Proofread Pīnyīn Web Material for the August 21–27 Bible Reading Posted

While we greatly appreciate the availability of the official Pīnyīn NWT Bible PDF file, the PDF format was conceived of in a world dominated by paper. Unfortunately, that means that PDF files are often not optimal for reading on the mobile devices that are now so prevalent among Mandarin field publishers.

The Pīnyīn Plus NWT Bible web material that is now available has been designed to be mobile-first, so it automatically adjusts itself to be optimal for reading on mobile devices of various shapes and sizes, including tablets and smartphones.

Proofread Pīnyīn web material for the August 21–27 Bible Reading is now available:

• Eze. 35:1–15

Also, partially proofread Pīnyīn web material is now available for the Bible Readings for the weeks between August 28 and October 1.

The above material is part of this resource:

• NWT Bible (Pīnyīn Plus, Web)
  (2007 Printing, proofread, mobile-friendly, unofficial,
  incomplete but with many often-used scriptures,
  flashcards integrated with the text,
  context-appropriate English translations
  with literal & effective meanings,
  Simplified & Traditional characters,
  📖 Reveal All, 📄 Reveal Advanced, and
  📘 Reveal None controls
  for all the “flashcards” in a chapter, paragraph, etc.,
  extensive links for getting around, audio links,
  Night Theme that can be turned on or off
  using the ☀️/🌙 button at the top right,
  adjustable text size)
  (Info re offline viewing and printing)
  
• Short Links:
  Links ▶ Publications ▶
  New World Translation Bible Links (tiandi.info/bi)

To expand on why the above resource provides an excellent Mandarin reading experience on mobile devices:

• The above web material resource provides easy enlarging and automatic reflowing of the text to accommodate displays of various shapes and sizes, including those of many mobile devices.
  • This is especially an advantage compared to the situation with PDF files, which have preset page sizes and line renderings baked in. As a result, PDF files are often cumbersome and difficult to read on smaller mobile devices. E.g., when you are zoomed in and get to the bottom of a column, it can be difficult to scroll up and to the right in order to get to the top of the next column without interrupting the flow of the reading. While trying to do so quickly, you may even accidentally turn the page, causing an even greater interruption as you try to figure out where you are, and then tap/swipe, zoom, and scroll back to where you actually want to be.
• In the above resource, Pīnyīn, an excellent tool for confidently and easily reading out Mandarin, is presented in a highly legible and readable way, and is given the primary focus.
  • In fact, the material can easily be set to only display the highly legible Pīnyīn, without the beautiful and traditionally-used, but actually unnecessary Chinese characters distracting and taking up limited display real estate. (This can be done on the above resource by selecting 📘 Reveal None from the drop-down list near the top of the Pīnyīn Plus web page you are on. The web browser you are using will remember the setting for whenever it is again used to access the above resource until the setting gets changed manually, or until your browser gets reset, perhaps from being deleted and reinstalled.)

The introduction for the above resource explains why it’s good to use Pīnyīn as a writing system on its own. Here is a quote:

“Taken as a bewitchingly complex, independent system for directly representing meanings visually, the characters can actually be a distraction or a diversion from the Mandarin words themselves, which are already a system for representing meanings through Mandarin speech sounds. Really, a Mandarin word still means what it means, no more and no less, whether it is spoken, written in characters, or written in Pīnyīn. Shakespeare said that “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”, and indeed, a rose would smell as sweet whether the spoken Mandarin word for it is written as “玫瑰” or as “méigui”. Writing the word in characters does not add to its meaning, and writing it in Pīnyīn does not take away from its meaning.”

