MEotW: jī‐tóng‐yā‐jiǎng

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• jī‐tóng‐yā‐jiǎng

What are some factors affecting whether or not Mandarin field language learners know certain basic truths about the Chinese languages?

Allowing various untruths to continue to divert and bog down the language-learning efforts of those who come to help in the worldwide Mandarin field can have incalculable overall negative effects on the preaching work in this enormous field.

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MEotW: zài‐suǒ‐bùxī

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• zài‐suǒ‐bùxī

Why should we not balk when faced with the Great Wall of Characters, or when faced with the alternate Pīnyīn ways past it?

This week’s MEotW in the unofficial Pīnyīn Plus resource “Sing Out Joyfully” Bk. (Pīnyīn+Music, Pīnyīn Plus, Web)

Do we balk when faced with the Great Wall of Characters?

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MEotW: gòngtōng

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• gòngtōng

Are Chinese characters really more universal than alphabetic writing systems are?

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MEotW: fāngyán

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• fāngyán

What does the Mandarin word often mistranslated as “dialect” actually mean?

“Many of these so-called Chinese ‘dialects’ are in fact, different languages.”
—David Moser (@david__moser), in his book _A Billion Voices: China’s Search for a Common Language_ https://t.co/Ld20t2JQ2W

— Troubadour WW (@troubadourww) November 4, 2020

List of different Chinese languages in which publications are available on jw.org as of 2025-06-02

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MEotW: yǔzú

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• yǔzú

How closely—or distantly—related are Mandarin and Cantonese? Are Mandarin, Cantonese, etc. just dialects of “Chinese”?

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MEotW: yǔxì

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• yǔxì

What is Mandarin’s place in its language family tree? Are Mandarin, Cantonese, etc. just dialects of “Chinese”?

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MEotW: jī‐tóng‐yā‐jiǎng

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• jī‐tóng‐yā‐jiǎng

What can help us to avoid ‘feeling like an idiot’ in the Chinese fields? 🐓 🦆

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What Writing System Should the “Young” Pīnyīn Writing System Learn From?

A reply has been posted in response to SB’s thought-provoking reply to the MEotW post on “_Jìniàn Jùhuì_”.

What more “experienced” writing system should the “young” _Pīnyīn_ writing system learn from and emulate, if any? https://t.co/LYPqYvEwub pic.twitter.com/bJLCaggTBS

— tiandi, Links News (@TiandiLinksNews) May 21, 2022

Budapest Course Pages Refreshed, Passwords Removed

The download pages for the Budapest courses have been refreshed, and passwords are no longer required to access the course files.

The affected pages are:

• Mandarin Course from Budapest (Note: Some refinements, corrections, and formatting adjustments have been made to the grammar file, which is now dated November 2012.)


• Curso Chino de Budapest—Edición en Español [Spanish]


• Mandarin Course from Budapest—Russian (русский)


• Uighur Course from Budapest

3-Line—A Rosetta Stone for Chinese

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

Cracking the code of the pictographs is much easier with the help of one’s own mother tongue.

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.

Budapest Course PDF Files Updated

All the Budapest Mandarin course files have been updated to their 2008 versions, except for the grammar course files, which have not changed. Also, all the PDF files have been recreated so that copying and pasting tables of material produces more usable results.

Minor 2009-02-24 Links File Update Posted

A minor update to the Links file, dated 2009-02-24, has been posted to the Chinese Links File page. Access information in Links emails of the last several months is still valid. If you would like to receive a Links email with information on how to access this page, email me, providing information such as what group or congregation you're with, who referred you to this site, etc.

Since many are seeking access to tiandi.info, direct links to the sections describing the Links News, tiandi.info, and tiandi.info Blog en Español blogs (including login information) were added after the Blogs entry in the Featured / Commonly Requested Tags (Index Headings) section.

Also, the files explaining how to use the iPhone-formatted files and how to print out the Extra Large Print (XLP) files are now included in the zip file along with the Links file and the Directions file.

2009-02-19 Links File Update Released

Following not long after release of the new version of the 3-lines site and coming just before the God’s Love book starts to be studied at the Book Study, the 2009-02-19 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.

I recommend that the included directions.html file be read first. Besides including instructions and examples on how to use the Links file, this file also discusses its redistribution.

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 Internet Explorer 7, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, or Opera. After you open it, you may want to bookmark it or add it to your Favorites for easy retrieval later on.

