Using languages beyond the classroom 课堂之外的语言运用

A precision trap in careers/ambitions reading. ✗ 学中文让我有自信 (makes me confident) when the point was MORE confident ✓ 学中文让我更有自信。(Xué Zhōngwén ràng wǒ gèng yǒu zìxìn.) Keep the degree word 更 (gèng) or the comparison 比 the meaning needs: 我现在说得比以前流利。(Wǒ xiànzài shuō de bǐ yǐqián liúlì.) Base every reading answer only on the text.

Higher speaking questions cross time frames and candidates confuse them. ✗ 我会学三年 (I WILL study three years) when asked 你学中文学了多久？ ✓ 我已经学了三年了。(Wǒ yǐjīng xué le sān nián le.) Signal the frame: past-and-continuing with 学了……了 and 已经; a future plan with 会/要/打算/以后. Do not let a future 会 leak into an answer about how long you have ALREADY studied.

In a 比 comparison the adjective stands ALONE — never add 很 (hěn — very). ✗ 中文比英文很难 ✓ 中文比英文难。(Zhōngwén bǐ Yīngwén nán.) — Chinese is harder than English. To show the SIZE of the gap, add a quantity AFTER the adjective, not 很 before it: 难一点儿 (nán yìdiǎnr — a little harder) or 难得多 (nán de duō — much harder). This makes the precise comparison the task rewards: 会说中文的人比别人机会更多。

For a learned ability (a language, an instrument) use 会 (huì — know how to), not 能. ✗ 我能说中文 ✓ 我会说中文。(Wǒ huì shuō Zhōngwén.) Reserve 能 (néng)/可以 (kěyǐ) for capability in a situation — permission, circumstance, being free to: 今天我不能来。(Jīntiān wǒ bù néng lái.) A trained skill takes 会; a situational can takes 能/可以.

On Reading, base every answer solely on the text — do not add a plausible-sounding claim the passage never makes. ✗ writing 学会说更好的中文 (learn to speak better Chinese) when the text does not say it ✓ answer only what the passage supports, in precise English. Read what is actually stated, not what you expect a language learner to say, and resist filling gaps with your own ideas.

At Higher tier, a string of short unlinked sentences caps the mark for range, and weak or missing connectives keep an answer flat. ✗ 中文很有用。我想学。我会努力。 ✓ link the ideas: 因为中文越来越有用，所以我想学好，虽然有点难，但是我会努力。(Yīnwèi Zhōngwén yuèláiyuè yǒuyòng, suǒyǐ wǒ xiǎng xué hǎo, suīrán yǒudiǎn nán, dànshì wǒ huì nǔlì.) Use 因为……所以……, 虽然……但是……, 不但……而且…… and 如果……就…… to build range.

会 (huì) has TWO meanings learners collapse. For a LEARNED SKILL it means know how to / can: 我会说中文。(Wǒ huì shuō Zhōngwén.) — NOT a future statement. For a PREDICTION it means will: 明天会下雨。(Míngtiān huì xià yǔ.) ✗ 我会说三种语言 ≠ I WILL speak three; ✓ it means I CAN speak three. Use 会 for the future only when predicting or planning; a situational can uses 能/可以.