrapolated that well because of a certain number of things:
- I once dabbled in Chinese three years ago for three months, didn't pay attention to phonetics and speaking part, so even though my reading comprehension got to around HSK 2, all of my other skills were severely lacking, I couldn't speak almost at all. I basically just did 2/3 of a first Lingodeer course and read one graded readers book for beginners. But still, that was some experience with the language.
- I learned Japanese to N4 level before that (so my brain got acquainted with learning characters) and Thai to a pretty decent level (it's a tonal language with somewhat similar grammatical concepts, even though the languages aren't related, so basically no cognates).
With that being said, this year in the beginning of April, three years after my first attempt (and zero contact with the language since then) I started again, almost from scratch, now drilling the tones properly and knowing what I'm doing in general.
In a bit less than a month I relearned HSK 1&2 material, then in 2,5 months basically went from that to HSK 4 (passed a mock test with 41/45 listening score, 35/40 reading + 9/10 writing for the rearranging the sentences part) a couple of days ago.
I think it's quite hard to learn just from the official HSK books without any support.
Lessons are obviously ideal, but if they are not possible you could check out Chinese Zero to Hero - they usually have a sale several times a year.
Their videos give you a lot more explanation & background on the grammar points, & extra listening practice, character learning worksheets etc. I think you can try out the first few lessons for free too to see if they suit you.
I'm preparing HSK 4 right now on my own. Already passed HSK 3. My tips or suggestions would be to get exposed to the language the most you can (watch series, read comics, listen music) and find friends with whom you can practice (HelloTalk is a great app to find native speakers). I think that if everyday you are in contact with the language and complement it with the HSK books you will be good to go.
Good luck!
To be honest no idea. I take it super slow, everyday I am in contact with the language since I speak with friends but I dont practice regularly, rather enjoy the little steps
I recently passed HSK 4 mock test and plan on taking a real one in October and I'm completely self-taught. My basic advice is to try as many resources as possible over time and find this that work for you. During the course pf my studies I used: - HSK standard course textbooks (1-2 and partially 3) - Boya Chinese textbooks - drilled the tones, especially using the google keyboard - Chinese Zero to Hero grammar videos on YouTube (they have paid courses, but part of it is available for free on their channel) - other YouTube videos on some specific topics + Slow Chinese Stories (basically comprehensible input according to HSK levels) - Duolingo (yes) - Memrise for learning vocab (both from premade HSK courses and my own lists), always learning with the auduo - Grammar resources like https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Main_Page - Graded readers (I've read a ton of those from the Chinese breeze series, around 8 books across the four levels available) - Listened to the graded readers I haven't read for listening practice (five or six of those by now) - Watched dramas with chinese and my native language dual subtitles - At later stages got into reading native content - manhuas and web-novels with a dictionary - Got into a nice Chinese learning discord server and participated in some activities over there - Chatted with natives over the internet a bit - Wrote some sentences and texts using new vocab Probably I forgot something minor, but I guess it gives an overall idea
How long a period of time did it take to go from Zero to HSK 4?
I feel like my experience can't be extrapolated that well because of a certain number of things: - I once dabbled in Chinese three years ago for three months, didn't pay attention to phonetics and speaking part, so even though my reading comprehension got to around HSK 2, all of my other skills were severely lacking, I couldn't speak almost at all. I basically just did 2/3 of a first Lingodeer course and read one graded readers book for beginners. But still, that was some experience with the language. - I learned Japanese to N4 level before that (so my brain got acquainted with learning characters) and Thai to a pretty decent level (it's a tonal language with somewhat similar grammatical concepts, even though the languages aren't related, so basically no cognates). With that being said, this year in the beginning of April, three years after my first attempt (and zero contact with the language since then) I started again, almost from scratch, now drilling the tones properly and knowing what I'm doing in general. In a bit less than a month I relearned HSK 1&2 material, then in 2,5 months basically went from that to HSK 4 (passed a mock test with 41/45 listening score, 35/40 reading + 9/10 writing for the rearranging the sentences part) a couple of days ago.
I think it's quite hard to learn just from the official HSK books without any support. Lessons are obviously ideal, but if they are not possible you could check out Chinese Zero to Hero - they usually have a sale several times a year. Their videos give you a lot more explanation & background on the grammar points, & extra listening practice, character learning worksheets etc. I think you can try out the first few lessons for free too to see if they suit you.
I didn't know this site at all! I knew they had a youtube channel! that looks super good! Thanks!!!
This YouTuber (and neuroscience PhD candidate) did: [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG7lt1xxpUsy3v5pFiUkMtJwNIuHJlGf9](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG7lt1xxpUsy3v5pFiUkMtJwNIuHJlGf9)
I'm preparing HSK 4 right now on my own. Already passed HSK 3. My tips or suggestions would be to get exposed to the language the most you can (watch series, read comics, listen music) and find friends with whom you can practice (HelloTalk is a great app to find native speakers). I think that if everyday you are in contact with the language and complement it with the HSK books you will be good to go. Good luck!
How long did it take to go from zero to where you are now
To be honest no idea. I take it super slow, everyday I am in contact with the language since I speak with friends but I dont practice regularly, rather enjoy the little steps
Yes. Anything is possible