To expand on the points listed re the above resource, note that:

• The material in the above resource has been carefully translated, rendered, and proofread. Material with a grey background has been partially proofread. Pīnyīn material with a golden-hued background has been proofread, but not all of its “flashcards” have been added and proofread.
• The material in the above resource is based on the latest 2007 printing of the Mandarin Chinese NWT Bible. If you notice that some changes need to be made to the material in the above resource to bring it in line with revisions to the Mandarin Chinese NWT Bible, please email me to let me know.
• The above resource is mobile-friendly—it is quite legible and usable on everything from desktop/laptop PCs and Macs to iPads and other tablets to iPhones and other smartphones.
• In the above resource, links are used extensively to make it quick and easy to get around in the material, drastically reducing the amount of manual scrolling needed.
• The above resource contains links to the official Mandarin MP3 audio files on jw.org.
• An active Internet connection is required to access the above web resource directly. However, its material can be downloaded in a zip file for offline use. More information is provided at the Info re offline viewing and printing link.
• For your convenience, a short link (New World Translation Bible Links (tiandi.info/bi)) is available for the above resource.

Title Pages for Pīnyīn Plus Publication Resources Revised for Better First-Time Experiences

Pīnyīn Plus material involves a whole new way of interacting with the various dimensions of material that can be helpful to those learning Mandarin for the Mandarin field. Whereas the official 2-line and unofficial 3-line material that has become traditional always shows all of its characters, romanization, and English (if available) material, like material printed on paper has to, Pīnyīn Plus material takes advantage of the power of modern mobile devices to enable dynamic showing and hiding of its available additional material.

This new dynamic ability in principle provides users with the benefits of flashcards in context, and it empowers users to customize the material to best suit them. It also frees material producers to make the additional material richer and more completely informative, since it will only take up display real estate if and when the user chooses. However, the newness of this ability to show or hide material at will means that many new users are unaware that this ability even exists—they naturally still assume that what you see is all you get, like it always used to be.

This situation presents a challenge when it comes to how the title page for a Pīnyīn Plus resource should be designed. At first, to show users the pure, clean reading experience that is possible with Pīnyīn Plus material, only the Pīnyīn was shown by default, with no flashcards visible, in hopes that users would discover from reading the explanatory material or from their own exploration that additional material for any Pīnyīn expression is just a tap or click away. Unfortunately, most people don’t read explanatory material, even blinking or pulsing explanatory material (generally considered horrible by web designers), and not everyone’s an explorer—apparently many users would just take one look, only see Pīnyīn, and then assume that that was all that was available.

The next approach that was tried involved revealing the “flashcards” for a few selected relatively advanced expressions the first time a Pīnyīn Plus material page is loaded. This instantly shows new users that, yes, rich additional information is available. While this approach still seems to have good aspects, including pre-revealing information that most users probably want to see anyway, on reflection it may not be good to pre-reveal the “flashcard” for the big title on a title page, which title shows the name of the official publication that the Pīnyīn Plus material is based on. In Pīnyīn Plus material, the “flashcard” for the name of an official publication is generally going to be a complex compound affair, showing both the literal meanings of the expressions involved, and also the actual official English name of the publication that those literal meanings effectively represent. While there is value and richness in all that information, the different parts of which are rendered in different colours for easier differentiation, if that complex compound “flashcard”—in big, title font text, no less—is the first thing a new user sees, it can be understandable if that new user then runs away screaming. 😱

So, in summary, while on the positive side Pīnyīn Plus material allows both showing less information and showing more information than traditional material does, allowing for more flexibility and fewer compromises, if approached without this understanding, Pīnyīn Plus material can seem to new users to be either disappointing (“What? No English or characters?”) or intimidating (“Eek! So much stuff all at once!”).

A new approach will now be tried re the presentation of the big title on a title page of Pīnyīn Plus material. To avoid possibly intimidating new users, the complex compound “flashcard” of the publication name will not be revealed by default. Also, to effectively, reliably, and quickly guide new users away from possible unnecessary disappointment, while introducing them to the defining new aspect of using and getting the intended benefits from Pīnyīn Plus material, there will be more pulsing, coloured text! While generally a big design no-no, in this situation, with new users needing to realize that something invisible but significantly new and powerfully beneficial—and under their control!—is available, it seems appropriate. This pulsing text will follow immediately after the title and say, “← Tap/click to show/hide the ‘flashcard’”, and hopefully, this will cause new users to say, “Cool!”

