Thanks everyone! I may not have made it clear in the OP, but the issue is not seeing the differences in similar kanji, rather than not remembering them. I am looking for a way to quickly do a visual comparison. When theMusicalninja posted the comparison screenshot of room and clubroom it cleared up the problem right away. I tried using the similar kanji section on the kanji pages but the two items aren’t side-by-side so there’s a lot of scrolling involved and it’s not very convenient.
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Yeah, I think I’ve just gotten used to doing it that way. I used to switch to Jisho during a lesson to do this but it because too much work so I just use the WK list now.
黄 and 横 still trip me up sometimes.
That’s cool about the etymology. I definitely need to spend more time with the background of the language.
I think there’s a big gap between what and how the HSK tests and real knowledge or proficiency. A friend of mine from Europe who has a degree in Chinese literature he did in Chinese in China didn’t pass HSK 5 his first time but has outrageously good Chinese.
Speaking of starting it as a toddler, I always liked studying with heritage speakers the best. They’ve lived the language (even if it’s another dialect), so they get the nuances and level up so quickly it’s easy to get left behind. Other foreign learners are often content to dawdle their way through and native Chinese speakers are way too forgiving and accommodating in speaking with foreigners (as long as you don’t look Chinese… then there’s no sympathy lol).
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I can’t confirm your observers about foreign learners, but it’s true that they generally have the option to give up. I’m ethnically Chinese, so yeah, no sympathy – people from mainland China (IDK about the other Chinese-speaking territories) will judge you severely if you can’t speak Mandarin well. I remember worrying my Mandarin wasn’t good enough when I was headed to China for my first visit, and I ended up having to explain some awkward situation while I was there because my mother wasn’t feeling well and Mandarin isn’t her native dialect, so what she was saying wasn’t making much sense. Luckily that worked out. Truth is though, I’ve never learnt my mother’s dialects (my grandparents are from two different dialect groups). I intend to when I’ve got the time. The reason I’ve never learnt (guess I shouldn’t tiptoe around it)… I’m from Singapore, so the school system imposed Mandarin. I never needed the dialects, visiting my grandparents aside (in which case I roughly understand, but can’t say a word). As you’ve noticed though, most people in Singapore have a tendency to mix other languages into their Mandarin, and English is the main language so Mandarin doesn’t even get used to describe the surroundings. As for specialised vocabulary, the furthest we get without self-study is writing about government policies in essays for our final exams. Otherwise, Mandarin is most useful for… ordering ‘mixed vegetable rice’ (the sort where you ask for a bunch of dishes and everything ends up on one plate with some rice underneath) and watching television (thank goodness there are more shows from Hong Kong and China now – their language use is so much more interesting). I mean, I know I don’t come across many characters I don’t know even in the news (e.g. I translated an article on real estate trends for a friend with some dictionary help for technical terms) and I can probably understand basic chemistry by using a mix of my knowledge of science and what I know about hanzi. I also love period dramas, so I enjoy deciphering Classical Chinese. (Side note: I find that non-Mandarin dialects’ grammar/word usage is closer to Classical Chinese. More single-character expressions.) Otherwise though, I don’t need to use Mandarin for anything demanding, unless I’m asking my former teacher how she’s doing.
EDIT: Just realised this is super-off-topic. 
I was in Singapore for a business trip and this was really funny to hear sometimes. Like, eating out and the waitress is like:
“So you want the 鸭汤 la?”
Although for the most part, you can get by with English almost everywhere there.
Yup, this is literally every eatery except perhaps the highest-class restaurants or hotels. (Also, cool – you’ve studied some Chinese too? Or did you just pick it up out of necessity? Hahaha.) Mixing languages is slightly rarer if you’re at an establishment run by non-Chinese Singaporeans or by non-Singaporeans, but that’s probably because in my case, I’m Chinese, so they don’t expect me to know Malay or an Indian language like Tamil. The names of dishes are usually still in their native languages though. I’ve always wanted to learn more Malay or Tamil, but I’ve never had the time, though I did have a friend teach me a little bit of Malay grammar when we were bored on a bus trip up to Malaysia.
Honestly, I’d say growing up in a place like Singapore effectively prepares you for being multilingual, since you have to understand sounds from four languages all the time and Singlish is effectively English spoken using Chinese grammar (to be fair, it’s not just Chinese grammar, and it really depends on how much standard English you want to use, but there are similarities). However, the problem with speaking mixed and non-standard versions of each language is that you may become very good at switching between languages and levels of formality, but never really master any one of the languages since complex and technical words are rarely useful in daily life. That’s why I have a love-hate relationship with Singlish: it’s very fun to use and mostly informal, so it brings people closer to each other, but too many people assume it’s sufficient and so never put much effort into standard English, or allow it to influence their use of standard English even in contexts where standard English is imperative. I know some linguists who have written on the topic say Singaporeans end up being very good at ‘code-switching’, but to me, you haven’t mastered code-switching until you know both codes i.e. you have perfect, ideally impressive standard English, and completely natural, local Singlish, ideally with one of the typical accents. (OK, admittedly, accents exist on a continuum, but there’s still a range of typical accents from ‘normal’ to ‘atas’ (Malay for ‘above’, used to mean ‘uppity’) that gets associated with levels of education and ethnic backgrounds.)
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Yeah some. I had a 6 week training course in Shenzhen that I spent about 6 months cramming for.
Singlish is one of those dialects that I find really interesting. We had a Malay Engineer attached to us for four months had he was a lot of fun to talk to.
Another thing I noticed while in Singapore is that store staff will speak perfect English as long as it’s related to the thing they’re selling. Ask about anything else and it’s Singlish.
That’s interesting. Hahaha. I’ve never noticed. Probably has something to do with standard English being used for ‘proper’ or ‘serious’ situations.
’ just messed up 部屋 yay i guess. It is back to apprentice. It been 4 months since i unlocked it. I will take any help i can get.
I can’t use userscript
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