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

New resources this time around include:

• Cantonese 3-line material (Jyutping, Sidney Lau, and Yale romanisations) for the God’s Love book
  


• The New Fields New Challenge web site, with instructional material used by language-learners in Aberdeen, Scotland
  


• The Spanish version of tiandi.info

Among the sites that were updated:

• The 3-lines site has been moved to 3lines.org, and it has received a design refresh. Also, as noted in previous posts, God’s Love book audio files and Spanish 3-line files are now available from there.
  


• The “door to activity” site has been moved.
  


• The pinyin God’s Love book 3-line material download page has seen regular updates, which are expected to continue.
  


• WM-Dict version 2.0 recently became available.

Spanish God’s Love Bk. Material Now Available

Spanish God’s Love book 3-line material with Simplified characters and pinyin is now available from the 3lines.org site. After entering the login information, you will be redirected to the main index page. From there, click on español, then on Mantengase en el Amo..>.

For now, material for Ch. 1 is available.

Spanish About Page for tiandi.info Posted

A Spanish translation of tiandi.info’s About page, which explains the goals behind tiandi.info, has been posted. Here is the link:

tiandi.info - Sobre Este Sitio
http://tiandi.info/sobre-este-sitio/

Spanish Version of tiandi.info Launched

¡Hola! I am happy to announce that the Spanish version of tiandi.info has been launched. The direct link to it is:

http://tiandi.info/blog-en-espanol/

Thanks to O. Aceña for the idea and for assisting in translating into Spanish.

(Note that the link address has been adjusted from http://tiandi.info/blog-espanol/ to http://tiandi.info/blog-en-espanol/ to be more grammatically correct. Sorry for any confusion.)

News feeds for this can be found at:

http://tiandi.info/blog-de-noticias

Spanish Aug. 1, 2008 What We Learn... w Magazine Article Material Posted

Spanish 3-line material for the Aug. 1, 2008 What We Learn... w magazine article has been posted to the Spanish Enseñanzas de Jesús (Chino + Pinyin + Español) web page. Evidently, these articles were designed to be studied with householders, and they will appear four times a year.

Information on how to access this material is included in the current Links file (2008-06-20).

La Edición Original Completa del Folleto Exige en Español Está Disponible

Material en 3 líneas en español de la edición original completa del folleto Exige (sólo en Simplificado) ya ha sido incluido en la página web Folleto Exige (Chino + Pinyin + Español). El material de la edición del 2007 (Simplificado y Tradicional) desde el principio hasta el capítulo 4 está también disponible.

Información sobre cómo acceder a este material está incluido en el archivo Links (2008-06-20).

English:

Complete Original Edition Require Brochure Spanish Material Posted

Spanish 3-line material for the complete original edition of the Require brochure (Simplified only) has been posted to the Spanish Folleto Exige (Chino + Pinyin + Español) web page. Material for the 2007 edition (Simplified and Traditional) from the beginning up to chapter 4 is also available.

Information on how to access this material is included in the current Links file (2008-06-20).

Folleto Exige en Español - Material hasta el cap. 4 disponible

Material en 3 líneas en español hasta el final del capítulo 4 del folleto Exige ya ha sido incluido en la nueva página web Folleto Exige (Chino + Pinyin + Español). Esperamos terminar este material tan pronto como nos sea posible para obtener el máximo provecho de los folletos Exige que queden.

Información sobre cómo acceder a este material está incluido en el archivo Links (2008-06-20).

English:

Spanish Require Brochure Material Up To Ch. 4 Posted

Spanish 3-line material up to the end of ch. 4 of the Require brochure has been posted to the new Spanish Folleto Exige (Chino + Pinyin + Español) web page. We hope to finish this material as quickly as possible to get as much benefit as possible out of the remaining Require brochures.

Information on how to access this material is included in the current Links file (2008-06-20).

Artículos de La Atalaya Enseñanzas de Jesús en Español. Material Posteado

Material en 3 líneas en español de los artículos Enseñanzas de Jesús de La Atalaya, de los números del 1º de Febrero de 2008 y 1º de Mayo de 2008 han sido posteados en la nueva página web en español: Enseñanzas de Jesús (Chino + Pinyin + Español). Evidentemente estos artículos fueron designados para ser estudiados con los mamos de casa, y aparecerán cuatro veces en el año.

Información sobre cómo acceder a este material está incluido en el archivo Links (2008-06-20).

English:

Spanish What We Learn... w Magazine Article Material Posted

Spanish 3-line material for the Feb. 1, 2008 and May 1, 2008 What We Learn... w magazine articles has been posted to the new Spanish Enseñanzas de Jesús (Chino + Pinyin + Español) web page. Evidently, these articles were designed to be studied with householders, and they will appear four times a year.

Information on how to access this material is included in the current Links file (2008-06-20).