Check out the new title page implementations for the existing Pīnyīn Plus publication resources below:

• Good News Br.
  (Pīnyīn Plus, Scriptures, EPUB)
  (2016-03 Printing, proofread, mobile-friendly,
  flashcards integrated with the text,
  context-appropriate English translations
  with literal & effective meanings,
  Simplified & Traditional characters,
  📖 Reveal All, 📄 Reveal Advanced,
  and 📘 Reveal None controls for
  all the “flashcards” in a lesson, paragraph, etc.,
  links for getting around,
  picture links, audio links, video link,
  supports offline use & annotation)
• Good News Br.
  (Pīnyīn Plus, Scriptures, Web)
  (2016-03 Printing, proofread, mobile-friendly,
  flashcards integrated with the text,
  context-appropriate English translations
  with literal & effective meanings,
  Simplified & Traditional characters,
  📖 Reveal All, 📄 Reveal Advanced,
  and 📘 Reveal None controls for
  all the “flashcards” in a lesson, paragraph, etc.,
  links for getting around,
  picture links, audio links, video link,
  Night Theme that can be turned on or off
  using the ☀️/🌙 button at the top right,
  adjustable text size)
  (Info re offline viewing and printing)
• Short Links:
  Links ▶ Publications ▶ Brochures ▶
  Good News Brochure Links (tiandi.info/fg)

• NWT Bible (Pīnyīn Plus, Web)
  (2007 Printing, proofread, mobile-friendly, unofficial,
  incomplete but with many often-used scriptures,
  flashcards integrated with the text,
  context-appropriate English translations
  with literal & effective meanings,
  Simplified & Traditional characters,
  📖 Reveal All, 📄 Reveal Advanced, and
  📘 Reveal None controls
  for all the “flashcards” in a chapter, paragraph, etc.,
  extensive links for getting around, audio links,
  Night Theme that can be turned on or off
  using the ☀️/🌙 button at the top right,
  adjustable text size)
  (Info re offline viewing and printing)
  
• Short Links:
  Links ▶ Publications ▶
  New World Translation Bible Links (tiandi.info/bi)

Proofread Pīnyīn Web Material for the August 14–20 Bible Reading Posted

While we greatly appreciate the availability of the official Pīnyīn NWT Bible PDF file, the PDF format was conceived of in a world dominated by paper. Unfortunately, that means that PDF files are often not optimal for reading on the mobile devices that are now so prevalent among Mandarin field publishers.

The Pīnyīn Plus NWT Bible web material that is now available has been designed to be mobile-first, so it automatically adjusts itself to be optimal for reading on mobile devices of various shapes and sizes, including tablets and smartphones.

Proofread Pīnyīn web material for the August 14–20 Bible Reading is now available:

• Eze. 32:1–16

Also, partially proofread Pīnyīn web material is now available for the Bible Readings for the weeks between August 21 and September 24.

The above material is part of this resource:

• NWT Bible (Pīnyīn Plus, Web)
  (2007 Printing, proofread, mobile-friendly, unofficial,
  incomplete but with many often-used scriptures,
  flashcards integrated with the text,
  context-appropriate English translations
  with literal & effective meanings,
  Simplified & Traditional characters,
  📖 Reveal All, 📄 Reveal Advanced, and
  📘 Reveal None controls
  for all the “flashcards” in a chapter, paragraph, etc.,
  extensive links for getting around, audio links,
  Night Theme that can be turned on or off
  using the ☀️/🌙 button at the top right,
  adjustable text size)
  (Info re offline viewing and printing)
  
• Short Links:
  Links ▶ Publications ▶
  New World Translation Bible Links (tiandi.info/bi)

To expand on why the above resource provides an excellent Mandarin reading experience on mobile devices:

