SVG Technology in the “Sing Out Joyfully” (sjj) Pīnyīn Plus Resource

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tiandi.info, Links News, and MEotW on Twitter

If you use Twitter, have you checked out the Twitter account for this blog, and for the tiandi.info and Mandarin Expression of the Week blogs? Not only does it provide notifications about posts on these blogs, it’s also a place for short thoughts that don’t fit into any of these blogs, but that fit with them in spirit. For example:

Honour Jehovah God first. Don’t honour mere human cultural traditions first, no matter how proud that human culture is.

Actually, the more proud and arrogant a human culture is before God, the less we should honour it.

— tiandi, Links News (@TiandiLinksNews) December 14, 2020

One Bible study I had whose mother tongue was Mandarin had previously studied with the English-speaking brothers for 10 years. He wanted to get baptized, but the elders found he wasn’t clear on the immortal soul! I studied that with him in Mandarin for just 1 hour and he got it.

— tiandi, Links News (@TiandiLinksNews) December 13, 2020

There is a link to this Twitter account in the CHINESE FIELDS LINKS section at the top right of this blog’s web pages.

To follow the Twitter account for this blog, and for the tiandi.info and Mandarin Expression of the Week blogs, tap or click on this button:

Follow @TiandiLinksNews

Do you have any comments or questions on the above-mentioned blogs and Twitter account? Are there any other platforms that you would like to see related content on, like Instagram, etc.? Let me know by email or on Twitter!

New Short Link: “My Follower” Book Links (tiandi.info/cf)

A new short link has been created for official and unofficial Chinese field language-learning resources for the “My Follower” book, which is scheduled to be studied next at Mandarin and Cantonese Congregation Bible Study meetings:

• Short Links:
  Links > Publications > Books >
  “My Follower” Book Links (tiandi.info/cf)

Official Cantonese Yale Romanization PDFs Now Available

Official Cantonese PDF files that use the Yale romanization of Cantonese have begun to become available for download on jw.org. Apparently, going forward, new official romanized Cantonese files will be using the Yale romanization of Cantonese, instead of the Sidney Lau romanization that had been used since the first official romanized Cantonese files began appearing.

A fairly up-to-date list of links to available official Cantonese files with Yale romanization can be found on the RTE site at this link:

• Direct links to jw.org romanised PDFs | Yale

Interestingly, among the links listed is one to the official Cantonese Yale PDF for the new “Sing Out Joyfully” (sjj) songbook, even though the official Pīnyīn file for that publication is not yet available. Historically, the official Pīnyīn file for a publication would generally become available before the official Cantonese romanization file for it does. Hopefully, the official Pīnyīn file for the “Sing Out Joyfully” (sjj) songbook will soon become available as well.

Supported Resources Hosted on shaw.ca Have Been Moved

For a long time, some of the Chinese field resources have been hosted at shaw.ca. However, Shaw is discontinuing this service soon, so I have moved the Chinese field resources I will continue to support from there to the troubadourworks.com server. Thus, all resources linked to from tiandi.info will continue to be available. Just be aware that those resources will no longer be hosted at shaw.ca, as linked to from the old Links files, for example.

jw.org Video Link Being Added to Good News Br. Pīnyīn & Pīnyīn-English Resources

A link to the video “Shàngdì Yǒu Míngzi ma?” (“Does God Have a Name?”) on jw.org has been added to many of the Good News brochure resources listed at tiandi.info/fg.

On the video’s web page, use the Choose Language drop-down list box to select what language you want to watch the video in.

The video link will gradually get added to all the Good News brochure Pīnyīn & Pīnyīn-English resources.

Pīnyīn NWT Bible PDF Now Available on jw.org

I am very happy to report that the Pīnyīn edition of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures is now available for download in PDF format from jw.org. Thanks go out to the one who tipped me off about this.

Now, anywhere we take our mobile devices, we can have the entire Pīnyīn Bible with us without having to carry around the beloved but big and heavy paper version.

