Discover Top Posts Tagged with #word frequency

Using this tool to determine unique amount of words in a text (and generating a vocabulary list). Since it can’t handle a huge amount of input I’m just going to do maybe a chapter or half a chapter of each story and see the result: http://www.zhtoolkit.com/apps/wordlist/create-list.cgi

This tool is useful for figuring out how difficult a text is compared to something else you’ve read, and it generates word lists! So you have something to study from (if you aren’t using Pleco, want like a Graded Reader experience with intensive reading word lists, etc). You can think of meanU as the “easiness rating” - the higher it is the easier the text is to read.

**This list gets long below the cut, but will hopefully help serve as a reference. For a rough estimate I’d say anything from 1.9+ seems to be manageable for someone who knows HSK 4 words and is using a click-dictionary (like Pleco, Zhongwen Chrome Extension, Mandarinspot.com Annotator Bookmarklet, eReader dictionary, etc). Some ~1.9 ones are easier or harder depending on genre familiarity. For example I think 论如何错误地套路一个魔教教主 is extremely easy if you’re used to wuxia genre as its very simple for the genre, versus something like 魔道祖师, also if wuxia vocab isn’t an issue for you then priest novels like 天涯客 tend to be easier than 镇魂). For ease’s sake, ones 2+ seem to be the most ‘doable’ for actual extensive reading though. Again, this depends on which genres you’re more familiar with - but in general the ones scored 2+ below are novels I had more success reading without dictionary lookup in general.

Anything marked *** I would recommend as ‘easier,’ and anything as ** I would recommend as possibly easier depending on your genre familiarity.

Update: I have gone through this list and now most text samples analyzed were generally between 1900-2100 words, so now the scores should be more comparable. While a 1.9 may or may not be easy based on your level, in general if something is scored lower it will still be harder and if scored higher will still be ‘easier’ than a 1.9. Your genre familiarity will also affect things. So when looking for “similar difficulty” material and “slightly” harder or easier, these scores should hopefully be a bit more useful now.

* Unique unknown is the count of the Chinese words not in the public common word filter, nor in your user known word list * meanU is the average frequency of all words. Here, it is the average of the log(10) frequencies. It is a very rough measure of text difficulty. A value of ~1.9 is somewhat difficult, and ~2.6 is probably easier. (Ref: [http://www.soc.cornell.edu/hayes-lexical-analysis/])

First, novels I’ve heard recommended as ‘easier’ to read:

***小王子

Characters:3196 Word Count:2192 Unique Words:744 (33.9%) Unique unknown*:608 (81.7%) meanU(log10)*:2.004

**So it’s ease rating is 2, fairly easy! That makes sense, at least based on my experience reading it right now.

***地图 by 倪匡

Characters:3005 Word Count:2094 Unique Words:681 (32.5%) Unique unknown*:551 (80.9%) meanU(log10)*:2.072

**This author was recommended as very approachable on chinese learning forums, sci-fi short stories (around 100 pages per story) for people who know HSK 4+. (Also again shout out to this text analyzer tool because the vocabulary lists it generates are super useful for looking through ahead of a reading to help prepare).

***他们的故事 by 一根黄瓜丝儿

Characters:3085 Word Count:2172 Unique Words:730 (33.6%) Unique unknown*:613 (84.0%) meanU(log10)*:2.008

**Score of 2 makes sense, it was the first webnovel I was able to read (with the help of Pleco Reader click-definitions). It’s definitely on the easier side. If there’s unknown words in this, a huge portion of them are very common daily life words or simple novel description words so they were worth learning for me.

***论如何错误地套路一个魔教教主

Characters:2403 Word Count:1766 Unique Words:691 (39.1%) Unique unknown*:565 (81.8%) meanU(log10)*:1.962

**This is The Wrong Way To A Demon Sect Leader and I recommend it hands down as an intro wuxia or bl novel. The reading is actually fairly easy, and if its not then learning any of the words here are pretty basic wuxia genre words you will keep using. (Also its a great listening reading method novel to do since its audiobook matches perfectly to the text, and it’s english translation is pretty literal).