• The above web material resource provides easy enlarging and automatic reflowing of the text to accommodate displays of various shapes and sizes, including those of many mobile devices.
  • This is especially an advantage compared to the situation with PDF files, which have preset page sizes and line renderings baked in. As a result, PDF files are often cumbersome and difficult to read on smaller mobile devices. E.g., when you are zoomed in and get to the bottom of a column, it can be difficult to scroll up and to the right in order to get to the top of the next column without interrupting the flow of the reading. While trying to do so quickly, you may even accidentally turn the page, causing an even greater interruption as you try to figure out where you are, and then tap/swipe, zoom, and scroll back to where you actually want to be.
• In the above resource, Pīnyīn, an excellent tool for confidently and easily reading out Mandarin, is presented in a highly legible and readable way, and is given the primary focus.
  • In fact, the material can easily be set to only display the highly legible Pīnyīn, without the beautiful and traditionally-used, but actually unnecessary Chinese characters distracting and taking up limited display real estate. (This can be done on the above resource by selecting 📘 Reveal None from the drop-down list near the top of the Pīnyīn Plus web page you are on. The web browser you are using will remember the setting for whenever it is again used to access the above resource until the setting gets changed manually, or until your browser gets reset, perhaps from being deleted and reinstalled.)

The introduction for the above resource explains why it’s good to use Pīnyīn as a writing system on its own. Here is a quote:

“Taken as a bewitchingly complex, independent system for directly representing meanings visually, the characters can actually be a distraction or a diversion from the Mandarin words themselves, which are already a system for representing meanings through Mandarin speech sounds. Really, a Mandarin word still means what it means, no more and no less, whether it is spoken, written in characters, or written in Pīnyīn. Shakespeare said that “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”, and indeed, a rose would smell as sweet whether the spoken Mandarin word for it is written as “玫瑰” or as “méigui”. Writing the word in characters does not add to its meaning, and writing it in Pīnyīn does not take away from its meaning.”

To expand on the points listed re the above resource, note that:

• The material in the above resource has been carefully translated, rendered, and proofread. Material with a grey background has been partially proofread. Pīnyīn material with a golden-hued background has been proofread, but not all of its “flashcards” have been added and proofread.
• The material in the above resource is based on the latest 2007 printing of the Mandarin Chinese NWT Bible. If you notice that some changes need to be made to the material in the above resource to bring it in line with revisions to the Mandarin Chinese NWT Bible, please email me to let me know.
• The above resource is mobile-friendly—it is quite legible and usable on everything from desktop/laptop PCs and Macs to iPads and other tablets to iPhones and other smartphones.
• In the above resource, links are used extensively to make it quick and easy to get around in the material, drastically reducing the amount of manual scrolling needed.
• The above resource contains links to the official Mandarin MP3 audio files on jw.org.
• An active Internet connection is required to access the above web resource directly. However, its material can be downloaded in a zip file for offline use. More information is provided at the Info re offline viewing and printing link.
• For your convenience, a short link (New World Translation Bible Links (tiandi.info/bi)) is available for the above resource.

Proofread Pīnyīn Web Material for the August 7–13 Bible Reading Posted

While we greatly appreciate the availability of the official Pīnyīn NWT Bible PDF file, the PDF format was conceived of in a world dominated by paper. Unfortunately, that means that PDF files are often not optimal for reading on the mobile devices that are now so prevalent among Mandarin field publishers.

The Pīnyīn Plus NWT Bible web material that is now available has been designed to be mobile-first, so it automatically adjusts itself to be optimal for reading on mobile devices of various shapes and sizes, including tablets and smartphones.

Proofread Pīnyīn web material for the August 7–13 Bible Reading is now available:

• Eze. 29:1–12

Also, partially proofread Pīnyīn web material is now available for the Bible Readings for the weeks between August 14 and September 17.

The above material is part of this resource:

• NWT Bible (Pīnyīn Plus, Web)
  (2007 Printing, proofread, mobile-friendly, unofficial,
  incomplete but with many often-used scriptures,
  flashcards integrated with the text,
  context-appropriate English translations
  with literal & effective meanings,
  Simplified & Traditional characters,
  📖 Reveal All, 📄 Reveal Advanced, and
  📘 Reveal None controls
  for all the “flashcards” in a chapter, paragraph, etc.,
  extensive links for getting around, audio links,
  Night Theme that can be turned on or off
  using the ☀️/🌙 button at the top right,
  adjustable text size)
  (Info re offline viewing and printing)
  
• Short Links:
  Links ▶ Publications ▶
  New World Translation Bible Links (tiandi.info/bi)

To expand on why the above resource provides an excellent Mandarin reading experience on mobile devices:

• The above web material resource provides easy enlarging and automatic reflowing of the text to accommodate displays of various shapes and sizes, including those of many mobile devices.
  • This is especially an advantage compared to the situation with PDF files, which have preset page sizes and line renderings baked in. As a result, PDF files are often cumbersome and difficult to read on smaller mobile devices. E.g., when you are zoomed in and get to the bottom of a column, it can be difficult to scroll up and to the right in order to get to the top of the next column without interrupting the flow of the reading. While trying to do so quickly, you may even accidentally turn the page, causing an even greater interruption as you try to figure out where you are, and then tap/swipe, zoom, and scroll back to where you actually want to be.
• In the above resource, Pīnyīn, an excellent tool for confidently and easily reading out Mandarin, is presented in a highly legible and readable way, and is given the primary focus.
  • In fact, the material can easily be set to only display the highly legible Pīnyīn, without the beautiful and traditionally-used, but actually unnecessary Chinese characters distracting and taking up limited display real estate. (This can be done on the above resource by selecting 📘 Reveal None from the drop-down list near the top of the Pīnyīn Plus web page you are on. The web browser you are using will remember the setting for whenever it is again used to access the above resource until the setting gets changed manually, or until your browser gets reset, perhaps from being deleted and reinstalled.)

The introduction for the above resource explains why it’s good to use Pīnyīn as a writing system on its own. Here is a quote:

“Taken as a bewitchingly complex, independent system for directly representing meanings visually, the characters can actually be a distraction or a diversion from the Mandarin words themselves, which are already a system for representing meanings through Mandarin speech sounds. Really, a Mandarin word still means what it means, no more and no less, whether it is spoken, written in characters, or written in Pīnyīn. Shakespeare said that “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”, and indeed, a rose would smell as sweet whether the spoken Mandarin word for it is written as “玫瑰” or as “méigui”. Writing the word in characters does not add to its meaning, and writing it in Pīnyīn does not take away from its meaning.”

To expand on the points listed re the above resource, note that:

• The material in the above resource has been carefully translated, rendered, and proofread. Material with a grey background has been partially proofread. Pīnyīn material with a golden-hued background has been proofread, but not all of its “flashcards” have been added and proofread.
• The material in the above resource is based on the latest 2007 printing of the Mandarin Chinese NWT Bible. If you notice that some changes need to be made to the material in the above resource to bring it in line with revisions to the Mandarin Chinese NWT Bible, please email me to let me know.
• The above resource is mobile-friendly—it is quite legible and usable on everything from desktop/laptop PCs and Macs to iPads and other tablets to iPhones and other smartphones.
• In the above resource, links are used extensively to make it quick and easy to get around in the material, drastically reducing the amount of manual scrolling needed.
• The above resource contains links to the official Mandarin MP3 audio files on jw.org.
• An active Internet connection is required to access the above web resource directly. However, its material can be downloaded in a zip file for offline use. More information is provided at the Info re offline viewing and printing link.
• For your convenience, a short link (New World Translation Bible Links (tiandi.info/bi)) is available for the above resource.

Proofread Pīnyīn Web Material for the July 31–August 6 Bible Reading Posted

While we greatly appreciate the availability of the official Pīnyīn NWT Bible PDF file, the PDF format was conceived of in a world dominated by paper. Unfortunately, that means that PDF files are often not optimal for reading on the mobile devices that are now so prevalent among Mandarin field publishers.

The Pīnyīn Plus NWT Bible web material that is now available has been designed to be mobile-first, so it automatically adjusts itself to be optimal for reading on mobile devices of various shapes and sizes, including tablets and smartphones.

Proofread Pīnyīn web material for the July 31–August 6 Bible Reading is now available:

• Eze. 25:1–11

Also, partially proofread Pīnyīn web material is now available for the Bible Readings for the weeks between August 7 and September 17.

