I’m working through the https://refold.la/roadmap, after probably a few years of duolingo.
I got an anki deck with 40k cards, ordered by most used words, and I’m using gpt to get more context and uses about the words I don’t fully understand.
Something like:
I’ll type in mandarin words I don’t know, please give me a short explanation, a few examples in different structures where it is commonly used, some alternatives and synonyms, antonyms, and common mistakes to avoid when using it.
This added context helps just so much!
Still got a long way to go to be able to listen, but I know my brain works well with written vocabulary first. An then lots of reading. So I’m trying to get to a reasonable reading level.
Anyway! What’s interesting on your learning setup?!
That section specifically works much better for two characters, like 这里. For composite characters it is mostly nonsense, but feels generally easy to spot, just like you did.
Oh, and I also use pleco, the dictionary app to crosscheck when I didn’t fully trust it. But I feel gpt gives me the most “common” uses, instead of a full precise definition.