ㄅㄆㄇㄈ
How good is your bopomofo?
A 22-question test that gets harder as it goes: recognizing symbols first, then hearing them, then reading whole syllables, then writing zhuyin yourself. It takes about five minutes, needs no account, and ends with the specific symbols worth practicing.
What the test measures
Most bopomofo quizzes only ask you to recognize symbols, which is the easiest part of knowing zhuyin and the first thing to come back after a break. Recognizing ㄕ on a chart is a different skill from hearing it in a word, and both are different from writing ㄕ yourself when someone says a word out loud.
So this test climbs through four skills, and the last one is producing zhuyin rather than picking it out. Someone who has memorized the whole chart but never typed a word will usually land around 70%, which is an honest picture rather than a flattering one.
The levels
- Advanced90% and above
- You read zhuyin fluently and can produce it, not just recognize it. At this point the useful practice is speed and real sentences.
- Intermediate70% and above
- You know the symbols and can read syllables. Writing zhuyin from a word is the gap, which is exactly what typing practice fixes.
- Getting there50% and above
- The symbols are mostly there and the sounds are landing. Reading whole syllables is the next step.
- Beginner0% and above
- Early days, and the 37 symbols are a closed set you can finish in an afternoon. Start with the chart and the audio.
If you have not learned the symbols yet
Take the test anyway, then start properly. Bopomofo is a closed system of 37 symbols and 5 tones, which means it has an end: most adults recognize all of them within a few hours.