The above material is part of this resource:

• NWT Bible (Pīnyīn Plus, Web)
  (2007 Printing, proofread, mobile-friendly, unofficial,
  incomplete but with many often-used scriptures,
  flashcards integrated with the text,
  context-appropriate English translations
  with literal & effective meanings,
  Simplified & Traditional characters,
  📖 Reveal All, 📄 Reveal Advanced, and
  📘 Reveal None controls
  for all the “flashcards” in a chapter, paragraph, etc.,
  extensive links for getting around, audio links,
  Night Theme that can be turned on or off
  using the ☀️/🌙 button at the top right,
  adjustable text size)
  (Info re offline viewing and printing)
  
• Short Links:
  Links ▶ Publications ▶
  New World Translation Bible Links (tiandi.info/bi)

To expand on why the above resource provides an excellent Mandarin reading experience on mobile devices:

• The above web material resource provides easy enlarging and automatic reflowing of the text to accommodate displays of various shapes and sizes, including those of many mobile devices.
  • This is especially an advantage compared to the situation with PDF files, which have preset page sizes and line renderings baked in. As a result, PDF files are often cumbersome and difficult to read on smaller mobile devices. E.g., when you are zoomed in and get to the bottom of a column, it can be difficult to scroll up and to the right in order to get to the top of the next column without interrupting the flow of the reading. While trying to do so quickly, you may even accidentally turn the page, causing an even greater interruption as you try to figure out where you are, and then tap/swipe, zoom, and scroll back to where you actually want to be.
• In the above resource, Pīnyīn, an excellent tool for confidently and easily reading out Mandarin, is presented in a highly legible and readable way, and is given the primary focus.
  • In fact, the material can easily be set to only display the highly legible Pīnyīn, without the beautiful and traditionally-used, but actually unnecessary Chinese characters distracting and taking up limited display real estate. (This can be done on the above resource by selecting 📘 Reveal None from the drop-down list near the top of the Pīnyīn Plus web page you are on. The web browser you are using will remember the setting for whenever it is again used to access the above resource until the setting gets changed manually, or until your browser gets reset, perhaps from being deleted and reinstalled.)

The introduction for the above resource explains why it’s good to use Pīnyīn as a writing system on its own. Here is a quote:

“Taken as a bewitchingly complex, independent system for directly representing meanings visually, the characters can actually be a distraction or a diversion from the Mandarin words themselves, which are already a system for representing meanings through Mandarin speech sounds. Really, a Mandarin word still means what it means, no more and no less, whether it is spoken, written in characters, or written in Pīnyīn. Shakespeare said that “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”, and indeed, a rose would smell as sweet whether the spoken Mandarin word for it is written as “玫瑰” or as “méigui”. Writing the word in characters does not add to its meaning, and writing it in Pīnyīn does not take away from its meaning.”

To expand on the points listed re the above resource, note that:

• The material in the above resource has been carefully translated, rendered, and proofread. Material with a grey background has been partially proofread. Pīnyīn material with a golden-hued background has been proofread, but not all of its “flashcards” have been added and proofread.
• The material in the above resource is based on the latest 2007 printing of the Mandarin Chinese NWT Bible. If you notice that some changes need to be made to the material in the above resource to bring it in line with revisions to the Mandarin Chinese NWT Bible, please email me to let me know.
• The above resource is mobile-friendly—it is quite legible and usable on everything from desktop/laptop PCs and Macs to iPads and other tablets to iPhones and other smartphones.
• In the above resource, links are used extensively to make it quick and easy to get around in the material, drastically reducing the amount of manual scrolling needed.
• The above resource contains links to the official Mandarin MP3 audio files on jw.org.
• An active Internet connection is required to access the above web resource directly. However, its material can be downloaded in a zip file for offline use. More information is provided at the Info re offline viewing and printing link.
• For your convenience, a short link (New World Translation Bible Links (tiandi.info/bi)) is available for the above resource.

Proofread Pīnyīn Web Material for the July 24–30 Bible Reading Posted

While we greatly appreciate the availability of the official Pīnyīn NWT Bible PDF file, the PDF format was conceived of in a world dominated by paper. Unfortunately, that means that PDF files are often not optimal for reading on the mobile devices that are now so prevalent among Mandarin field publishers.

The Pīnyīn Plus NWT Bible web material that is now available has been designed to be mobile-first, so it automatically adjusts itself to be optimal for reading on mobile devices of various shapes and sizes, including tablets and smartphones.