I have prepared a new short link with information on how to obtain this and other Chinese field resources related to the New World Translation Bible, which has been given the code bi:

• tiandi.info/bi

There is also a direct link to the official Pīnyīn New World Translation Bible PDF at this link:

• Quick links to jw.org pinyin

(The above link lists direct links to the official Pīnyīn files found on jw.org as of the date listed on the page, and it is maintained by the one who produces the RTE resources.)

In addition, I have updated the article “Pīnyīn Was Plan A” on 3lines.org to say that

“Happily, the Pīnyīn New World Translation Bible is even available in electronic form on jw.org now.”

New Resources: tiandi.info-Based Short Links

Besides being now redirected to an apostate site by a former fellow worker who has turned against us, I have gotten feedback that www.chinesetools.net (which was named by that former fellow worker) was kind of, well, long and unwieldy to remember, and to type or write out manually. And while it has the virtues of being available to me and of not leading to an apostate site, troubadourworks.com/tiandi is, if anything, even more long and unwieldy.

So, taking advantage of another site that is available to me, and that has the added virtue of having a short name that is fitting for the Chinese field, I have come up with a new set of apostasy-free, human-friendly resources: tiandi.info-based short links.

These links are simply composed like this:

tiandi.info/x

The x in the above example can be all kinds of short strings that I may think of or that some of you may suggest, so that the link will point to a certain referral page with a link or set of links.

(The tiandi.info-based short links pages themselves will generally only be referral pages, since the Squarespace service which hosts tiandi.info does not allow FTP access for uploading files. Since troubadourworks.com/tiandi does allow FTP access, making file uploading much more convenient, it will continue to be used to actually host the resources for which I need to upload files.)

Examples

This link will serve as a “base” for exploring the other available tiandi.info-based short links:

tiandi.info/links

It started out as the Links page for tiandi.info, but it has been updated so that it will no longer need a login to access, and so that it will be more suited to its new purpose.

The official code for an official publication is used to compose a short link that leads to a referral page listing resources related to that publication, e.g.:

tiandi.info/jl - Jehovah’s Will Brochure Links

tiandi.info/fg - Good News Brochure Links

tiandi.info/lv - “God’s Love” Book Links

etc.

Here are some other examples of short links that will be available:

tiandi.info/pubs - Publications

tiandi.info/brochures - Brochures

tiandi.info/rte - Referenced Theocratic Expressions (RTE) Links

tiandi.info/pdf - PDF Format Features

tiandi.info/mobile - Mobile Devices

tiandi.info/courses - Courses

etc.

On applicable short link pages, there is a path indicator on the top of the page, like a trail of “bread crumbs” showing where one is in the hierarchy of the short link pages. E.g., this is on the top of the tiandi.info/fg (Good News Brochure Links) page:

Links ▶ Publications ▶ Brochures ▶

Each of the items in the path is a live link that will take one to the indicated short link page.

As time goes on, and as we leave www.chinesetools.net behind us, we will be rebuilding and enhancing previous resources, and we will also go on to build brand new resources. So, as time goes on, more short links will be created, and existing short link referral pages will get populated with more and more links to goodies for faithful ones who are working hard in the Chinese field.

Since these new tiandi.info-based short links are so easy to remember and so easy to type or write out, I think many will find that they make it really easy to access and to refer others to the helpful web-based Chinese field resources that many have worked hard, and that many will continue to work hard, to make available.

3lines.org Links Page Updated

The links page at 3lines.org has been updated.

Updated link:

• The Tools: PinYin Publ.—The URL (Internet address) for this link has been updated. A while ago the brother who operated the old page sent me the files that used to be posted there, and I set up the Publications (Mandarin) page for those files, as well as other ones.

Newly added links:

• Tools: Chinese Links File—This is the download page for the Theo. Chinese Links file that I produce. Yes, the version available for download there is quite old now—I am working on an update, which should soon be ready as a beta or prototype (mostly working, but unfinished) version that I can share with any who want to try it out. Email me if you wish to receive this next beta version and help test it when it’s ready.


• Tools: Tiandi Info—This Links News blog (news feed) that you are now reading is for news regarding things listed in the Links file. You may also find it interesting to check out the tiandi.info blog (news feed), which is about other things related to the Chinese field. (Email me if you need login information, and include information on who referred you and/or what group/cong. you are in.)


