How many Chinese characters do I need to know?

Many foreign students learning Chinese ask a common question when they first contact Chinese . How many Chinese characters do I need to know ?

Some say thousands , some say over ten thousands , then how many ? Let us give an explanation here to dispel your doubts about learning Chinese .

There are nearly 100,000 Chinese characters in total, but the average native Chinese will not know so many words, so this number is not important to the average person.

In China, there are only a few thousand commonly used Chinese characters. According to statistics ,1000 common characters can cover 92% of the written data , 2000 Chinese characters can cover 98% of the written data, you can read books and newspaper,  and 3000 Chinese characters can cover 99% of the written data.

There are 1 2 0 0 Chinese word groups , nearly 2 0 0 0 Chinese characters , so after learning Chinese course HSK1-4 level , you can meet the basic requirements of university and work in China .

At the same time, our company www.beihaimandarin.com has also launched Chinese reading materials and listening training courses, one-to-one online  courses, which can help students master Chinese reading, writing, listening and speaking. At the same time, there is a unique teacher support system, these are the best choice for foreign students learning Chinese!

Edited by baoyang from Shanghai Beihaimandarin