Find recurring Chinese vocabulary before reading a chapter

Scan a chapter from your library

Import a Chinese book or passage, then use the chapter scan to inspect unknown words. LangSail combines the text with your learned-word list, so “unknown” means not marked learned in your workspace. It is not a test of your actual knowledge.

If you already maintain a vocabulary list, import your learned words in Settings. Review the preview before accepting it, and keep the list aligned with words you can recognize while reading.

Narrow the list by frequency

Increase the minimum frequency to show words that recur in the chapter. For example, a threshold of three keeps words occurring at least three times. Lower it again if the list becomes too short.

Frequency is a starting point, not an instruction to memorize every result. Names and topic-specific terms can repeat often. Look up a word and consider whether understanding it would make the chapter easier to follow.

Choose a manageable group

Pick a few words you expect to meet soon. Check their pinyin and meanings, then begin reading. You do not need to clear the whole unknown-word list before opening the chapter.

Suppose 书架 appears twelve times and 推荐 appears six times in a bookstore story. Recognizing “bookshelf” and “recommend” may help you follow that story; their usefulness comes from this text, not from a universal ranking.

Try an Anki export with the sample

Make two cards from the built-in garden story. Export Anki creates an Anki-importable CSV with a Chinese word on the front and pinyin, meaning, source sentence and dictionary attribution on the back. The separate Export CSV button downloads the frequency results.

1. Count the built-in sample.

   Open the Chinese word frequency counter and choose Count words for the sample already in the text box. If you have replaced the text, choose Use sample to restore and count the garden story.

   Open the Chinese word frequency counter

2. Select 花园 and 种子 in Export Anki.

   Open Export Anki above the results. Clear Select all, then select only 花园 (garden) and 种子 (seed). The download button should now say Download 2 cards.

3. Check and customize each card with Edit back.

   Use Edit back beside each selected word to check the pinyin, meaning and source sentence. Adjust the meaning and context to fit what you want to learn. The edited example below uses the shorter meaning “garden” and a sentence chosen from the sample; the generated back can start with a different meaning or sentence. Dictionary attribution is added separately to the export.

   Front

   花园

   Back

   huāyuán

   garden

   这座花园属于大家。

   Dictionary: CC-CEDICT · CC BY-SA 4.0

4. Choose Download 2 cards.

   Save the CSV from the Export Anki dialog. This file contains the two selected cards, including your edits, ready for Anki import.

5. Open File → Import in desktop Anki.

   Select the downloaded Anki CSV, choose the destination deck and the Basic note type, then inspect the import preview. Check that the first CSV field maps to Front and the second maps to Back as shown below. Pinyin, meaning, source sentence and attribution stay together in Back.

   CSV field mapping for Basic notes

   CSV field	Anki field	Content
   First CSV field	Front	The Chinese word.
   Second CSV field	Back	Pinyin, meaning and source sentence together, including CC-CEDICT attribution.

6. Review duplicates, then confirm the import.

   Anki uses the first field, the Chinese word, to identify duplicates within the selected match scope. Check whether matching notes will be updated, ignored or imported as new notes, and choose the behavior you want before confirming the import.

   Anki’s official text-file import documentation

Check progress against the actual text

After reading and reviewing, update the words you recognize. The Progress screen shows how your learned vocabulary relates to your library, including known-word coverage and sentences without unknown words.

Coverage describes word recognition, not complete understanding. Grammar, idioms, and context can still make a sentence difficult. Use the numbers to choose what to read next, alongside your own experience of the chapter.