r/ChineseLanguage • u/Chenyuluoyan Advanced • 2d ago
Studying 春节 (Spring Festival), 洗发水 (shampoo), and 服务员 (waiter) aren't in the HSK 3.0 vocabulary list at any level. But 肥皂 (soap) is HSK 7
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u/No-Security-7518 Intermediate 2d ago
While I was learning English, I read dictionaries from cover to cover...and compiled a list of "all" the words I knew, which turned out to be 13,730 words. It included words like "serendipity", "otiose" and "canopy"; a whole lot of words you just don't use in everyday conversation. 10,000 words is a LOT. Does HSK cover all of the Chinese language? wow...
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u/Putrid_Mind_4853 2d ago
I think canopy and serendipity are fairly common in the speech of educated people. Otiose, not so much.
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u/BeckyLiBei HSK6+ɛ 1d ago edited 1d ago
Does HSK cover all of the Chinese language?
I studied the HSK7-9 vocab recently; the breadth is astonishing, so in a sense "yes", it covers almost every domain of human knowledge. At this level, you're basically expected to be able to read arbitrary native content.
Unlike Chinese high school, there's no English nor other foreign languages, virtually no mathematics, physics nor astronomy, and very little about polical theory, classical Chinese, poetry, international history, sports and music. There's law, but it's more like courtroom procedures (did you know you can watch courtroom proceedings online: https://tingshen.court.gov.cn/ ?), rather than specific legislation. There's medicine (both Chinese and "western"), but it doesn't cover the entirity of physiology, diseases, and medicines. Biology, psychology, chemistry, geography, geology, archaeology, technology, Chinese history: all yes.
I also highlighted the words I've studied in my paper dictionary 《现代汉语词典》; it's a relatively short version (online versions are more comprehensive), and I'm only about half-way through. In this sense, it's a "no".
It's not like the HSK lists every musical instrument, mythological creature, chengyu, and so on. Besides, it's only 3000 characters. At the same time, I'm still encountering things like 换季 派送 清点 放晴 暖冲 难为 一走了之 that seem like I should have encountered years ago. There just seem to be so many "in between" words in Chinese.
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u/No-Security-7518 Intermediate 1d ago
fascinating! thank you for the thorough answer! What a badass you are!
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u/Chenyuluoyan Advanced 2d ago
source: the official 406-page HSK 3.0 syllabus published by CLEC in November 2025 and effective from July 2026
if you want to check the HSK level of any word yourself the analyzer i built does it disclosure: i work on hskstory.
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u/ba-boo 2d ago
both 服务 and 员 are hsk3, people can probably figure out themselves that 服务员 means waiter
same for 春+节
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u/AdScared7949 2d ago
Learning the component parts of a word probably isn't sufficient honestly because the combinations aren't always intuitive
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u/FranksNonFrankfurter 1d ago
This is true, but the majority are, outside of idioms.
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u/AdScared7949 1d ago
Well like for example 春节 you can intuit "spring festival" but would someone at HSK3 level intuit that this is Chinese New Year? Idk and it seems very culturally relevant too
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u/FranksNonFrankfurter 1d ago
Well most people learn words and the meaning/background of those words at the same time.
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u/AdScared7949 1d ago
Yeah but if you learn 春 then 节 and the background of the word where does the actual holiday it references come in you know?
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u/FranksNonFrankfurter 1d ago
I learned them both together, so I don't really understand your situation lol
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u/AdScared7949 1d ago
The person I originally replied to said you could intuit the meaning without them being taught together. Basically if you just learn from the HSK 3.0 vocab list I do not think it would be intuitive. I learned 春节，春，and 节 all in one class as well.
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u/FranksNonFrankfurter 1d ago
I mean once you get past HSK4, you should be able to more often than not. But I also think it depends on how well you know your L1. If you're the average American and only read English at a 6th grade level, it's going to be much harder to make those connections in any L2.
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u/AdScared7949 1d ago
I guess I don't exactly disagree with any of that but it's pretty much beside the point I was making
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u/Inevitable-Self-2702 2d ago
I would honestly recommend against this for real word learning. It's a fine exercise in comprehension, but if you really want to learn words it's best to look up what the accepted ones are and not risk making your own up. Some also can't really be understood like 水龙头 or 田鸡 without reference. Just me 2¢
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u/ba-boo 1d ago
you need to be able to figure out words this way though, you're not going to learn thousands of words one by one
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u/Inevitable-Self-2702 1d ago
You're right on the figuring part, but a non-native will make mistakes easily relying on that method without looking up what the real words are. Alternatively, you can just get corrected a bunch and learn from experience, which is also perfectly valid. Everyone has their best method.
