# Where can I find Chinese word lists

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-chinese-word-lists/346064>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 25, 2006, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-chinese-word-lists/346064 "2006-02-25T13:08:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-chinese-word-lists/346064/1 "2006-02-25T13:08:59Z")

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I’m entertaining the idea of teaching myself to read and write Chinese again, so does anyone know if I can find those lists of words kids in a given grade need to know online? Or am I going to be ordering a lot of textbooks from China in the future?

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**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2006, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-chinese-word-lists/346064/2 "2006-02-25T13:44:00Z")

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Have you looked at [zhongwen.com](http://zhongwen.com)? There’s all sorts of resources there, including a list of the most commonly used characters. I don’t think there’s any simple vocabulary lists, but the online dictionary is helpful.

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**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-chinese-word-lists/346064/3 "2006-02-27T02:43:19Z")

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I have found WenLin useful. It is a software dictionary and lists characters and words by how often they are used. That’s a crap-shoot, of course, depending on your usage base, but the averages for the most-commonly-used words is probably pretty good. It’s $200-$250 depending on where you buy it–I have found it invaluable (but my Chinese is not very good, so YMMV :)).

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**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-chinese-word-lists/346064/4 "2006-02-27T04:09:49Z")

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> [@FlyingRamenMonster](#):
>
> I’m entertaining the idea of teaching myself to read and write Chinese again, so does anyone know if I can find those lists of words kids in a given grade need to know online? Or am I going to be ordering a lot of textbooks from China in the future?

This is code for your mother is pressuring you to relearn chinese so that the old ways are not lost forever, isn’t it?

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**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2006, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-find-chinese-word-lists/346064/5 "2006-02-27T11:00:11Z")

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> [@Shalmanese](#):
>
> This is code for your mother is pressuring you to relearn chinese so that the old ways are not lost forever, isn’t it?

😃

She doesn’t know. She gave up trying to teach me years ago, saying “Well, at least she can still speak.” And seriously? With over a billion Chinese in the world, the old ways are going to be really freaking hard to lose 😃

Right now I have my old textbooks for grades 1, 2, 3 and 5. Dunno what I’m going to do for the other grades but the first 3 should last me a while.