我和我的四个伴舞 by 娜可露露

Characters:3587 Word Count:2547 Unique Words:978 (38.4%) Unique unknown*:840 (85.9%) meanU(log10)*:1.899

**Harder rating than I expected it to be given it was recommended to me lol.

魔尊总是要抱抱 by 杨乔萝

Characters:2633 Word Count:1861 Unique Words:845 (45.4%) Unique unknown*:718 (85.0%) meanU(log10)*:1.901

**I had a hard time figuring out if this is the novel Demon Wants a Hug manhua is based on, or if its another novel. ToT I’d personally rate this as an ‘easier’ read, because after ttwtadsl, I remember this novel’s chapter 1 was doable without a dictionary.

迪奥先生 by 绿野千鹤

Characters:2564 Word Count:1784 Unique Words:851 (47.7%) Unique unknown*:732 (86.0%) meanU(log10)*:1.835

**Recommended to me as “easy.” On the upside, its ease rating is better than hanshe.

碎玉投珠 by 北南

Characters:2896 Word Count:2164 Unique Words:879 (40.6%) Unique unknown*:752 (85.6%) meanU(log10)*:1.874

**This was recommended to me as “easy.”

寒舍 by 夏灬安兰

Characters:2988 Word Count:2027 Unique Words:895 (44.2%) Unique unknown*:777 (86.8%) meanU(log10)*:1.833

**I find it interesting this is marked as a 1.8. I found it easier to read than any priest novels. I am currently reading it with a click-dictionary (Pleco Reader). At first chapters took me 1.5 hours to read, and now they take me 20 minutes. Part of what makes hanshe ‘easier’ than it should be, is it has sets of chapters all focusing in one main setting each - so the vocabulary can get specialized but then its repeated frequently and learned fairly easily with context over time.

Comparing some well known novels:

镇魂

Characters:3159 Word Count:2081 Unique Words:954 (45.8%) Unique unknown*:815 (85.4%) meanU(log10)*:1.911

**Scored as theoretically a little easier than hanshe. Almost the same score as Demon Wants A Hug - but I’d argue zhenhun is a lot more difficult than that novel. So these scores aren’t perfect lol. I think hanshe is a little easier than zhenhun - but I do think hanshe was good prep reading for zhenhun.

默读

Characters:2963 Word Count:2056 Unique Words:1016 (49.4%) Unique unknown*:881 (86.7%) meanU(log10)*:1.784

**Marked as a bit harder than zhenhun (chapter 1 anyway). I feel they’re more similar in difficulty. For me they feel similar to read - but modu sometimes has more descriptions (although if you’re less familiar with crime genre novels, this will probably be more challenging - whereas zhenhun is harder if you’re less familiar with supernatural genre).

破云

Characters:2943 Word Count:2068 Unique Words:998 (48.3%) Unique unknown*:862 (86.4%) meanU(log10)*:1.835

**I have tried to read the first chapter of Poyun and found it a bit harder than hanshe.

**天涯客

Characters:2920 Word Count:2095 Unique Words:874 (41.7%) Unique unknown*:744 (85.1%) meanU(log10)*:1.878

**I personally found tian ya ke a bit harder than hanshe, and a bit easier than guardian and modu. If you’re going to read a priest novel, this is one of the easier ones.

魔道祖师 (MDZS)

Characters:3020 Word Count:2158 Unique Words:952 (44.1%) Unique unknown*:811 (85.2%) meanU(log10)*:1.827

***人渣反派自救系统 (SVSSS)

Characters:2552 Word Count:1796 Unique Words:905 (50.4%) Unique unknown*:765 (84.5%) meanU(log10)*:1.900

**I’ve read a few chapters and I would say yes 1.9 is a fair estimate. I found it a bit harder than ttwtadsl, but easier than mdzs. If you plan to read this genre more, this is pretty approachable for the genre (as far as xianxia terms, I found this easier to follow than mdzs for example).

一受封疆 by 殿前欢

Characters:2871 Word Count:2119 Unique Words:989 (46.7%) Unique unknown*:855 (86.5%) meanU(log10)*:1.863

残次品

Characters:2743 Word Count:1776 Unique Words:940 (52.9%) Unique unknown*:805 (85.6%) meanU(log10)*:1.811

**Can Ci Pin is likely harder than this estimate, since its a sci fi with futuristic words.

***SCI谜案集第一部

Characters:2855 Word Count:1986 Unique Words:773 (38.9%) Unique unknown*:645 (83.4%) meanU(log10)*:1.973

**I haven’t read any of this, but I’d recommend it as potentially easier - like ttwtadsl it has a ton of really short chapters, which I think makes each individual section feel a bit easier.

