Free Learn A-Z 2500 Common Chinese Characters
| A | B | C | D | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F | G | H | I | J |
| K | L | M | N | O |
| P | Q | R | S | T |
| TOP | W | X | Y | Z |
Learning 2,500 commonly used Chinese characters is generally considered to reach the beginner level of the Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK), specifically:
HSK Level 1: Master 1,200 commonly used Chinese characters and be able to engage in simple daily communication.
HSK Level 2: Master 2,500 commonly used Chinese characters and be able to conduct daily communication and a certain degree of work and study.
Therefore, learning 2,500 commonly used Chinese characters is roughly equivalent to HSK Level 2. This means you possess basic Chinese communication skills, can hold simple daily conversations, and understand some basic written materials, such as news articles and announcements. However, to achieve more fluent communication and conduct more in-depth academic research, it is usually necessary to master more vocabulary and more complex grammatical structures, which typically involves HSK Level 3 and above. HSK Level 3 requires mastering 4,000 commonly used Chinese characters, HSK Level 4 requires mastering 5,000 commonly used Chinese characters, while HSK Levels 5 and 6 require mastering over 6,000 commonly used Chinese characters.
The 500 Most Commonly Used Chinese Characters with Phonetic Annotations
Free Download (Complete Version) 500 Commonly Used Chinese Characters and Phonetics - PDF
Free Download (Complete Version) 3500 Commonly Used Chinese Characters and Phonetics - PDF
(Complete Version) 3500 Commonly Used Chinese Characters and Phonetics
Generally speaking, learning 3000 Chinese characters (words) is enough for normal communication, and learning 1500 Chinese vocabulary is enough for others to understand what they are saying. The "List of Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese" consists of 3500 Chinese characters, covering 99.48% of the length of mainstream modern texts. So the Chinese language curriculum standard for nine-year compulsory education in China requires the recognition of around 3500 commonly used Chinese characters. However, knowing a sufficient number of Chinese characters does not necessarily mean that a person's Chinese proficiency is high, as it also involves issues of word formation and sentence construction.
However, knowing a sufficient number of Chinese characters does not necessarily mean that a person's Chinese proficiency is high, as it also involves issues of word formation and sentence construction. After all, not everyone can understand the 760 word "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu. When these monolingual words form thousands of different words and phrases, if they also contain allusions, it is the legendary feeling of "both familiar and unfamiliar". This is also the biggest headache for many foreigners when learning Chinese characters - knowing thousands of Chinese characters but still unable to understand an article. A normal adult can basically understand 3000-5000 Chinese characters. It seems that foreigners have to work hard to learn Chinese.A foreigner said that he has lived in China for 20 years and knows more than 5000 Chinese characters. Now he can communicate with Chinese people normally, joke with Chinese people, and even quote famous words and phrases. He confidently said that when talking with Chinese people, they could not see that I was a foreigner unless I spoke a foreign language.