Those of you who have made categorised word lists, what are your categories?

[NanJingDongLu]

Many of us collate our new vocab into word lists (or even sit down with a dictionary in our spare time and make a list). What categories do you use for your words? Anyone willing to share any of their lists? Perhaps we can share and collaborate to improve each other's lists?

 

I'll go first. I have 31 word lists I've made for various reasons. Most of them are standard and obvious, others I would suspect I might be the only one.

• Academic Words
• Animals
• Bad Words (Swears, etc.)
• Body Words
• Bureaucracy Words
• Celebration Words
• Clothes
• Colours
• Common Words (aka uncategorised)
• Counting Words
• Direction Words
• Emotion Words
• Employment Words
• Entertainment
• Family Words
• Food
• House Words
• Idioms
• League of Legends Words
• Measure Words
• People Words
• Places
• Relationship Words
• Similar Words (eg 有用 游泳)
• Technology Words
• Time Words
• Travel Words
• Verbs
• Weather
• Wood (I spent some time at a sawmill)
• 甜言蜜语 (aka pickup lines/smooth talk)

[TaxiAsh]

Lots here I don't have (but you are miles ahead of me learning - I'm still a beginner).

 

I'm just adding new categories as I go. I have about 20 in my notebook.

 

I'll list them tomorrow, some are similar to yours, but I categorise them slightly differently. e.g. Geog - Geography I started with country names, but now has the language names, coll. terms and other bits and bobs of that nature that I read in colloquial reading on WeChat!  

[Dlezcano]

Interesting topic.

The categories I have created are the following.

1. progressive vocabulary (new words I encounter in my daily life)
2. learned words (the ones within any category I feel I already learned)
3. HSK words I wrote wrongly (I tested all flashcards of all HSK levels once and put the ones I failed into this category. I also include other words I couldn't recall when writing something in my daily life)
4. common characters I always confuse (like 撤-销-,撒-谎-, 纯-洁-、淳-朴-，etc.)
5. words I feel I do not need to know how to write (like 醍醐, 晟 or 艨艟) 
6. chengyu
7. tones (for words with tones I always mismatch like 教学 or 伪)

My settings in pleco are: prompt for Characters, show pron+defn and filter head in definitions for 1, 2, 3,4 and 6. Then I make one test session combining categories 1, 3 and 4, another session with 6 and the rest once every 3 to 6 months with other settings.

This system has worked very well for me, but I need to spend around 20 minutes every day in order to stay fit, this means I have to review 100 flashcards everyday. 

[NanJingDongLu]

Anyone brave enough to share any of the lists they've made? Some of mine have under 20 entries, but a couple of them are much longer. Here is one of the longer ones that people might find useful. Let me know if you see any mistakes, or know anything I can add!

 

I created this list partially to collate all the words I was learning in different places together, but also because when you look in the dictionary you sometimes get lots of variants for the same thing. When I asked native speakers, they usually only felt 1 or 2 were appropriate, and sometimes they added context for when to use one vs the other which wasn't obvious from the dictionary.

 

I was using spaces to create a grid layout on my phone, but unfortunately when I sent it to my PC it deleted all the duplicate spaces. Hopefully you can still read it clearly.

 

Word List - Body Words

Spoiler

 

