@Hack-Chinese-Daniel Hi Daniel! I have been also using HackChinese for the past couple of weeks and I like it a lot! All the suggestions on this thread are also great. One thing I was wondering is if there could be a way to “add all” lists under a certain category. Let’s say Duolingo. I want to add everything under “Part 2” but in order to do that I would need to go into each of the 11 lists inside and add each of them, and some of them have 1-3 lists inside them. It’s not a big deal but it would be helpful to have! Thanks!
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@Manuel-Mandarin-HSK_2 I can help with this one… 
if you see the three dots next to the “Part 2”, you click that and can add all! I did this for some of my textbooks recently.
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I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong but when I click the three dots this window pops up. I’m trying to add all the lists to my queue, not assumed known, I should have clarified on the original post 
This will work for the lower level lists that I do know, so thank you!
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@Manuel-Mandarin-HSK_2 You’re right, there currently isn’t a good way to do this.
2 options:
- You could assume knowledge of them (if you’ve already learned them in Duolingo) – which does not mean you will ignore them – it means you’ll check your knowledge of them slowly over time (or you can do a custom study session of ‘assumed known’ words only).
- You can wait until early July and we’ll have this feature built!
Let me know!
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@Hack-Chinese-Daniel / maybe @Max : What is the timeframe for the rest of the flexiclasses vocab to be put on Hack Chinese? At the moment I’m just adding key vocab to my personal list / other lists
If there’s some way for decks to be shared between students on Hack, I’m also happy to start creating decks for HSK4 classes I take and sharing them, but I am unaware of that right now.
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I’ll let @Max respond re: the timline for getting Flexi decks online. As for “shared” (/public) decks, this is something we’ve wanted to do for a while. I’d say July, but honestly we have a lot of things on the “July” list already, so maybe a bit later!
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Hi Chloe. Yes this is currently my project which we are working on. Rather than upload them all at once I decided we do them level by level so we could get people using them straight away.
I realise you are towards the latter levels so although your level will come up last, it shouldn’t be too long! Just a long process in amongst other things as you can imagine!
Will be putting my foot on the gas this week!
Hope that’s OK 
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Thanks both Max and Daniel! Daniel - Good to hear about the future shared lists, would be a cool feature for future.
Max - Great to hear, that’s fine I think I have enough vocab on my hackchinese to deal with right now anyway… 
will continue to add the main/most useful words to my personal list to get a head start for the full lists when they arrive
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Yea all good. I’ve been using the HSK lists myself and then just pick random categories I like.
The COVID one is one I’d recommend, lots of relevant vocab for today’s use of course!
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When I look up and maybe want to add a new word I check whether it is already included in one of my queue’s lists.
It would be convenient if the fitting official lists for the looked-up word on the right side, would look different, in colour or bold or somehow, if they are in my queue or have been.
Then I could see quicker if I need to add the word at all.
I have to think each time with all the lists of my queue named level two, or HSK 1, 2,3 and new HSK 1,2, which ones “belong” to me already. 
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This is a really good point. When I look up a word, if it’s in one of my Textbook lists (for example I use A Course in Contemporary Chinese), it doesn’t say anything.
It only says if it is included in the “Official Lists” like HSK, TOECFL, etc, or my own created lists e.g. “Personal List”
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General question… how many reviews is normal? How do people manage having so many flashcards to review? Do you have any tips?
I feel like if i miss even one day i have sooooo many to review. The last 2 days, I missed one day and did 1 x 6min session one day, and end up with almost 500 reviews to go!
I have been trying to limit my time to under 20 mins a day, and I’m not adding anywhere near all the vocab that I learn, and have a backlog of previous words still, but still have so many reviews. I guess it will reduce but feels like I have a mountain to climb all the time.
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Yes I have found this also Chloe. Maybe that’s the intention and also the nature of SRS because since starting I’ve only ever missed two days (one on Tuesday oddly enough)! They stack up big time.
I also think if you’re learning new words everyday it also adds up as, obviously, the volume increases.
I fear if I ever see it go beyond 500 it’ll knock me back a little and I might lose motivation. Hopefully I am wrong though.
Funny how streaks can work. I recently did 320 days on Duolingo in a row, missed a day… and since then I’ve felt less motivated using that particular app.
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I love this question, @Chloe-Mandarin-HSK_5, as I’m certain others will face the same issue.
Being overwhelmed by “reviews due” is one of the most commonly cited reasons why people stop using spaced repetition. This is unfortunate, because the technique doesn’t stop working, learners usually just can’t handle the commitments that come from learning so many words so quickly.
