How to make printable Chinese flashcards and Anki decks

Start with a word selection

Choose words from an HSK source page or open the custom set builder. Check the edition and level labels before exporting a full set. For a small custom set, remove words you do not need for this activity.

Inspect pronunciation and meanings before making cards. A card needs a useful retrieval question: show 茶 on the front if you want to recall its meaning, or give “tea” as the prompt if you want to produce the Chinese.

For meaning in context, add your own short example to your study notes. 喝茶, “drink tea”, gives you a phrase you can reuse after recognising the character.

Print two-sided cards

1. Open the flashcard tools and choose A4 or Letter.
2. Generate the printable front and back pages.
3. Print one sheet first. Follow the PDF’s duplex layout and check which way your printer turns the paper.
4. Hold the test sheet to the light to check front/back alignment before cutting.

The export mirrors the back-side columns so meanings line up with the corresponding fronts. Printer scaling and page-turn settings can still affect the physical result. Use a test sheet before printing the whole level.

Shuffle finished cards and answer aloud before turning them over. Separate the cards you missed, then revisit them after another activity rather than immediately memorising their order.

Use portrait cards without printing

Choose the portrait phone-card output if you want a compact visual reference on a screen. Open the exported file on your phone and check that the Chinese and pinyin remain readable at your usual zoom.

A saved card image or PDF does not schedule reviews or record answers. Use it for a quick prompt, and use Study or Anki when you need a tracked review history.

Choose APKG or a text import

The HSK tools can create an APKG deck. Open it in Anki and inspect the deck name, fields and a few cards before beginning reviews. Keep a backup of an existing Anki collection before making substantial import changes.

Personal lists in Study offer Anki TSV instead. That file contains text fields, so choose and map a suitable note type during Anki import. TSV and APKG are different routes.

The source-based HSK decks retain stable note identities for repeat imports. This helps Anki recognise the same source notes, but do not assume an unrelated deck or a changed note type will merge in the same way. Check the import report.

These exports carry vocabulary and card content. Your Laowai practice results and your Anki scheduling remain separate.