[Course Forum] HSK 1 by Ben Whately

Small issue, but still annoying since I’ve run into it three now.

妈妈 and 妈 are both translated to mother. The quiz sometimes tells me to translate mother and then offers me both of these as choices. Is there any way to choose the correct answer regularly in this scenario?

Edit:
There are also words with double meanings:

觉 is translated as “to sleep” first, but then later also as “to feel.” Both are correct, but it becomes a problem when you’re reviewing and not sure which one you’re supposed to enter.

重 ends up running into the same thing. It is translated as “to repeat” and also as “heavy.”
I’m not sure how you’re supposed to address an issue like this. Any option for multiple response?

The word 喂 is translated early on as “hello” but the pinyin is “wei4.” 喂 pronounced as wei4 is actually “to feed.” To my knowledge the two aren’t interchangeable. 喂 as “hello” should be “wei2.”

昨天 and 昨 are both translated to yesterday. Same issue here.

Just realized there’s also phonetic ambiguity. I was asked to find the character pronounced “ta1” and it gave me both the characters 他 and 她 which are both pronounced that way.
Edit2:
Sorry, I’ll start listing which section these belong to to better locate and correct the issue.

Words 126-150
先生 I think is better pronounced “xian1 sheng5” instead of “xian1 sheng1.”

Words 151-175
桌子 and 桌 create the same problem as originally explained with 妈妈 and 妈. 桌子 is translated to table. 桌 as well. Later, if you’re tasked with translating “table” into Chinese and offered both as choices, you have a 50/50 chance of getting it right through no fault of your own.

Words 176-200
校 is actually dual-accepting. This could be one way of fixing some of these double meaning words. It is translated as “school” and “to check” with two different pronunciations. It accepts either translation as an answer. Although I could still see an issue if you’re given 学校 and 校 as possible answers for a translation of “school.” I didn’t actually get posed this question though.

Words 226-250
朋, 友, and 朋友 are all translated as “friend.” I didn’t run into any problems with the single 友, but I was asked to choose a translations for “friend” where 朋 and 朋友 were both available as answers. It would have been terrible if all three were offered.

平 means something closer to “level” or “even” or “flat.” I can’t find a source that defines it as “to weigh” and think one of the first three would be a closer translation.

苹果 and 苹
image

系 means both “to fasten” and “department.” Causes trouble in reviews.

老师 and 师 both meaning teacher could potentially cause issues, but didn’t cause any for me.

I’m a little confused what’s actually happening in the picture below, but I don’t think it should be happening. The translation, which I flipped on accident is “to follow; to walk slowly.” Order really shouldn’t matter here.

Here it is being done correctly:

Words 276-300

杯子 means cup and 杯 also means “cup.” Cup translation has both as possible answers.

时候 and 时 both mean “time” and both are offered when asked for a translation for “time.”

When used next to 客气, the word 不 changes in intonation. It becomes “bu2” instead of “bu4.” The correct pinyin for 不客气 should be “bu2 ke4 qi4” instead of “bu4 ke4 qi4”

Words 326-350

夬 is translated to “Archer’s thimble.” What? I don’t know this word, so I’m not saying it’s wrong. I just think it’s weird. Other places online, I’m finding “decisive” and “resolute.” Both those words seem more pragmatic and more easily used. I’ll have to look more into this one.

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it’s not the only course with such mistakes and i usualy ignore one of the words …

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Contact Ben Whately directly (right-top profile icon, then the envelop).
If you can’t contact him, you might ask Lien to make you a contriutor.

The crux is that 妈妈 and 妈 should be entered as an alternative for each other, or call the second one ‘mother (2)’. Then the problem wouldn’t appear.

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Awesome. Thanks for your help, guys. I ignored one of the words, but it still seems to be a problem in the choices of the other word.

I’m noticing more things as I go through the course though. I’ll probably consolidate all my issues and approach Ben directly after I’m done with the course. Thanks again.

