How to read Chinese: from pinyin to your first real book (video)
To read Chinese without help you need about 98% of the words on the page. We measured what each HSK level gets you in stories, TV and the news.
Chapters
- 0:00Start
- 0:18The short answer
- 0:41Reading means knowing words
- 1:04About 98% of the words
- 2:12What you can read at each level
- 3:04The reading ladder
- 4:26Your first real book
- 5:25SayMei Stories
- 6:08What to do next
- 6:27Try a free lesson
Transcript
Start
Learn all 11,000 words on the HSK lists, and you still can't read the typical Chinese news article on your own. So what can you read, and when? From SayMei Guides, by Mei Lin: how to read Chinese, from pinyin to your first real book.
The short answer
The short answer: learn pinyin first. Then read graded stories, with pinyin, a translation and audio to fill the gaps. Move to a native text when you know about 95% of its words, and read for pleasure at 98%. By our count, TV dialogue gets there near the end of the HSK lists. The news needs more words than the lists hold.
Reading means knowing words
When you read Chinese, what are you actually reading? Words. About three in four words on the HSK lists are two characters long, by our count. And a word can mean something its characters don't spell out. 东西, thing, is written with east and west. You might know the characters for sky and air, and still stall on 天气, weather.
About 98% of the words
To read a text without help, you need to know about 98% of its words. That's one new word in 50. Drop to 90%, and it's one in 10. For Chinese, that means several new words in every paragraph. The classic test comes from Marcella Hu and Paul Nation. They gave 66 learners the same short story, with different shares of its words swapped for made-up ones. At 80% known words, none of 16 readers understood it well. At 90%, 4 of 16 did. At 95%, only about one in three. And at 100%, 15 of 17. Their conclusion: most readers need about 98%. A later study put the minimum at 95%. And in a study of 661 learners, understanding rose steadily with every extra word known, with no sudden cliff. Nearly all this research is on learners of English. So treat 95% as the floor for reading on your own. At 98%, reading starts to feel easy.
What you can read at each level
So what can you read at each HSK level? We counted five kinds of text. With HSK 4's 2,000 words, you'd know 91.6% of a typical graded story and 84% of TV dialogue, but only 56.6% of the news. Learn every HSK word, all 11,000, and graded stories reach 98.4%, TV dialogue 97%. The news? 93.8%, still below the line. Only about one article in three gets to 95%. Here's the climb, level by level. At HSK 3, you'd know 88.2% of a typical graded story: nearly nine words in ten. So at that level, pinyin, the English line and the audio are how reading works.
The reading ladder
You learn to read in five rungs, and each one takes thousands more words than the last. Graded stories take 1,500 to 4,000 words, from readable with help to readable on your own. TV and film dialogue takes 4,000 to 8,500. The news takes 9,000 to more than 11,000. The biggest gap sits between graded stories and everything native, so cross it in small steps. Rung one: the sounds. Learn pinyin, the official spelling of Chinese sounds since 1958, and the four tones. Rung two: graded stories with help. At HSK 1 to 3, read with pinyin, an English line and the audio. In a 26-week study, beginners who read with audio gained more speed and understanding than silent readers. Rung three: around HSK 4 and 5, turn pinyin off, or show it only for new words. Rung four: your first native texts, around HSK 6. Start with dialogue: dramas with Chinese subtitles, comics, and web novels in a reader with a tap dictionary. Rung five: news and literature, where you'll still look things up after the HSK lists end. And don't skip rungs. At 80% known words, you're decoding, slowly enough to make anyone quit.
Your first real book
So how do you choose your first real book? By coverage. The guide's page has a checker: paste in a page, and look for 95% or better at your level. At 98%, you'll read for pleasure. Some famous books are harder than they look. Take Call to Arms, a 1923 book of short stories by one of China's best-known modern writers. Even with every HSK word, you'd know only about 92% of its words. Here's how his story 'My Old Home' begins. 我冒了严寒，回到相隔二千余里，别了二十余年的故乡去。 What makes a first book easier? Dialogue and everyday life. Modern Chinese: writing from the 1920s uses words and forms today's lists don't teach. A story you already know. And a reader app with a tap dictionary. If a page comes out under 90%, park the book. Read graded stories for a level or two, then try again.
SayMei Stories
Our own graded stories are built for rungs two and three. SayMei Stories has 166 graded books in 812 short chapters, from about HSK 1 to HSK 4. Every line has pinyin, an English translation and audio, and you can tap any word for its meaning. The first two chapters of every book, and 8 whole books, are free with no sign-up. The full library is $2.99 a month after a free week, which needs a card. Where it falls short: its levels are generous, so read with the help switched on. It stops around HSK 4, with no native texts. And it's one library among many.
What to do next
So, what next? Find your level with the free level test. Read a graded story every day, with pinyin and audio on until a page feels easy. Test a page before you commit to a book. Move the checker's new words into flashcards. And when you rarely need to tap a word, move up a level.
Try a free lesson
You can talk with Mei Lin for free: your first lesson is 10 minutes, with no account and no card. The full guide, with every source, is on the page at saymei dot app.