I think learning Chinese saved my brain from becoming AI slop

A year ago I graduated and got my first corporate job at a consulting firm. Every single day since all I've heard is AI, AI, AI, use more AI, AI, AI, etc... Like I was used to some AI talk since I did an IT related major but damn at least at uni the teachers were interested in us learning and understanding the material.

At work it feels like thinking using our brains is the absolute worst thing we could ever do.

This September I finally went back to learning Chinese after having abandoned it years ago.

It might just be a personal bias but I actually feel like my brain is more agile and I have less brain fog now.

Actually thinking and actively making an effort to learn something new is the best. It's regarding, it's good for your health and you get to be good at something new!

Plus! Since I choose to go to in-person classes I also get to meet new people with shared interests!

I overheard a classmate calling me 老外 while taking to her mother and I told her that I knew she was calling me foreigner but as far as I know it's a bit different from 外国人... My teacher also taught us that some people use it but I'm afraid this person was lying and it actually had a pejorative meaning ...

Edit! Some people are asking for more context so: We were sitting together (2 中国人 and I), her mom video called her and she answered, I've been studying Chinese for a year so I'm not that good yet, she pointed to my friend and said something along the lines 她是 "her name", then pointed at me and said something like "他老外国朋友/同学 "my name". When I told her later that I knew 老外 was like "guiri" she said that it was just a colloquial/casual way to say 外国人...

We're kinda close but it's not the first time I've asked something like this and they've tried to "lie" to make it seem innocent + I was taught it's slightly xenophobic 🤨

Hope this helps!

The new HSK has a fixed date now, and there's a lot of conflicting info floating around, so here's what the official documents actually say.

Dates

• First official HSK 3.0 sitting: December 13, 2026. Registration closes Nov 16 (paper) and Dec 3 (computer), Beijing time.
• Last old-format (six-level) dates in the global calendar: Oct 17 and Nov 7. Computer registration for Nov 7 closes Oct 28. Some centres add their own last session, so ask yours.
• The notice doesn't say whether the old format continues after Dec 13. One UK centre says everything moves to HSK 3.0, and CTI's partner in Vietnam told the press the two won't run in parallel. Plan on the old format ending.

Why there are two sets of word counts

If you've read that HSK 1 needs 500 words or HSK 3 needs 2,245, those numbers are real. They're just from the 2021 Standards (GF0025-2021), not from the exam. The exam follows the syllabus published in November 2025:

When you pick a word list or textbook, check which of the two it uses.

What else changes

• Papers get shorter: HSK 4 drops from 100 items in 105 min to 70 items in 85 min.
• Writing starts at HSK 2 (10 items). Characters come in two lists: ones to recognise and ones to handwrite. The new HSK 4 expects 1,096 recognised but only 400 handwritten.
• HSK 3–6 each come with a speaking test, which you register for together with the written paper. HSK 1–2 have none. Every level starts with listen-and-repeat or listen-and-retell.
• HSK 7–9 is one shared paper (91 items, ~200 min, computer only). Your score places you at 7, 8 or 9.

Common wrong claims

• "It launches July 2026": July 2026 is the implementation date printed on the syllabus cover, not a test date.
• "Old certificates become invalid": no notice says so. A score is still valid for two years from the test date.
• "No handwriting until HSK 5": the sample HSK 2 paper has a 10-item writing section.

What to do

• Booked for Nov 7: sit it as planned.
• Sitting from December on: get the new word list for your level, practise the handwriting list, do the sample papers on chinesetest.cn, and speak out loud daily. From HSK 3 up, you'll be recorded.

Sources: CTI notice of Sept 8, 2026 (chinesetest.cn) · CLEC HSK syllabus, Nov 2025 · CLEC HSK 3.0 sample papers (levels 1–6, 7–9, speaking 3–6) · MoE GF0025-2021.

Disclosure: I work on a Chinese-learning app and wrote this up for our blog. No link here; everything above comes from the official documents. Corrections welcome.

I've been looking for the one with the blue bird logo, but I couldn't find it 😭😭

I am just not into learning hsk materials. Feels like I am learning words that I will never use on everyday speech. So I am kinda stuck.

Then this idea came to my mind. Would it be ok to learn this way and can I still be intermediate level with this method?

I am currently learning them and try to use them in a sentence. So I try to learn them in a context.

What do you guys think?

I am a 3rd year UG student from England studying the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto (Liang Zhu), with a focus on the Westernisation of its existence through a decolonisation lens. In an attempt to be as accurate in my research as possible, I would like to use more Chinese language articles in my dissertation, but I don't know where to find them. Does anyone know any good places to start? Specifically of the nature of opinion pieces, finding people's actual opinions on both this concerto and Chinese traditional music and Western classical music, as opposed to an objective academic study.

I'd love to see a monthly “Show & Tell” thread where members could share FREE resources they've created, whether it's learning tools, YouTube videos, flashcards, FREE websites, or anything else that might help fellow learners.

I'm sure there are some fantastic resources we're missing simply because people are afraid of being accused of self-promotion or having their posts removed. I have had posts removed and it is humiliating when your heart is in the right place.

I understand the need to prevent spam, but shouldn't we encourage people who genuinely want to contribute something useful?

A dedicated monthly thread, with clear guidelines and no sales pitches, seems like a great middle ground.

Would anyone else welcome something like this? Or is something like this already here and I missed it?

Hello! I am looking for something to work on my handwriting on real, actual paper. I think maybe I'd like to start with some characters to trace maybe? Is there anything like that?

I've been looking for Chinese kids music NOT sung by kids and stumbled onto this collab with Huang Yali, which is actually nice to listen to as an adult:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJiala59RDc

Do any of you know of other albums/songs in this vein? Preference for modern pop.

Olá tudo bem, sou falante nativo do português Brasileiro e gostaria de saber como está minha pronúncia.

即将登陆 Steam，敬请期待！

I contacted mods a few days ago for permission to self-promote and haven't gotten a response so I'll just go for it. Apologies to anyone offended, but I think this is a great resource for Chinese learners.

I recently launched Yayu on iOS (Android launching in a couple weeks due to testing requirements) which is a low-key daily chinese vocab app.

You can choose your HSK level (1-9), see definitions in english, german, french, or japanese, study cantonese pronunciations (this update will be live in a day or two), and see the characters in a few beautiful faces (traditional, simplified, cursive, and seal!). It has widgets, and Duo/iPad support coming in a day or two as well.

Would appreciate any feedback or feature requests. I've wanted an app like this for many years so I figured I'd build it.

Have you ever felt like native mandarin speakers pronounce the 3^rd tone completely differently from what you learned in textbooks? 🤔

I put together a 4-part series explaining the '7 tones' concept to solve this exact problem. Here is Part 1.

Would love to hear your thoughts!

As a native Mandarin speaker, I still come across new Chinese words all the time!

Recently, I learned the expression “速成车” (sùchéng chē). It reminded me of the familiar word “速成班” (sùchéng bān), meaning an intensive course designed to teach a skill quickly.

I made this infographic to explain the connection between these two expressions and share a little context about China's competitive electric vehicle market.

I also included a few useful expressions from the story, such as 内卷 and 推陈出新.

What do you think of this kind of infographic for learning Mandarin through real-life topics?