Edit: I was going to send Ben an email letting him know I’m going through his course and finding some things, but it looks like I either can’t send messages yet (since my account is so new) or I’m too dumb to figure out how. When I go into the private message area as you directed (profile --> envelope), there doesn’t seem to be any option for actually sending messages.

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some of the issues you presented are not errors (交 for example means among others also “to exchange”, 喂 is wei4 when “hello” on the phone, etctec.) As for “Ben”, he is the CEO of memrise, together with Ed (they are both the founders of memrise). He never showed up in this forum, and I doubt he has the time anyhow…

I disagree with both your corrections. An exchange means that you are giving something, but also receiving something. Can you make use of the word 交 in a sentence that suggests an exchange?

喂 when pronounced “Wei2” means “hello.” 喂 when pronounced “Wei4” means “to feed” and the two to my knowledge are not interchangeable.

If he has no time to maintain this lesson, then I’ll figure out another way for the corrections to be made. Thanks for your input.

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no, sorry, i will not dig further for that, I don’t have the time (but one should always compare at least 5-6 dictionaries to have a good idea about Chinese individual pictograms). Good luck in learning!

Thanks for your input, @Tim_Yuan21 and @Hydroptere

The course contributor @student-of-life may be able to help?

I will be working on these problems over the next few days.

  • Words 126-150
    先生 I think is better pronounced “xian1 sheng5” instead of “xian1 sheng1.”

  • 平 means something closer to “level” or “even” or “flat.” I can’t find a source that defines it as “to weigh” and think one of the first three would be a closer translation.

  • I’m a little confused what’s actually happening in the picture below, but I don’t think it should be happening. The translation, which I flipped on accident is “to follow; to walk slowly.” Order really shouldn’t matter here.

  • When used next to 客气, the word 不 changes in intonation. It becomes “bu2” instead of “bu4.” The correct pinyin for 不客气 should be “bu2 ke4 qi4” instead of “bu4 ke4 qi4”

  • The crux is that 妈妈 and 妈 should be entered as an alternative for each other, or call the second one ‘mother (2)’. Then the problem wouldn’t appear.

I can’t be certain but as a guess, I would say you are using the app as a pose to the website. This course does not work well with the app, especially with tapping and listening tests. Please let me know if I am right.

夬 is translated to “Archer’s thimble.” What? I don’t know this word, so I’m not saying it’s wrong. I just think it’s weird. Other places online, I’m finding “decisive” and “resolute.” Both those words seem more pragmatic and more easily used. I’ll have to look more into this one.

Archer’s thimble is not the translation of 夬. It is the name of the radical (for better or worse). Different names can be found but this is the one that was chosen and has survived the test of time. People who take these courses often become confused by the radicals and make the mistake in thinking that the name of the radical is the meaning of the radical. In fact, there are different types of radicals (radicals are components of more complex hanzi.) The confusing point is that some radicals have both a radical name and a meaning which shouldn’t be confused. The radicals are introduced as building blocks to help memorize the more complex characters (at least this was Ben’s intention.) The scope of this course is to cover the vocabulary of the HSK exams. Most of the radicals have no bearing on the exams and are not included in the frequency lists. Pay attention to the lists which are readily available online and take note of those radicals whose purpose is solely for the learning of more complex characters.

I disagree with both your corrections. An exchange means that you are giving something, but also receiving something. Can you make use of the word 交 in a sentence that suggests an exchange?

This character 交 has a huge amount of meanings, most of which are beyond the scope of the course. The most important ones are related to traffic and friendship. Please note that you will be introduced to alternative meanings as you progress through the levels of the HSK courses. The alternative meanings will be introduced as bi-grams, for example, 交换 means “to exchange”. 他用这本书交换那本杂志。 Try not to over think the meaning of individual characters as many only have a certain meaning when combined with others. Again, this will become clearer as you progress.

SoL