Proofread Pīnyīn web material for the July 24–30 Bible Reading is now available:

• Eze. 21:1–13

Also, partially proofread Pīnyīn web material is now available for the Bible Readings for the weeks between July 31 and September 3.

The above material is part of this resource:

• NWT Bible (Pīnyīn Plus, Web)
  (2007 Printing, proofread, mobile-friendly, unofficial,
  incomplete but with many often-used scriptures,
  flashcards integrated with the text,
  context-appropriate English translations
  with literal & effective meanings,
  Simplified & Traditional characters,
  📖 Reveal All, 📄 Reveal Advanced, and
  📘 Reveal None controls
  for all the “flashcards” in a chapter, paragraph, etc.,
  extensive links for getting around, audio links,
  Night Theme that can be turned on or off
  using the ☀️/🌙 button at the top right,
  adjustable text size)
  (Info re offline viewing and printing)
  
• Short Links:
  Links ▶ Publications ▶
  New World Translation Bible Links (tiandi.info/bi)

To expand on why the above resource provides an excellent Mandarin reading experience on mobile devices:

• The above web material resource provides easy enlarging and automatic reflowing of the text to accommodate displays of various shapes and sizes, including those of many mobile devices.
  • This is especially an advantage compared to the situation with PDF files, which have preset page sizes and line renderings baked in. As a result, PDF files are often cumbersome and difficult to read on smaller mobile devices. E.g., when you are zoomed in and get to the bottom of a column, it can be difficult to scroll up and to the right in order to get to the top of the next column without interrupting the flow of the reading. While trying to do so quickly, you may even accidentally turn the page, causing an even greater interruption as you try to figure out where you are, and then tap/swipe, zoom, and scroll back to where you actually want to be.
• In the above resource, Pīnyīn, an excellent tool for confidently and easily reading out Mandarin, is presented in a highly legible and readable way, and is given the primary focus.
  • In fact, the material can easily be set to only display the highly legible Pīnyīn, without the beautiful and traditionally-used, but actually unnecessary Chinese characters distracting and taking up limited display real estate. (This can be done on the above resource by selecting 📘 Reveal None from the drop-down list near the top of the Pīnyīn Plus web page you are on. The web browser you are using will remember the setting for whenever it is again used to access the above resource until the setting gets changed manually, or until your browser gets reset, perhaps from being deleted and reinstalled.)

The introduction for the above resource explains why it’s good to use Pīnyīn as a writing system on its own. Here is a quote:

“Taken as a bewitchingly complex, independent system for directly representing meanings visually, the characters can actually be a distraction or a diversion from the Mandarin words themselves, which are already a system for representing meanings through Mandarin speech sounds. Really, a Mandarin word still means what it means, no more and no less, whether it is spoken, written in characters, or written in Pīnyīn. Shakespeare said that “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”, and indeed, a rose would smell as sweet whether the spoken Mandarin word for it is written as “玫瑰” or as “méigui”. Writing the word in characters does not add to its meaning, and writing it in Pīnyīn does not take away from its meaning.”

To expand on the points listed re the above resource, note that:

• The material in the above resource has been carefully translated, rendered, and proofread. Material with a grey background has been partially proofread. Pīnyīn material with a golden-hued background has been proofread, but not all of its “flashcards” have been added and proofread.
• The material in the above resource is based on the latest 2007 printing of the Mandarin Chinese NWT Bible. If you notice that some changes need to be made to the material in the above resource to bring it in line with revisions to the Mandarin Chinese NWT Bible, please email me to let me know.
• The above resource is mobile-friendly—it is quite legible and usable on everything from desktop/laptop PCs and Macs to iPads and other tablets to iPhones and other smartphones.
• In the above resource, links are used extensively to make it quick and easy to get around in the material, drastically reducing the amount of manual scrolling needed.
• The above resource contains links to the official Mandarin MP3 audio files on jw.org.
• An active Internet connection is required to access the above web resource directly. However, its material can be downloaded in a zip file for offline use. More information is provided at the Info re offline viewing and printing link.
• For your convenience, a short link (New World Translation Bible Links (tiandi.info/bi)) is available for the above resource.