Problems Creating a Chinese Corpus (Can I SEARCH() a Range?)

[corpusworker]

Hello all. I dig a lot of these problem/solution things, but did not see one that matched my search criteria, and so am turning to experts for some advice.

To start, I'm only moderately skilled with Excel, and I work primarily with the logical, not mathematical functions. That being said, I'd like to know if there is a good method for Excel to solve this problem. I've been working at it in a rather sloppy manner until I began researching some other approaches.

The Problem(s):

I am developing a site that teaches the grammar of modern Chinese at the same time that it builds vocabulary by frequency. There are a couple of issues with this:

1. Chinese word corpi are virtually nonexistent, and where existent, sloppy.
2. Chinese character corpi are more available and somewhat more reliable.

The difference between a word and a character in Chinese can be a bit hazy, but the easiest way to put it is that not all characters stand alone as word and that most words are two to three characters in length.

Therefore, using data from the character corpus and a few thorough dictionaries, I created a word list in Excel that has the words and definitions in separate columns.

I have likewise found a character corpus that I have appropriately organized by ranking and other relevant data. The characters occupy a column.

Here's the basic logical function I am trying to create in separate columns, which are organized by frequency of the character:

=IF(AND(OR(contains any characters in the character corpus from frequency x to frequency y),NOT(OR(contains any characters in the character corpus from frequency y+1 to z)),Word Column,"")

Now, I know now that I have a good workaround, so I can shorten this to...

=IF(NOT(OR(contains any characters in the character corpus from frequency y+1 to z)),Word Column,"")

The problem is that I don't see any effective means of efficiently coding the OR condition!

Is there some magic that can be done so that I can use the ISNUMBER(SEARCH(characters,word cell) function for multiple characters?

I definitely don't want to go...
=IF(NOT(OR(ISNUMBER(SEARCH("球",word cell)),ISNUMBER(SEARCH("式",same word cell),...),Word Column,"") for thousands upon thousands of characters!

Is there a way for me to select a range of values within the SEARCH() function to allow this kind of programming?

I also had a look at the filters, but found myself facing the same problem.

I don't want to abandon hope, but I also don't want to spend twenty years on what should be a fifty-day project.

Thanks if you can help!

 

[corpusworker]

I solved the problem. It involves a longer approach that treats the characters within the text under a COUNTIF() function. However, this method requires that I have the entire vocabulary list before beginning, so any additions will have to make slight alterations before advancing.