A4/Letter Size Songbook Files Upgraded With LinkNav

It appears that more and more, the 3-line, etc. PDF files will be used on mobile devices such as the upcoming iPad rather than printed out on paper. To make them more nimble and useful on such devices, the A4 size (similar to letter size) songbook files available for download from the Songbook—Romanised Material page have been upgraded with PDF bookmarks, with a bookmark for each song. Thus, one can jump right to a particular song once it is announced, rather than having to attempt to scroll to it in time.

“LinkNav” has been added to the names of the files with PDF Link Navigation features. The PDF Link Navigation page provides more information on the LinkNav features, and includes a link to this 32-second QuickTime video screen recording (iPhone version) that shows how PDF bookmarks and links have been implemented in the LinkNav files.

2010-03-23 Links File Update Released

The 2010-03-23 Links file update has been released. Those of you who are on the list to receive email updates have been sent an email with directions on how to obtain this updated file. If you have not received this email update and would like to, email me about receiving the update and getting added to the mailing list, providing information such as what group or congregation you’re with, who referred you to this site, etc.

If you haven’t already done so, I recommend that you read the included directions.html file before proceeding to use the Links file. Besides including instructions and examples on how to use the Links file, the directions.html file also discusses the redistribution of the Links file.

The Links file is used by downloading its zip file from the web page linked to in the email, extracting it with the supplied password, saving it to a drive, and opening it in a modern web browser like Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera, or Internet Explorer. After you open it, you may want to bookmark it or add it to your Favorites for easy retrieval later on.

One significant change is the addition at the top of the file of Launchpads, which act as big buttons that take one directly to certain key headings in the Index.

New and updated resources are listed under the *** NEW *** and *** UPDATED *** Index headings.

The *** NEW *** resources this time around are:

• How Do You Say That in Chinese?
  
  • “Dear friends, This blog was born when a great story just had to be told. It need not end there. You may also have heard of one (make sure it’s verifiable). Well, here is where we use new technologies to get the message out. Invite friends so there can be an ‘interchange of encouragement’ (Ro 1:12) - and above all, bring praise not to any one person, but to Jehovah.”
    


• Mandarin Course from Long Island
  
  • These are the course materials for the Long Island Chinese Language Course in theo. Mandarin held in 2010.
    


• Mandarin Memorial Songsheets—2010
  
  • These files can be used to print out extra copies of the songs to be sung at the 2010 Memorial. The types of information they contain (hanzi, pinyin, etc.) are listed in the filenames. The files can help to enable all in attendance at Mandarin Memorials to sing in Mandarin together, thus emphasizing our unity and resulting in more harmonious praise being offered at these special meetings.
    
  • Of note is the inclusion in these files of jianpu, or numbered musical notation. Many Chinese people are familiar with this type of musical notation, and find it easier to follow than the “standard” musical notation that uses a five-line staff.
    


• PDF Link Navigation
  
  • It appears that more and more, the 3-line and pinyin PDF files will be used on mobile devices such as the iPhone, the iPod touch, and the iPad rather than printed out on paper. So, bookmarks and links have been added to some of these PDF files in order to take advantage of the computing power of mobile devices, and to reduce the amount of scrolling around needed while using the PDFs on them.
    
  • This page contains information and instructions (including a video screen recording) regarding the PDF files named with “LinkNav” (“Link Navigation”), which have been enriched and fortified with PDF bookmarks and links.
    


• Referenced Theo. Expressions (Chinese + JP/Yale Cant. Rom. + English)
  
  • This material consists of relatively extensive lists of theo. expressions as they have been found to be rendered in the Chinese publications. This page links to the Cantonese romanisation versions, which are intended to replace the Cantonese Basic Theo. Expressions files, which were last updated way back in Feb. 2004 and contain expressions that are now out of date. Files are available with the expressions sorted by English or by Jyutping/Yale romanisation. Thanks to the one who made these files available.
    


• Worldwide Association of Jehovah’s Witnesses (www.jw.org)
  
  • The official download site of the organization, from which some official Chinese audio files and PDF files are now available for download.
    

The *** UPDATED *** resources this time around are:

• 3-Line Material on the iPhone and the iPod touch
  


• 3lines.org
  


• Chinese Links File
  


• Creator Book (Chinese + Pinyin + English)
  


• “God’s Love” Book (Chinese + Cantonese Rom. + English)
  


• “God’s Love” Book (Chinese + Pinyin + English)
  


• Links News
  


• Mandarin Public Talks Audio & Video
  


• Oriental Language Studies
  


• Referenced Theo. Expressions (Chinese + Pinyin + English)
  


• Songbook—Romanised Material
  


• tiandi.info
  

The following resources are no longer listed in the Links file:

• Basic Theo. Expressions (Chinese + Yale Cant. Rom. + English)
  
  • This has been replaced by the Referenced Theo. Expressions (Chinese + JP/Yale Cant. Rom. + English) page mentioned above.
    


