TOCFL 8000 Word List Updated March 7th

[Yadang]

I just found out that the TOCFL 8000 wordlist was updated on March 7th, 2013.

Upon downloading it, there are a few differences I see right away between the updated one and the old one - it's not organized alphabetically by pinyin; the words are split up into different categories; and, the two very different ones:

- there are no English translations

- where as the level one two and three had something like 530, 407 and 636 (respectively) words, the new one has something like 501, 502 and 1,504 respectively. A very big difference, I think.

So I'm just wondering if anyone knows anything about this - is it because they changed the format of the test? I'm also confused why they still have levels 1-5 if the test is now tested as Band A (levels 1-2) Band B (levels 3-4) and Band C (levels 5-6, but 6 is still under development...).

I would love to do a comparison of the two to see how much of the same words they share, and which ones are different (and if the different words are just different combinations of the same characters, or if they also added new characters), but I'm not really sure if there's a way I can do this or not... I'd also like to be able to delete any character repeats in different words, so I can see how many individual characters there are, but I have no idea how do do this...

Does anyone know the relative similarity between these two word lists, or how I might be able to delete any character repeats?

Also, I assume that TOCFL test level three is a cumulative test with vocabulary from the 1, 2 and 3 word lists combined, meaning that if one wants to take that test, they have to study all three vocab lists, not just level the one for level 3, is that right? Just thought I'd check...

Thank you!

P.S. I know that in Taiwan I've already missed the date for registration, but hopefully I can take it when I return to the U.S.

[HedgePig]

Hello Adam

If you want to post the lists here or send them to me, I can try and do some of the analysis you are looking for. (Not guaranteeing but I'll try).

[Yadang]

Hi HedgePig,

I'm really sorry about the late reply - I have Chinese Forums sending notifications to the wrong email - I'll try to change it after writing this...

I'm very confused how this "My Media" thing works - I can't seem to attach the files...

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Asfwxqt6F-kadER1QzB6S1Uwdnpla2dGSnNYSldiUUE&usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8fwxqt6F-kaVGpXVzk2Z2tubkE/edit?usp=sharing

Okay, the first link is a link to the list that was made in 2011 I think, and the second link is the one that's on the website right now. If you click on the fist link you'll be brought to a google drive site and you can click file then "download as" and choose excel. For the second one, it will have a little red box that says the sheet is too large or something with links for downloading or editing in google docs. However, if I try clicking the download button in the box, I just get an error. You can still downoad it just by going to "file" and then "download" though.

I hope that makes sense... Oh, I left them in their original formats, so they're organized differently (the first one alphabetically the second one by category. However both of them are also organized by putting the different levels on different sheets.) The only levels I'm personally interested in are levels 1, 2 and 3, but others might be interested in 4 and 5...

Whatever analysis you want/can do would be really great - thank you! And sorry again for the late reply!

[roddy]

Change email link for you...

[etm001]

Last month I also noted the updated TOCFL word list, and the fact that it did not contain any English definitions, which I found to be odd (especially since the prior TOCFL lists had them). For what it's worth, I emailed SCTOP (the committee responsible for developing/administering TOCFL) asking whether they had plans on updating the list with English translations, but I never received a response. Perhaps if more people inquire, they'll provide them (they can be reached at service@sc-top.org.tw).

One additional thought:

• If you use a program like Pleco, you can import the word list as a flashcard set and use the "Definition Source" import option to automatically pull definitions from any of the Pleco dictionaries you have installed.
  

I would still prefer that SCTOP provide their own English definitions, since definitions and/or everyday usage of some words in Taiwan can vary from the dictionary definitions, which are more mainland China focused.