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Grading definitions

Noqa   December 12th, 2011 7:05p.m.

Nothing technical this time :)

I want to ask for a piece of advice. Often, I don't remember definition, while seeing the character, but after I learn the pronunciation (in reading exercise; learn as seeing what's correct, not as studying - I hate this ambiguousness in English) it evokes the definition on a whim.

What do you do? Check that you knew the definition or you did not?
Is it supposed to be knowing meaning of the character alone or knowing meaning of the character WITH knowledge of the pronunciation?

Byzanti   December 13th, 2011 5:11a.m.

I recommend turning hidden pinyin on if it's not already. This way, when you write a character, you only see the definition. Try and recall what word it's asking for as well as writing it. It helps recall a lot! So, both are important, to answer your question. However, you'll find this easier over time as meaning and pronunciation and often interlinked.

Noqa   December 13th, 2011 6:06a.m.

Actually, I mean something a bit different.
Reading exercises (where you type in pinyin) are often connected with definition ones and come first. So it sometimes happen, that you don't remember pronunciation of the character, you type it wrong, and when you see the correct pinyin you recall the meaning.

My dilemma is simply about how too grade it. On one hand it seems a bit unjust to mark it as if I knew the meaning, on the second I never really had problems with definitions and increasing number of def.ex. feels like waste of time.

icebear   December 13th, 2011 6:18a.m.

If I need any hints (audio prompt, missed radical) I mark it a "so-so". If a related word/card comes up next, or soon after in the queue, I treat it as if they were independent - if I get that second one right immediately I mark it as "good".

Under this approach your reading and definition exercises, initially occurring consecutively, will diverge in their frequency because you aren't always marking them identically ("so-so", etc). Then the issue of consecutive cards is less important.

marleendemol   December 13th, 2011 5:54p.m.

I think the question you have to ask yourself is : when you read a chinese text (only characters) can you 1/ understand what you read (do you know all the definitions) 2/ can you pronounce it right (do you know the correct pinyin)?

For me i find it easy to remember the pinyin and i hardly ever make mistakes against it so i don't study reading; definitions are more tricky since one word can have different meanings/usages so i would never skip definitions. And i try to recall all the meanings i have studies sofar before i mark it correct.

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