***盗墓笔记1

Characters:2954 Word Count:2149 Unique Words:756 (35.2%) Unique unknown*:635 (84.0%) meanU(log10)*:1.992

**Keep in mind the more words I put into the tool, the higher the difficulty gets period. I’d say dmbj is an easier read like svsss - its somewhat challenging but not like priest novels.

**活着

Characters:2866 Word Count:2056 Unique Words:815 (39.6%) Unique unknown*:690 (84.7%) meanU(log10)*:1.895

**Considered one of the “easiest” books for people to read starting out in chinese, it did not get the easiest score (compared to the 2+ ones). I have not tried to read it. That said, it is only around ten chapters so its a much more approachable choice than some longer texts.

***许三观卖血记

Characters:2741 Word Count:2123 Unique Words:499 (23.5%) Unique unknown*:391 (78.4%) meanU(log10)*:2.132

**This is by the same author as above 余华. I’m recommending this one over the other one though, for two reasons. First, this scored MUCH higher on reading ‘ease.’ Second, I just read the first chapter and it IS incredibly easy to read - it felt like the next step after a graded reader, very few unknown words. Pretty much anything on this list above a 2 is probably going to be the easiest.

***一级律师[星际] by 木苏里

Characters:2558 Word Count:1729 Unique Words:760 (44.0%) Unique unknown*:639 (84.1%) meanU(log10)*:1.956

**This was highly recommended to me, along with modu and poyun as good mystery stories.

**(瓶邪同人)所谓一切发生在网配+番外 (dmbj fanfic)

Characters:2729 Word Count:1910 Unique Words:808 (42.3%) Unique unknown*:679 (84.0%) meanU(log10)*:1.947

夜半衣寒 by 夏灬安兰

Characters:3085 Word Count:2122 Unique Words:832 (39.2%) Unique unknown*:716 (86.1%) meanU(log10)*:1.875

***他来了, 请闭眼 by 丁墨

Characters:2270 Word Count:1615 Unique Words:744 (46.1%) Unique unknown*:614 (82.5%) meanU(log10)*:1.962

**I am happy to report this one has a pretty high ‘ease’ score, and this is an author I was highly recommended so maybe I’ll check out their novels for a while.

**如果蜗牛有爱情 by 丁墨

Characters:2766 Word Count:1968 Unique Words:896 (45.5%) Unique unknown*:762 (85.0%) meanU(log10)*:1.927

美人为馅 by 丁墨

Characters:3175 Word Count:2201 Unique Words:1018 (46.3%) Unique unknown*:891 (87.5%) meanU(log10)*:1.808

**女将军和长公主

Characters:4428 Word Count:3090 Unique Words:645 (20.9%) Unique unknown*:522 (80.9%) meanU(log10)*:1.984

**I haven’t read any of Female General and Eldest Princess, but this is a pretty high ease rating, and its the only gl novel I put on the list. So definitely worth checking out if you feel like reading! Also I imagine a lot of hard words will be common ones for the genre since its rating of ease is ‘higher’ so they’re probably worth learning.

**全職高手 (The King’s Avatar)

Characters:3067 Word Count:2171 Unique Words:772 (35.6%) Unique unknown*:637 (82.5%) meanU(log10)*:1.989

桃花债 (Peach Blossom Debt)

Characters:2828 Word Count:2114 Unique Words:920 (43.5%) Unique unknown*:786 (85.4%) meanU(log10)*:1.858

**I did not expect this one to score as ‘difficult’ tbh. When I’ve read pieces of it, its somewhat manageable without a dictionary.

**琉璃美人煞 (The Glass Maiden, Love and Redemption novel)

Characters:2752 Word Count:2004 Unique Words:810 (40.4%) Unique unknown*:678 (83.7%) meanU(log10)*:1.929

**As far as xianxia go, this is the only one I’ve read a bit of, and I did not find it too difficult - not easy, but manageable especially if you use a click-dictionary. (Also for listening reading method, the english translation is pretty literal, the audiobook matches to the text well - it just doesn’t match the chapter endings).