• 头 tóu head
• 头发 tóufa hair
  • 光头 guāngtóu bald
  • 刘海 liúhǎi fringe
  • 鬓角 bìnjiǎo sideburns
• 胡子 húzi beard/moustache
  • 刮胡子 guāhúzi shave beard
• 脸 liǎn face
  • 鹅蛋脸 édànliǎn goose egg face
  • 国字脸 guózìliǎn square face
  • 瓜子脸 guāzǐliǎn seed-shaped face
  • 圆脸 yuánliǎn round face
• 眼睛 yǎnjing eyes
  • 看不清楚 kànbuqīngchu can't see clearly
• 眉毛 méimao eyebrow
• 眼皮 yǎnpí eyelid
• 睫毛 jiémáo eyelash
• 耳朵 ěrduo ears
• 鼻子 bízi nose
• 鼻孔 bíkǒng nostril
• 嘴巴 zuǐba mouth
  • 笑 xiào smile/laugh
  • 尝 cháng taste
  • 流口水 liúkǒushuǐ salivate
• 嘴唇 zuǐchún lips
• 牙齿 yáchǐ teeth (with 个: tooth)
• 牙龈 yáyín gum
• 舌头 shétou Tongue
• 脸颊 liǎnjiá cheek
• 颧骨 quángu cheekbone
• 吐沫 tùmo saliva
• 皮肤 pífū skin
  • 毛孔 máokǒng Pores
  • (起)鸡皮疙瘩 ...gēda Goosebumps
• 肌肉 jīròu Muscle (长 grow)
• 下巴 xiàba Chin
  • 双下巴 shuāngxiàba double chin
  • 尖下巴 jiānxiàba pointed chin
• 喉咙 hóulóng Throat
• 脖子 bózi Neck
• 锁骨 suǒgǔ Collarbone
• 肩膀 jiānbǎng Shoulder
• 胳膊 gēbo Arm
• 手臂 shǒubì Arm
  • 上/下... upper/lower arm
• 手肘 shǒuzhǒu Elbow
• 手腕 shǒuwàn Wrist
• 手 shǒu Hand (one 只 / pair 双)
• 手掌 shǒuzhǎng Palm
• 击掌 jīzhǎng High Five
• 手背 shǒubèi Back of Hand
• 拳 quán Fist
• 手指 shǒuzhǐ Fingers
  • 食指 shízhǐ Index Finger
  • 中指 zhōngzhǐ Middle Finger
  • 无名指 wúmíngzhǐ No Name Finger
  • 小指 xiǎozhǐ Little Finger
  • 大拇指 dàmǔzhǐ Thumb
• 关节 guānjié Knuckle
• 指甲 zhǐjiá Fingernail
• 胸 xiōng Chest/Breast/Boob
• 埋头 nǎitóu nipple
• 心 xīn heart
• 血 xiě blood
  • 流血 liúxiě bleed
  • 血压 xuèyā blood pressure
• 肺 fèi lungs
  • 呼吸 hūxī breathe
• 谈 tán phlegm
  • 吐痰 tǔtán spit
• 肋骨 lèigǔ rib
• 躯干 qūgàn torso
• 上身 shàngshēn upper body
• 肚子 dùzi tummy/belly
  • 啤酒肚 píjiǔdù beer belly
• 胃 wèi stomach
  • 空腹 kōngfù empty stomach
  • 消化 xiāohuà digest
• 肾 shèn kidney
• 肝(脏) gān(zàng) liver
• 膀胱 pángguāng bladder
• 腰 yāo waist
• 盆骨 péngǔ hips
• 后背 hòubèi back
• 私密处 sīmìchù groin/private area
• 屁股 pìgu Bum
• 臀部 túnbù Buttocks
• 肛门 gāngmén Anus
• 屁眼 pìyǎn Arsehole
  • 屁 pì fart
• 腿 tuì leg (one 只 / pair 双)
• 大腿 dàtuǐ thigh/lap
• 膝盖 xīgài knee
• 小腿 xiǎotuǐ shin
• 脚踝 jiǎohuái ankle
• 脚 jiǎo 只 foot / 双 feet
• 脚趾 jiǎoxhǐ toe
• 脚趾甲 jiǎozhǐjia toenail

• 张开 zhāngkāi open
• 闭 bì shut/close

• (称)体重 tǐzhòng body weight
  • 增加 zēngjiā increase

• 伤口 shāngkǒu wound/cut
• 纹身 wénshēn tattoo

• 洗澡 xǐzǎo v shower/bathe
• 淋浴 línyù n/v shower/bathe
• 健康 jiànkāng health(y)
• 舒服 shūfu comfortable
• 体力 tǐlì energy
• 丑 chǒu ugly
• 打嗝 dǎgé hiccup/burp
• 疼 téng pain/hurt/ache/sore
• 心在流血 xīnzàiliúxiě heartbreak
• 发炎 fāyán inflamed/swollen
• 断 duàn break
• 病 bìng ill/sick
  • 生病了 get sick
• 感冒 gǎnmào n/v a cold
• 体温 tǐwēn body temperature
• 发烧 fāshāo v have a fever
  • 退烧 tuìshāo recover from a fever
• 晕 yūn dizzy
  • 晕车 yūnchē motion/car sickness
  • 晕+船/机 boat/plane sickness
• 酸 suān stiff (muscle)
• 恶心 ěxīn disgusting
• 吐 tù vomit
• 拉肚子 lādùzi diarrhoea
• 细菌 xìjūn Bacteria
• 病毒 bìngdú Virus
• 过敏 guòmǐn v allergic
  • 猫毛 māomáo cat hair
  • 马毛 mǎmáo horse hair
  • 鸟毛 niǎomáo feathers
  • 灰尘 huīchén dust
  • 花粉 huāfěn pollen
  • 肥皂 féizào soap

• 吃 chī taste (food)
• 喝 hē taste (drink)
• 闻 wén smell
• 穿 chuān wear
• 摸 mō feel
• 感觉 gǎnjué feel (emotion)
• 看 kàn look
• 听 tīng sound
• 做 zuò make/do
• 理解 lǐjiě understand
• ...起来 ...qǐlái ...like

