pinyin.info Praises the Pinyin Watchtower

...is the title of a new post at tiandi.info. Here’s the description from the news feed:

A worldly pinyin expert feels “amazement” at the quality and the quantity of the pinyin material available via the official pinyin editions of The Watchtower.

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Referenced Theo. Expressions iSilo File Now Available

An iSilo data file for the Mandarin pinyin Referenced Theo. Expressions is now available for download from the Referenced Theo. Expressions (Chinese + Pinyin + English) Downloads page. Also provided is a link to instructions on iSilo’s website for how to transfer the file to iSilo running on various mobile devices.

Referenced Theo. Expressions Updated to 2011-04-19 Version, Mandarin Web Lookup Available

The Referenced Theo. Expressions files have been updated. They are available for download from the Referenced Theo. Expressions (Chinese + Pinyin + English) Downloads (note the slightly altered name) and Referenced Theo. Expressions (Chinese + Cantonese Romanisation + English) pages. 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 2011-04-19. It contains 9859 expressions, compared to the 9628 expressions that were in the previous version. Pleco, Wenlin, ChinaScribe, DICT, and StarDict data files are now available in addition to the PDF files.

Here are some comments from the one who assembled this update to the RTE:

Besides the usual additions and corrections, this version of RTE adds two new formats: DICT and StarDict. These formats can be used by a great number of desktop and mobile dictionary apps on many platforms (iPhone, Android, Symbian, you name it). These applications are of varying quality and unfortunately I can't suggest any one in particular; it depends what device you got. I tested with an app called FantasDic on Ubuntu Linux 10.10.

Unfortunately DICT and StarDict do not keep their dictionaries in a single file. Two separate files are present for each format, and BOTH are required. Therefore I have packaged these in ZIP files to make it easier.

This update fixes the problem with tone marks in the Pleco English-to-Chinese version, and also has a bunch of additions etc.

Bookmarks have been added to the PDF files, and PDF annotation has been enabled on them, so “LN-A” (“Link Navigation-Annotation”) is included in their filenames. See the PDF Link Navigation page and the PDF Annotation (Notes & Highlighting) page for more information.

Note that the current version of Pleco for iPhone / iPod Touch / iPad now supports flashcards and user-created dictionaries. So, the RTE Pleco Instructions file now contains instructions for installing the RTE Pleco files in Pleco running on these devices. Also, these instructions have been rewritten for greater clarity, with more step-by-step details.

As a reminder, note that the Referenced Theo. Expressions (Chinese + Pinyin + English) Web Lookup page is now available as well. Rather than containing download links to the RTE data files, it contains a web form that can be used to look up Referenced Theo. Expressions (Chinese + Pinyin + English) information by English or by Simplified or Traditional Chinese characters.

Thanks go out to the ones who helped to produce this group of resources.

Was Life Created? Br. Chinese-Lau-Eng. LN-A Material Up to P. 10 Posted

3-line Chinese-Lau-English files with Cantonese Sidney Lau romanisation and with LN-A (LinkNav and annotation (notes & highlighting)) and containing material covering from the front cover to p. 10 of the Was Life Created? brochure are now available for download. Traditional Chinese characters are used in these files, and both iPad-Letter-A4 and XLP-iPhone-A5 size files are available.

The iPad-Letter-A4 size file uses letter size as the paper size. When zoomed so that one page fills the entire screen, the material in this file renders at a good, usable size on the iPad and on other devices with similarly sized screens. This file can be downloaded from the new Was Life Created? Brochure (Chinese-Lau-English, iPad-Letter-A4, LN-A) page.

The XLP-iPhone-A5 size file uses A5 as the paper size, and is especially suited for use on devices such as the iPhone, the iPod touch, and other devices with similarly sized screens. (See the 3-Line Material on the iPhone and the iPod touch page for instructions on how to use this file on an iPhone or an iPod touch.) When zoomed so that one page fills the entire screen, the material in this file also renders at a good, usable size on the iPad and on other devices with similarly sized screens. This file may also be printed out on letter size paper, resulting in Extra Large Print material. (See the Printing Extra Large Print 3-Line Material page for instructions.) The XLP-iPhone-A5 size file can be downloaded from the new Was Life Created? Brochure (Chinese-Lau-English, XLP-iPhone-A5, LN-A) page.

The relevant folder at the 3lines.org site contains HTML files with links to the Was Life Created? Brochure (Chinese-Lau-English, iPad-Letter-A4, LN-A) and Was Life Created? Brochure (Chinese-Lau-English, XLP-iPhone-A5, LN-A) pages.

Related links:

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


• Printing Extra Large Print 3-Line Material


• PDF Link Navigation


• PDF Annotation (Notes & Highlighting)

Mandarin Memorial Songsheets Available

PDF files of songsheets for songs that may be used at Mandarin Memorials are now available for download from the Mandarin Memorial Songsheets 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, of which there are both Simplified and Traditional Chinese versions:

• 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 ... it would be nice to have their help.”

UPDATE, Sun., Apr. 17, 2011, 2 pm PST: The song 109 files with pinyin have just been updated so that 长子/長子 is romanised as “zhǎngzǐ” instead of “chángzi”.

Bearing Witness Bk. XLP-iPhone-A5 Size LN-A 3-Line Material for Ch. 3 Posted

3-line pinyin and Sidney Lau XLP-iPhone-A5 size files with LN-A (LinkNav and annotation (notes & highlighting)) for Chapter 3 of the Bearing Witness book are now available for download from the Bearing Witness Book (3-Line, XLP-iPhone-A5, LN-A) page.

Based on my recent experience with using such files on an iPad, the following sentence is included on the Bearing Witness Book (3-Line, XLP-iPhone-A5, LN-A) page:

When zoomed so that one page fills an entire screen, the material in these files also renders at a good size on the iPad and other devices with similarly sized screens.

The relevant folders at the 3lines.org site contain an HTML file with a link to the Bearing Witness Book (3-Line, XLP-iPhone-A5, LN-A) page.

Sorry for the delay in posting these files. My computer needed some new parts, and so I was without a computer for a while. Everything seems to be back up and running now, though.

Related links:

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


• Printing Extra Large Print 3-Line Material


• PDF Link Navigation


• PDF Annotation (Notes & Highlighting)

Necessity, Invention, and Skunkworks Post Revised

The post “Necessity, Invention, and Skunkworks”, posted at tiandi.info a few hours ago, has just been revised to include some discussion about MEPS. Check it out!

To obtain the login information for tiandi.info, request e-mail notification of news regarding available resources, or if you have any questions or comments, you may e-mail me at waynerj@shaw.ca, providing information such as what group or congregation you’re with, who referred you to this site, etc.

Necessity, Invention, and Skunkworks

...is the title of a new post at tiandi.info. Here’s the description from the news feed:

The mother, births, upbringings, and adoptions of inventions in the Chinese field.

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“To Be More Like Us”

...is the title of a new post at tiandi.info. Here’s the description from the news feed:

Is that what Westerners in the Chinese field should be trying to help Chinese people to be?

To obtain the login information for tiandi.info, request e-mail notification of news regarding available resources, or if you have any questions or comments, you may e-mail me at waynerj@shaw.ca, providing information such as what group or congregation you’re with, who referred you to this site, etc.

List and Map at tiandi.info Updated

The List and the Map at tiandi.info have just been updated. You may want to have a look at them if you haven’t done so for a while.

To obtain the login information for tiandi.info, request e-mail notification of news regarding available resources, or if you have any questions or comments, you may e-mail me at waynerj@shaw.ca, providing information such as what group or congregation you’re with, who referred you to this site, etc.