I’m enjoying the studying the HSK1 list. I used to know several hundred kanji from studying Japanese, so it’s great studying a list that emphasizes frequently used words, but not necessarily simple characters.
But I’d like to know what to do when a new character that I’m not already familiar comes along for the first time.
Should I be reviewing characters before I attempt them? I feel like I’m disappointing the little men inside my phone who are quizzing me, because when a new character comes along and I’m not already familiar with it, I have to peek at it a few times before I actually start attempting it without peeking. This isn’t true for all characters, as some I already know,
I just trust the little men in my phone. I stay honest with skritter. If I know a word, I mark it as correct. When I don’t know a word, I mark it as wrong. And I move on. If I keep getting the word wrong it will keep coming back for review, so I don’t bother spending a bunch of time memorizing the word when I first see it. I just trust that over time it will keep coming back and I’ll eventually learn it.
In my opinion, yes and no. I often add words straight into Skritter that are related to ones I already know or formed of known characters, but I find that new characters rarely stick without learning them in context whether a textbook, movie, article etc.
If an unknown character comes up in a list such as HSK, I often ban them or stop adding on that list until I want to re-add that character from one of my own. I don’t think the HSK lists are a good way to learn new words, just a nice measure to tick off words you’ve already learnt.
Hope this helps.
When you come across a new word or character you don’t know, and it’s the first time seeing it on Skritter, you can tap to reveal the character (since you don’t know what to write), and it will automatically mark it as incorrect. The review should pop up fairly quickly giving you a chance to remember it, so this is no problem. It of course wouldn’t hurt to have some prior outside knowledge of things before studying in Skritter (like having read it or heard it someplace, which is why it’s being added to Skritter), but I would trust the little men as well and if you know something great!-- but if you don’t, that’s perfectly expected. Keep in mind that if you do mark something as correct the first time you see it on Skritter, it will assume you already knew that word somewhat and adjust the SRS accordingly. (Always make sure to mark things incorrect the first time seeing if you want to have closer spaced reviews).