MEotW: cùnbù‐bù‐lí

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• cùnbù‐bù‐lí

How can we express in Mandarin our determination to stick to the truth?

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

A screenshot from an official video, of Sis. Margarita Königer and others using official Pīnyīn Sing to Jehovah songbooks with musical notation

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MEotW: wúkě‐bǐnǐ

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• wúkě‐bǐnǐ

How can we tell Mandarin-speaking people that no one and nothing compares to Jehovah? What shows how great the need is in the worldwide Mandarin field?

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New Resources: “Sing Out Joyfully” Bk. 2-line and 3-line PDFs

The following resources are now available for the “Sing Out Joyfully” songbook:

• “Sing Out Joyfully” Bk.
  (Simplified + Pīnyīn, Music, PDF)
  (30+ MB PDF file direct download)
  (unproofread,
  Western musical notation,
  numbered (jiǎnpǔ) musical notation)
• 3lines.org
  (Misc ▶ Simplified (chs) ▶ Mandarin - Pinyin ▶ Books ▶ Sing Out Joyfully (sjj)
  2-line, 3-line, PDFs, lyrics only)
• Short Links:
  Links ▶ Publications ▶ Books ▶
  “Sing Out Joyfully” Book Links (tiandi.info/sjj)

The resource listed first contains material covering all the songs. The lyrics-only files in the indicated folder at 3lines.org are evidently being produced song by song according to what songs will be required for upcoming meetings.

Mandarin Memorial Songsheets Page PDF Files Updated

The PDF files available for download from the Mandarin Memorial Songsheets page have been updated.

As it says on that page:

These files can be used to print out extra copies of songs that may be used at Mandarin Memorials. Some of the files have Pīnyīn, and some don’t. 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 jiǎnpǔ, 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.

[UPDATE, Sun., Mar. 24, 2013: The typesetting of the jiǎnpǔ has been improved, putting it closer to the lyrics. This makes the jiǎnpǔ easier to see while singing. Also, individual songsheets with jiǎnpǔ, characters, and no Pīnyīn are now available, in addition to the previously available files.]

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”.

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.”