• CaenChina
  
  • This resource no longer exists.
    


• PandaGator
  
  • This resource no longer exists.
    

In addition to the above-mentioned items, several other changes, updates, and refinements were also made compared to the previous version of the Links file, dated 2009-11-28. So don’t hesitate to avail yourself of the current version, dated 2010-03-23.

Traditional Mandarin Memorial Songsheets Available Also

Traditional Chinese versions of the Mandarin Memorial songsheets reported on in the previous post are now available as well from the new Mandarin Memorial Songsheets—2010 page, in addition to the Simplified Chinese ones that were made available last week.

These files also include jianpu, or numbered musical notation. Many Chinese people are familiar with this type of musical notation, and find it easier to follow than the “standard” musical notation that uses a five-line staff.

Again, thanks go out to the one who provided the files.

Mandarin Memorial Songsheets Available

PDF files of songsheets for the songs to be sung at Mandarin Memorials this year are now available for download from the new Mandarin Memorial Songsheets—2010 page. These files can help to enable all in attendance at Mandarin Memorials to sing in Mandarin together, thus emphasizing our unity and resulting in more harmonious praise being offered at these special meetings.

Of note is the inclusion in these files of jianpu, or numbered musical notation. Many Chinese people are familiar with this type of musical notation, and find it easier to follow than the “standard” musical notation that uses a five-line staff.

Here is a description of the available files:

• Song 8 (hanzi, pinyin, music, jianpu)
• Song 109 (hanzi, pinyin, music, jianpu)
• Songs 8 & 109 (hanzi (no pinyin), music, jianpu, both songs on one page)

No password is required to access these files. Thanks go out to the one who provided them. As he said,

“I’ve met quite a few Chinese who say they could join in our singing more if they had jianpu numbers, and as this is the first Memorial in the new songbook it would be nice to have their help.”

XLP-iPhone-A5 Size “My Follower” Bk. 3-Line Material Files With LinkNav For Ch. 2 Posted

Pinyin and Sidney Lau XLP-iPhone-A5 size 3-line material files with LinkNav for Chapter 2 of the “My Follower” book are now available for download from the 3lines.org site. HTML files with links to the 3-Line Material on the iPhone and the iPod touch, Printing Extra Large Print 3-Line Material, and PDF Link Navigation pages have also been posted to the same folders as the PDF files.

At the 3lines.org home page, just answer the Witness-testing questions (no commas), click on the bs (Book Study) graphic, and click through to your desired type of file.

A4/Letter Size “My Follower” Bk. 3-Line Material Up To the End of Ch. 5 Posted

A4/letter size 3-line material up to the end of Chapter 5 of the “My Follower” book is now available for download from the 3lines.org site. Mandarin pinyin and Cantonese Jyutping, Sidney Lau, and Yale material are available.

Additionally, the Simplified (CHS) Mandarin pinyin files are now also available in “black” versions, which only use black to render the material rather than using blue and red for some of it like the regular files.

At the 3lines.org home page, just answer the Witness-testing questions (no commas), click on the bs (Book Study) graphic, and click through to your desired type of file.

Referenced Theo. Expressions Updated to 2010-03-06 Version

The Referenced Theo. Expressions files, available for download from the Referenced Theo. Expressions (Chinese + Pinyin + English) and Referenced Theo. Expressions (Chinese + JP/Yale Cant. Rom. + English) pages, have been updated. These files are meant to be relatively extensive lists of theo. expressions as they have been found to be rendered in the Chinese publications. Versions sorted by English and versions sorted by romanisation are both available.

The current version is now dated 2010-03-06. A Mandarin Pleco version and a Mandarin Wenlin version are available in addition to the PDF files. Also, a password is no longer needed to access this resource.

Thanks go out to the one who helped to produce these files. Here are some notes from this person regarding this update:

...contains corrections and additions, and I've also improved the logic that generates the extra "see ..." references in English.

Bookmarks have been added to the PDF files, so “LinkNav” (“Link Navigation”) has been added to their filenames. See the PDF Link Navigation page for more information on LinkNav features.

About Links News Page Added

The About Links News page has been added to this blog. A link to it now appears at the top of the column on the right.