Mandarin Scholarship Taiwan » ㄅㄆㄇㄈ

Test Of Proficiency-Huayu registration period starts today

kang-wei — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 06:01:29 +0000

Test Of Proficiency-Huayu (TOP) will be held on Nov. 1st 2008. The registration period starts today Sep. 15th to Oct. 9th. The registration fee is NT$1000.

I have posted previously about my experiences with the TOP test:

TOP for Beginners May 3 2008

Test of Proficiency-Huayu: Testees left in the dark

Results in! Test of Proficiency Huayu (Mandarin) May 2008

The good news for testees is that finally, after five years, the Steering Committee for the Test Of Proficiency-Huayu (SC-TOP) has released targeted word lists for each of the four levels. I emailed SC-TOP many times complaining about the lack of resources and the Taipei Times published my letter about the issue.

I have one complaint about the word lists, there’s no Bopomofo. It seems to me to be an odd omission as almost every Mandarin student in Taiwan is required to learn it. I don’t think SC-TOP want to hear any more complaints/suggestions from me. Perhaps you could contact them and mention it!

Hopefully, with the new resources more test takers will pass the tests. Good luck!

TOP word lists

800 Chinese Words for Beginners (PDF 280kb)

Basic (PDF 280kb)

Intermediate (PDF 480kb)

Advanced (PDF 480kb)

2008 TOP schedule

	2008.05	2008.11
Registration period	3/17~4/11	9/15~10/9
deadline for rescheduling test date	4/11	10/9
Announcement date of test location	4/25	10/24
Test date	5/3	11/1
Mailing date for the score report	5/23	11/21
Period for Rescoring	5/23~7/3	11/21~1/2

Test Time

Time	Level
9:00-11:00	Basic
11:40-13:40	Intermediate
14:20-15:50/16:20	For Beginners/Advanced

Testing Site

Area	Name of Testing Site	Address	Map
Northern	National Taiwan Normal University	Rm. 501-502 5F Bo-ai Bld., No. 129, Sec. 1, Hoping East Road, Taipei, Taiwan	Map
	Division of Continuing Education, Tamkang university	Rm. D304, D401, No.5, Lane 199, Jinhua St., Da-an District, Taipei City 106, Taiwan	Map
	Fu Jen Catholic University	Fahy Building Basement Room JSB04 & JSB16, 510 Chung Cheng Road, Hsin Chuang , Taipei County, Taiwan	Map1 Map2
Central	Feng Chia University	No.100, Wenhua Rd., Xitun District, Taichung City 407, Taiwan	Map1 Map2
Southern	Southern Taiwan University of Technology	No.1,Nantai St,Yung-Kang City,Tainan, Taiwan	Map1 Map2
Southern	Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages	Room E101, 1st floor of Zhengqi Hall, Room E201, 2nd floor of Zhengqi Hall, No.900, Minzu 1st Rd., Sanmin District, Kaohsiung City 807, Taiwan	Map1 Map2

Learn Mandarin: Bopomofo Quizlet & flashcards

kang-wei — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 03:53:54 +0000

Mandarin scholarship students in Taiwan generally need to learn Bopomofo (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ), the standard phonetic system used in Taiwan to teach Mandarin. It is also known as Zhuyin fuhao, jhuyin, Bopomo, Mandarin Phonetic Symbols and MPS! Confusing no?

I was browsing shuflies.blogspot.com, and came across a great online Bopomofo resource.

It has been setup on a Quiz based web application called Quizlet. Its stated mission:

“…to make learning vocabulary not a chore.”

The Bopomofo Quizlet has a few games which match English letters to the Bopomofo/Zhuyin symbols. It also has free Bopomofo flashcards.

There’s no audio but if you’d like to listen to Bopomofo/Zhuyin audio files visit this blog.

If you’re looking for Bopomofo learning software have a look at this post:

Learn Zhuyin fuhao/BoPoMoFo software

Learn Zhuyin fuhao/BoPoMoFo software

kang-wei — Sun, 18 May 2008 01:29:36 +0000

Learning Chinese in Taiwan will most likely involve learning Zhuyin fuhao (BoPoMoFo, ㄅㄆㄇㄈ, Zhuyin) which is is the standard phonetic system used in Taiwan to teach Mandarin (see earlier post).

I’ve looked at several software/learnware packages and one stands out for those needing to learn Zhuyin/BoPoMoFo.

Chinese LearnWare for PC Windows

Text can be displayed in traditional or simplified characters, pinyin romanization, or zhuyin symbols. There are many interactive Zhuyin/BoPoMoFo games that help you to memorize the alphabet.

Other features include:

Over 1000 characters, Recorded conversations between native speakers, Voice Animation, Speech Recognition and Voice Record and Compare, Character writing, Exercises and games, Grammar notes, Flash cards, Vocabulary builder.

I’m done with my copy of Chinese LearnWare. If you want it I’ll send it to you.