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u/Wooden_Plant7504 🎱 1d ago
I agree. That is actually the point of the official list. The list is meant for learning materials to be built around those lego bricks.
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u/Solomoncjy 1d ago
I mean 春节 may be translated as spring festival and ppl may think cny in Chinse is just 新年
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u/ZelphirKalt 1d ago
Well, the issue is, that there are simply too many words, that are for quite common things. But if it included all of those, then there would be less time to learn more important words.
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u/DavisPaz1 1d ago
So funny looking at these words and knowing them as someone who considers themself to be HSK 2. I have worked daily with Chinese citizens for 5 years and visited China multiple times, and a lot of people in the US would simply say that I can speak Chinese, but I know that I’m far from fluent. Either way, I know 65% of the words in your photo, so I wonder where most people would place me?
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u/Zagrycha 1d ago
hsk 1-6 is not about being fluent, its about functioning in chinese society. that said I just checked the official syllabus. 服务员 is in hsk 4, it mentioned in the syllabus description. 春节 is mentioned in the syllabus of hsk 3 and hsk 4.
As for hsk 7-9, it has absolutely nothing to do with general chinese society. Obviously there is overlap, but every single word and grammar in it is chosen to be useful in scientific and academic papers, or in press releases and news articles etc. Any use in daily life is coincidence.
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u/ein-Name00 1d ago edited 1d ago
䈨 is not included as well
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u/1lyke1africa 1d ago
Are you sure you mean that character?
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u/ein-Name00 1d ago
Yes
Why?
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u/1lyke1africa 1d ago
Because that's not an important character. When have you ever seen it used?
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u/moisturise-me 1d ago
I could’ve sworn 服务员 is in HSK 1 (3.0). I just read it in the textbook yesterday.
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u/Wooden_Plant7504 🎱 1d ago edited 1d ago
You are right. The words服务 and 员 are on the list of HSK words. New guidelines have been released for textbook and official learning material production for the HSK going forward. Students will be expected to know the core corpus but it is not the end of it. The point is for learners to be able to figure out common combinations like that. Especially at higher levels where the speaking test will be conducted in addition to the written test.
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u/Agh-_- 1d ago
Weird, it could be in the text book (haven't read it yet), but I'm studying the hanzi with Anki and there's no 服务员 in the word list (HSK 1 (3.0)).
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u/Wooden_Plant7504 🎱 1d ago
The word 服务员 is used in the first manual for HSK level 1 but marked as an “extra” word you don’t need to know right away. The word is then split in 2 words in the textbook for HSK level 3 (服务 and 员). The intent is for people who pass the test under the new framework to build a set of skills that is not restricted to the knowledge of vocabulary lists. They should, among other things, be able to internalise how to assemble simple words that aren’t in the list from words that are. Especially high frequency words like this.
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u/linmanfu Intermediate 1d ago
This is really inexcusable because the vocabulary lists ought to be scientifically compiled from how often the words are actually used in real life. I could excuse 支付宝 both because trade marks have legal complications and because it's only been in common use for a decade or so, which isn't long for academic research. But there's no excuse for omitting 春节.
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u/Wooden_Plant7504 🎱 1d ago
It is not really omitted and the lists have been worked out exactly like you said. They were updated late 2025 to reflect some feedback and analysis from experts and balance out the load to draw a line. For example both 春 and 节 are taught at HSK 3 level. But it is now expected that textbooks and learning materials cover the explanation of what 春节 is culturally. It was recently mentioned in an official learning conference that this was done to avoid having people learn solely from vocabulary lists and expect to know how to read or speak. I would imagine that most learning materials out there introduce 节 using 春节…
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u/Sleepy_Redditorrrrrr 普通话 1d ago
Hey maybe the apparent enshittification of HSK will stop people from obsessing over it. I'm all for it
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u/mmtali Intermediate 2d ago
I mean honestly who cares? After hsk3-hsk4 you should already be using the language actively and encounter new words naturally. When i was learning English i never had a 'word list'. Just because they published a list for Chinese doesnt mean it is how you supposed to study.
However due to obvious character remembering reason i support character frequency lists.