3 ms·
I'd say you're off by a factor of 3 to 10? 1000 characters suffices for basic literacy. HSK 6 (the highest level of the Chinese as a second language exam) incl
by FabHK 4y ago
I'd say you're off by a factor of 3 to 10?
1000 characters suffices for basic literacy. HSK 6 (the highest level of the Chinese as a second language exam) includes fewer than 3000 characters. A highly educated person allegedly knows 8000+ characters, though I'd take that with a grain of salt.
- nneonneo 4y agoI’ve heard the lower stats, but I’m not sure I agree. I’m learning Mandarin and have gone through the entire HSK6 character list - and I’m still having to look up lots of characters when I read the newspaper, novels, etc. 10,000 might be a bit high, but I think a typical literate Chinese person knows a lot more characters than you’d expect.