• Tools: China Scribe - (Prev. CWPS)—ChinaScribe is a Chinese dictionary program for Windows that can be used to create professional-looking Chinese documents using Microsoft Word or OpenOffice.org. The creator of this program is the brother who created CWPS. I believe most of the 3-line material now being produced is being produced with the help of either CWPS or ChinaScribe.


• Tools:PinYin Typist—On an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, Pinyin Typist is the quickest and easiest way to write down how Mandarin expressions should be pronounced, using real pinyin text with tone marks. It turns typing pinyin from a pain into a pleasure. And since your iOS mobile device is probably usually with you or close by, with Pinyin Typist installed on it you’ll be able to quickly and easily type pinyin just about anytime the need arises or inspiration strikes. [Full disclosure: I am the creator of this app.]

Other Links

The LINKS section on the right sidebar of this site has been renamed as the THEO. CHINESE LINKS section. Also, the new OTHER LINKS section has been added below it.

The OTHER LINKS section will be for links that are not free resources made available by our fellow workers in the Chinese field, but that may also be of interest to those learning Chinese for the Chinese field.

There is now also an Other Links section on the Links page at tiandi.info.

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.

PDF Annotation (Commenting) Introduced to 3-Line Files

It appears that more and more, the 3-line and pinyin PDF files will be used on computers, including 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 available and reduce the amount of scrolling around needed while using them, especially on mobile devices. (See the PDF Link Navigation page for more information, including a video screen recording of the PDF bookmarks and links in action.) Now, annotation, or the ability to add notes or comments, has now begun to be added to some PDF files as well. Annotation is analogous to margin notes, etc. on paper printouts.

The newly created PDF Annotation (Commenting) page provides more information on PDF annotation, and includes screenshots showing how PDFs can be annotated in Adobe Reader and in Mac OS X’s Preview program.

The PDF files named with “LN-A” (“Link Navigation-Annotation”) are the ones that have been enriched and fortified with PDF bookmarks, links, and annotation.

All the PDF files available for download on the slightly renamed “My Follower” Book (3-Line, XLP-iPhone-A5, LN-A) page have been upgraded from the LinkNav to the LN-A feature set, and they are the first LN-A PDF files available.

Sidney Lau XLP-iPhone-A5 Size “My Follower” Bk. 3-Line Material File With LinkNav For Ch. 1 Posted

A Sidney Lau XLP-iPhone-A5 size 3-line material file with LinkNav for Chapter 1 of the “My Follower” book is 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 folder as the PDF file.

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.

Going forward, I plan to only produce Simplified Pinyin and Traditional Sidney Lau versions of these XLP-iPhone-A5 size “My Follower” book 3-line files with LinkNav. If you would like another version (Traditional Pinyin? Jyutping or Yale?) to be available as well, email me to let me know.

Pinyin XLP-iPhone-A5 Size “My Follower” Bk. 3-Line Material Files With LinkNav For Ch. 1 Posted

Pinyin XLP-iPhone-A5 size 3-line material files with LinkNav for Chapter 1 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.

Going forward, I plan to only produce Simplified Pinyin and Traditional Sidney Lau versions of these XLP-iPhone-A5 size “My Follower” book 3-line files with LinkNav. If you would like another version (Traditional Pinyin? Jyutping or Yale?) to be available as well, email me to let me know.

Minor 2009-10-27 Links File Update Posted

A minor update to the Links file, dated 2009-10-27, has been posted to the Chinese Links File page. Access information in recent Links emails 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.

The following minor tweaks have been made in response to email input:

• This note has been added to the portion of the Links section describing the New Fields New Challenge resource:

  The blue and white graphics on the main page are links to other pages on the site. The gold graphics on those pages are download links.

  
  
• Links to the Books and the Brochures index headings have been added to the Featured / Commonly Requested Tags (Index Headings) section near the top of the Links file.
  

2009-10-23 Links File Update Released

The 2009-10-23 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 Internet Explorer, 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.

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

• Basic Theo. Expressions (Chinese + Yale Cant. Rom. + English)
  
  • This material consists of lists of theo. expressions as they have been found to be rendered in the Chinese publications.
    
