Duolingo Chinese course has been completed for 592 days! What is the level in HSK? Too easy for intermediate learner?

592 days ongoing on the English learning app Duolingo!

"Duolingo" is a free language learning app that covers popular learning languages such as English and French, as well as the highland Valyrian language from the feature drama "Game of Thrones.

I completed the Chinese course in Japanese and then completed the entire course on learning Chinese in English. That means I have finished all the Chinese language courses that I can study on Duolingo.

Although I have recently been aiming to "keep going" and have not joined a league with a high score like the Diamond League, I have "592 days" (as of the end of February 2023) as the number of days I have continued.

For learners who are still in the middle of their courses, they may be wondering what level they will be at when they finish all their courses on Duolingo. 

Before I started learning, I did a lot of research and think "I don't want to waste my time and effort on Duolingo."

My level after completing Duolingo's Chinese courses

This time, I would like to show you what level I can pass in HSK after finishing Duolingo's course as a rough guide.

What is the HSK?

Among the many Chinese language examinations, the HSK is a certification sponsored by the General Department of the Confucius Institute/State Chinese Proficiency Test (孔子学院总部/国家汉办), an organization directly under the Ministry of Education of the Chinese government (equivalent to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan), and recognized by the Chinese government.

(Taken and translated from the HSK website, Japan)

Now I have passed HSK Level 3.

For me, the listening comprehension was super difficult, and many of the reading and grammar questions I could solve with confidence.

Duolingo's curriculum is designed with learners from non-Kanji cultures in mind, so there are many questions where you have to choose a combination of pinyin and kanji. For better or worse, they can somehow answer the questions from the beginning by imagining from the Japanese sound readings, and they also have some idea of the meaning. It is better to practice listening and being able to pronounce pinyin alone on your own initiative.

One difference between the Japanese and English courses is that the Japanese course has a slightly smaller number of lessons.

If you want to take more lessons or if you are learning English in parallel, the English course is recommended.

But for learning basic Chinese, I think just the Japanese course is fine.

In conclusion, although those who are proficient in Japanese have the advantage of being able to read Chinese characters and Chinese texts, it is easy to pass HSK2 with Duolingo alone, and HSK3 level can be passed if you supplement your other listening and vocabulary skills.

In fact, there is a great deal of back-up if you work Duolingo from a computer!

By the way, with the app, each time you get a question wrong, one heart disappears, and when all the hearts are gone, you can't work on the question until the hearts are restored, but with the PC, the hearts don't decrease.

If you have time to work on it, I recommend you to work on it from PC.