I just checked your dashboard, and you’ve learned 30+ words each day for the last month – which likely would not have been possible without spaced repetition – and you’re only spending 20 or so minutes per day to do it.
If you want to spend less time on vocabulary each day, you should aim to learn new words at a slower pace.
If you haven’t already, I recommend reading this article in the Hack Chinese Study Guide: Our Best Advice: Slow = Fast.
It’s important to remember that the higher your retention rate (how frequently you remember a word during a review), the faster you’ll get through your reviews, and the better it will feel. And the best way to increase your retention rate is to actually use the words you are learning – by reading (or re-reading) the textbooks / graded-readers you have, or otherwise gaining experience with the vocabulary in real life settings outside an app.
Vocabulary is special because there is so much of it to learn – and Hack Chinese (and other SRS tools) can help substantially. But the best way to use tools like these are to quickly gain a somewhat superficial understanding of new words, and then use this knowledge to go achieve real mastery by consuming as much content as you can (by reading/listening/watching etc.)
It’s hard to give you a hard answer as to how many reviews are “normal.” I can say that the majority of people who have “successful looking” (i.e. mostly green) progress charts have 25-75 reviews per day, but go much slower than you have been. They spend less time studying (with Hack Chinese, anyway) each day, and learn fewer words. But it probably feels pretty good every day, as their retention rate is in the high 80s or low 90s.
If you’re overwhelmed now, I’m happy to erase your weak words, so you can correct course and start a more sustainable habit. But you’re in good company if you decide that 20-30m of vocabulary study is what you want – it’s all up to you and your goals
@Max, you’ve been able to stick with daily reviews for over a year now, what tips can you offer?
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Great idea - coming!
Great feedback @Hack-Chinese-Daniel ! I think for me the motivation comes with not being in Mainland China/Taiwan.
Hack is my window to keeping my Chinese up (alongside Flexi). Without it, my Chinese drops off a cliff, which is a scary thought.
Language is greatly about motivation which comes and goes for us all but I think the consistency is driven on by fear for me at this moment!
I believe Chloe is in Taiwan so perhaps the feeling is different for you because you have daily exposure to Mandarin. The best I get is listening to the neighbours on the street… of which a fair portion are Mandarin speakers! 
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Here’s the thing, mine aren’t necessarily “new words”. For example, I’m up to unit 30 of Chinese Made Easier, so I put all 30 units in the que. I’d estimate about half of those have been placed at “Assumed known” since when I signed up I told the system I know approx 600 characters. I put all those units in not because the words are “new” but the words fall into different catagories:
- I know the word spoken/listening(pinyin) very well, but not the characters
- I know the word kind of but can’t remember the pronunciation exactly(ie tones, n/ng final, etc)
- I know the word when I hear it , but I never speak it, so I want to remind myself
- I know it in context, but not the single character on its own
- Words I mix up ie. thick/thin
- Totally new words that I’m currently studying
So, i think my memory should be stronger than if the were all “new” words right? I’m figuring when I get through that textbook and the other textbooks in my que, then I will only be adding a smaller amount of words each day - does that sound right?
My current 7 day velocity is 20 words /29 lifetime, 88% retention rate. Ive been going for about 3 weeks.
Also, what should I do if a word that I really don’t need to review ever at all, that I COULDN’T forget if I wanted to comes up ie. 太太 ？ Should I block it? hide it? Whats the difference between block and hide?
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Firstly, thanks everyone for your comments! Good to see I am not alone.
I think it’s down to several issues, but for me, most of the words I’m “learning” on hack are purely to resolidify my tones. I know the characters and meaning entirely for almost all words in my queue atm, but if I am off on the tones or even slightly unsure, I mark wrong and relearn. This means a massive mountain of previous vocabulary to climb before I’m happy. I think this makes sense for me but equally gives me a load of work.
I think that causes me to be annoyed because in my mind I’m like, but I’m 90% there! and get bored of doing all these old words - but really if I don’t know the tone then I am actually 0% there.
I’ve removed my words before (thanks, it is definitely useful sometimes) but because I’m happy with the words I’ve got right now, it’s fine, it’s just a little boring. I know SRS works, I just find it tough and unrelenting sometimes, and just feel like - okay I have learnt this word a million times already, go away!! Haha. I think for now it’s a case of ploughing through the existing set and continuing to slowly add new ones in a few weeks time. I will get through this hump soon!
Also, since the last few weeks we have been in semi-lockdown in Taiwan, I’ve spent tons of time learning Chinese, doing around 15-20hrs classes a week after work + hack chinese, so I guess it is normal that my hack progress couldn’t reflect this kind of a learning push. I would be interested to hear from any full-time learners, as I imagine the volume of words they have to get through each day is massive!!
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