  • The files available here were previously available from the Publications (Cantonese) page, but have now been given their own dedicated web page.
    


• Byki Theo. Chinese Data Files
  
  • Byki uses flashcards, audio, and computer tracking of one’s progress to help one quickly build one’s vocabulary. For more information concerning Byki, click here.
    


• Helpful Files (Mandarin)
  
  • Generally useful files for those learning Chinese for the Mandarin field, e.g. flashcards, files about measure words, numbers, how to write Chinese characters, etc.
    
  • Many of the files here were moved from the Other Publications (Mandarin) page, which this page replaces, while other files are new.
    


• Referenced Theo. Expressions (Chinese + Pinyin + English)
  
  • This material consists of lists of theo. expressions as they have been found to be rendered in the Chinese publications.
    
  • So far, only a Mandarin pinyin version is available. This version, dated Oct. 21, 2009, is intended to replace the Basic Theo. Expressions files, which were last updated way back in Jan. 2002 and which contain expressions that are now out of date.
    


• Songbook—Romanised Material
  
  • This material complements the Chinese songbook by adding romanisation.
    
  • Mandarin pinyin, Cantonese Sidney Lau, and Cantonese Yale versions of the current Sing Praises songbook are available. These files were previously available from the Publications (Mandarin) and the Publications (Cantonese) pages.
    
  • Regarding the new songbook that will be used starting at the beginning of 2010, if you are in the Mandarin field and need a pinyin new songbook, be sure to order the official pinyin new songbook. For those who have not received their pinyin new songboks yet, or who are learning Cantonese, romanised material for songs listed in Watchtower magazines and kms for meetings in 2010 will be posted on this page as it becomes available.
    

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

• 3lines.org
  


• Chinese Links File
  


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


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


• Links News
  


• Mandarin Public Talks Audio & Video
  


• McBeaths in Trinidad
  


• Oriental Language Studies
  


• Publications (Cantonese)
  
  • This has been moved and redesigned.


• Publications (Mandarin)
  
  • This has been moved and redesigned.


• tiandi.info
  

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

• CWPS Home Page
  
  • CWPS has been withdrawn by its creator and replaced with the commercial program ChinaScribe. He explains why here.
    


• Other Publications (Mandarin)
  
  • This has been replaced by the Helpful Files (Mandarin) page mentioned above.
    

In addition to the above-mentioned items, several other more minor changes, updates, and refinements were also made compared to the previous version of the Links file, dated 2009-07-05. So don’t hesitate to avail yourself of the current version, dated 2009-10-23.

Minor 2009-07-05 Links File Update Posted

A minor update to the Links file, dated 2009-07-05, 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.

The main change has been to update the email address that should be used to request some of the resources. A couple of other minor changes have been made as well.

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.

“The Cantonese Field...” tiandi.info Post Updated

The tiandi.info post “The Cantonese Field is Flourishing Along With the Mandarin Field” has been updated with a graphic representing the unique visitors to the Cantonese & Mandarin God’s Love book 3-line material download pages so far. These unique visitors total over 9,500 at this time. [More current versions of this file will be posted for download at the bottoms of the God’s Love book 3-line material pages as time allows.—ed., 2009-05-20]

I think it's especially interesting to look at the full size graphic at different zoom levels, from seeing the whole thing to zooming in until single rows are legible. It kind of lets you go from a “bird’s eye view” of this entire large army to a view from within the ranks. You, dear reader, are probably represented by one of the C’s or one of the M’s. If so, it is evident that you are not alone, and that Jehovah is mobilizing more and more workers for both the Cantonese field and the Mandarin field as the end draws ever closer.

To obtain the tiandi.info login information, 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.

Minor 2009-03-07 Links File Update Posted

A minor update to the Links file, dated 2009-03-07, 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 more and more people are using mobile devices such as the iPhone and the iPod touch, links to the 3-Line Material on the iPhone and the iPod touch and Printing Extra Large Print 3-Line Material web pages were added, along with the following new Index entries: Mobile Devices, iPhone / iPod touch, and Windows Mobile Devices. Some tags were also updated as a result.

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.

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.