圈子圈套

Characters:2909 Word Count:2082 Unique Words:761 (36.6%) Unique unknown*:641 (84.2%) meanU(log10)*:1.977

**Generally considered one of the ‘easier’ novels to read along with huozhe. When I lowered the word sample it was close to 2, when I increased the word sample it was 1.7.

***笑猫日记: 会唱歌的猫

Characters:2551 Word Count:1816 Unique Words:587 (32.3%) Unique unknown*:474 (80.7%) meanU(log10)*:2.035

**First: recommending this for easier material - its one of the only other ones to score above 2. I read 3 chapters this week, and it is definitely easier reading material - it feels a little bit easier than 小王子 and decently easier than 他们的故事 (bl novel not gl manhua). This is one of the novels on this list that truly feels like a ‘next step’ after graded readers. So I highly recommend this one. Also like 他们的故事, a lot of its words are daily life words one would find useful about growing up, families, park and nature words, people/objects/places in cities. And its more specific words while a bit niche about animals and plants, so far I have all found very applicable - poodle, parrot, minya bird (which pops up in several cdramas I’ve seen), mouse, cat, gingko tree (one of the few trees I know the name of in english too).

Second: How many words you put in definitely affects the tool’s scoring - when I put in around 2000 words this was scored as 2, when I put in 3000 it was scored as 1.9.

***流星·蝴蝶·剑 by Gu Long

Characters:2954 Word Count:2188 Unique Words:755 (34.5%) Unique unknown*:629 (83.3%) meanU(log10)*:2.015

**Also highly recommending this as easier material if you want to get into wuxia - I read one chapter of this last night without a dictionary.

***那些年我們一起追的女孩

Characters:2645 Word Count:1844 Unique Words:803 (43.5%) Unique unknown*:660 (82.2%) meanU(log10)*:1.955

**I’d highly recommend this as easier material - it was one of the readings in a mandarin book club I was a part of, is genuinely SHORT, and is genuinely lower on the difficulty scale.

***一个钢镚儿

Characters:1965 Word Count:1361 Unique Words:580 (42.6%) Unique unknown*:474 (81.7%) meanU(log10)*:2.030

**I haven’t read this but marking it as a great choice, it easily scored above 2.

***撒野

Characters:2911 Word Count:2072 Unique Words:701 (33.8%) Unique unknown*:583 (83.2%) meanU(log10)*:1.980

**I will probably try this one as its scored pretty easy.

那些風花雪月

Characters:2409 Word Count:1673 Unique Words:735 (43.9%) Unique unknown*:615 (83.7%) meanU(log10)*:1.885

**This one I wanted to run for fun lol. this was once recced as one of the “easiest” novels to read. Well I found it to be extremely hard to read - looks like it wasn’t just me. Even at a low word count of text sample, its rating is 1.8.

**叛逆者

Characters:2821 Word Count:1952 Unique Words:849 (43.5%) Unique unknown*:718 (84.6%) meanU(log10)*:1.898

Adding The Rebel because Zhu Yilong’s about to star in the show based on it, and an english translation already exists. While its ranked as a bit harder at 1.9ish, this novel is very short (13 chapters I believe). So the time commitment is much shorter (compared to hanshe’s 155 chapters).

X

This tool’s score seems HIGHLY dependent on how many words you put in. I’d say aim around the same word amount for each sample if you want to compare the results better - I clearly did Not do that and I think that’s part of why there’s so much variance between 1.7-1.9 between some materials I think the difficulty would be different on. Based on that, I’d say ones where I put high amounts of text samples in and STILL scored high are probably some of the easiest! And ones with high amounts of text samples that slid down into 1.7~1.8 may not actually be quite as difficult. (EDIT: I have just gone through this and taken ~1900-2100 word length samples of each to try and make the ‘ease’ ratings more comparable).

X

I am a bit sad by how few novels actually got a score of 2 or above. Does anyone have any “easier” webnovel/novel recommendations I can look into? I could do an analysis for a few more.

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