• 香 xiāng fragrant
• 臭 chòu smelly

药 yào Medicine

• 药方 yàofāng Prescription
• 青霉素 qīngméisù Penicillin
• 抗生素 kàngshēngsù Antibiotics

 

 

[TaxiAsh]

Mine are on paper, so mine aren't organised too well! (It's a new notebook I've been making, as old notebooks have so many things I don't need now) - so it's basically new things, and things I can't remember (everything! haha)

 

- Welcomes - this has hellos / goodbyes / well wishers / what you doing type thing? etc.

- Language Learning - For chatting to new people 

- Interjections - Quick fire answers that I record when I hear on TV progs. 

- Geography - Countries / Languages / Coll. terms 

- Sentence Starters - Self explanatory - I downloaded a list of 450 the other day, which I wish I found before!

- Sentence Structures - Originally I wrote loads, but new notebook, I now only list ones as and when I need to say something, I will ask people which is best)

- Cheng yu / and other common coll. phrases /proverbs (my favourite)

- Food

- Body / Clothes (I might cheekily copy your list NanJing ?)

- Film Photo Computer Music Tech TV

- C19 terms

- Loanwords

-Friends/acquaintance names, for tone pronunciation / Famous names / etc. 

 

then 2 sections, that are big

1 - colloquial phrases that I read people write or say, and I think I can adjust to lots of new meaning (crap example but e.g. "Oh, I've just eaten ABC, but I preferred that XYZ yesterday")

2 - vocab

 

[NanJingDongLu]

Those are great, Ash. Would you be comfortable sharing any of the lists? Maybe one you're more proud of? It would be interesting to see how you've structured it and what's in the list.

[TaxiAsh]

2 minutes ago, NanJingDongLu said:

Those are great, Ash. Would you be comfortable sharing any of the lists? Maybe one you're more proud of? It would be interesting to see how you've structured it and what's in the list.

 

There's nothing rude in it, or not to share. I would screen shot if I could, but on Google Chrome, it's too difficult! Easy on firefox, but my computer died, and I couldn't get my firefox links back, and Chrome has 'zhongwen' app, so it won! haha

 

It's probably more aimed thought at my speaking, as this is terrible, and by being able to jump to a section, I instantly have something to say!

e.g., talking to someone the other day, said they had job interview tomorrow, and I know to go to welcomes, as I have a list of well wishing in there. Phrases I know are right rather than looking up, but I wouldn't remember off hand. 

 

So it probably wouldn't be as useful to others, as I know where I have written things! 

 

I'll try and see if the site allows me to drop in the 450 list of sentence starters! Especially good if in business meetings, I think. I think if found this earlier, my speaking would be better

 

 

 

Conversation-Connectors.pdf

[TaxiAsh]

30 minutes ago, TaxiAsh said:

-Friends/acquaintance names, for tone pronunciation

 

created out of a slight embarrassment! 

 

I was chatting to my friend, and her friend, who I had seen a few months ago appeared... my friend said can you remember her name? it's really unusual and you learned how to pronounce it perfectly when you first saw them... Arrrgh!!  

[NanJingDongLu]

10 minutes ago, TaxiAsh said:

Conversation-Connectors.pdf 231.01 kB · 2 downloads

Did you create this yourself? Or is this something you found online?

 

One thing I'll mention is that I once tried to use 我看法是 and my teachers corrected me that 对我来说 is much more natural in everyday conversation. It's also great because you can swap out the subject as you please 对你来说这个应该很有用。对中国人来说...  对我家人来说...  等等

 

Definitely a good list though... if you can remember it all.

[TaxiAsh]

14 minutes ago, NanJingDongLu said:

Did you create this yourself? Or is this something you found online?

 

I found it on wechat.

Yes I notice few mistakes, but doesn't matter. I tend to use ones in my lists that I've heard people say, but integrated a couple of these in today, and my friend said, oh!! wow, that sounded weird (i.e. I said something right!! haha) 

 

Say it, someone corrects you, and correct the notepad. 

 

 

[NanJingDongLu]

31 minutes ago, TaxiAsh said:

Yes I notice few mistakes

I wasn't saying anything was wrong. Just that some of these phrases are used more often than others. It's a good list.

[TaxiAsh]

4 minutes ago, NanJingDongLu said:

I wasn't saying anything was wrong

there are a few pinyin mistakes

[pross]

地方

吃喝

动物

名字

成语

词汇

[NanJingDongLu]

@prosswilling to share any of them?