New Resource: Learn From the Bible Bk. Pīnyīn Plus Web Material

For many years now, language learners in the Mandarin field have been accustomed to ruby Pīnyīn material (like official Pīnyīn material) and 3-line material. These formats, however, are burdened with legacies relating to paper (all available information must always be visible), and relating to Chinese characters (Chinese characters are traditionally considered the primary and only acceptable writing system for Mandarin).

Now, material is available in a newer format, the Pīnyīn Plus format, that seeks to leave behind unnecessary traditional legacies. As it does so, it also takes advantage of current technological realities and deep truths about language.

Pīnyīn Plus material is speech-first and mobile-first in design. It focuses on helping and encouraging publishers to learn Mandarin speech, the primary language skill required in the Mandarin field. (1 Co. 14:8–11) Taking advantage of modern computing device displays, Pīnyīn Plus material dynamically and interactively provides the language-learning and memory-strengthening benefits of flashcards, and integrates these benefits into the context of a publication’s Mandarin text, in the style of augmented reality (AR).

Some Pīnyīn Plus web material is now available for the Learn From the Bible book:

• Learn From the Bible Bk.
  (Pīnyīn Plus, Scriptures, Web)
  (rich information about Mandarin speech
  for discussing Bible lessons and accounts,
  as represented by the text of the
  Mandarin Learn From the Bible book,
  2018-03 Printing, proofread, mobile-friendly,
  flashcards integrated with the text,
  Pīnyīn (Pinyin) used as the default writing system,
  carefully done human-translated
  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 thumbnails & links, 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 > Books >
  Learn From the Bible Book Links (tiandi.info/lfb)

For now, fully proofread Pīnyīn Plus material (with all the “flashcards”) covering from the front cover to the end of Lesson 2 is available. Also, partially proofread Pīnyīn Plus and Pīnyīn material covering to the end of Lesson 15 is available. 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.

Here is a link to some information about the thinking behind the design of Pīnyīn Plus material:

• Pīnyīn Plus

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 2018-03 printing of the Mandarin Learn From the Bible book. 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 Learn From the Bible book, please email me to let me know.
• The linked full text of cited scriptures is included in the above resource, as time allows. (Unusually long, narrative scriptures will link to the official Pīnyīn NWT web material on the WOL.)
• The above resource is mobile-friendly—the material 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 picture links which point to the official pictures on jw.org or the WOL.
• The above resource contains links to the official Mandarin MP3 audio files on jw.org.
• For your convenience, a short link (Learn From the Bible Book Links (tiandi.info/lfb)) is available for the above resources.

Also, the introduction explains why it’s good to use Pīnyīn as a writing system on its own.

“God’s Love” Bk. Partially Proofread Pīnyīn Web Material or More Available for Entire Book

(NOTE: While the organization expresses valid general concerns here about posting copies of official publications to the Internet, there are good legal and spiritual reasons for concluding that those concerns do not apply to this particular material, due to its particular nature and purpose. See this disclaimer for more information.)

Partially proofread Pīnyīn web material (more correct than computer-generated Pīnyīn like that displayed by apps like Equipd, and more mobile-friendly than PDFs) or more is now available for the entire “God’s Love” book:

• “God’s Love” Bk.
  (Pīnyīn Plus, Scriptures, Web)
  (Pīnyīn (Pinyin) used as the default writing system,
  2017-02 Printing, proofread, mobile-friendly,
  flashcards integrated with the text,
  carefully done human-translated
  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.,
  links for getting around,
  picture thumbnails & links, 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 > Books >
  “God’s Love” Book Links (tiandi.info/lv)

Fully proofread Pīnyīn Plus material:

• Up to the end of Chap. 1, Par. 6

Partially proofread Pīnyīn and Pīnyīn Plus material:

• Chap. 1, Par. 7 to the end
• 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.

Pīnyīn Plus “flashcards” added for all expressions:

• Up to the end of Chap. 1, Par. 9

Pīnyīn Plus “flashcards” added for the more advanced expressions:

• Up to the end of Chap. 1, Par. 15

More “flashcard” material will be added and proofread as time allows. I plan to focus on the more difficult expressions first, and then to work my way through the rest of the expressions. The web material is updated first, and eventually changes are grouped together and integrated into the upcoming EPUB material. (FYI, EPUBs are largely made of web material.)

Pīnyīn Plus material pages now default to the 📄 Reveal Advanced mode, which by default reveals the “flashcards” of some of the more advanced expressions. This makes it easier for new users to get a taste of the available information. If they wish, they can then select the 📘 Reveal None mode, which by default displays only Pīnyīn that’s been optimized for readability, so that it’s easy to use to follow along when the text is read aloud or discussed in Mandarin.

For more information about the thinking behind the design of Pīnyīn Plus material, check out:

• Pīnyīn Plus

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 2017-02 printing of the Mandarin “God’s Love” book. 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 “God’s Love” book, please email me to let me know.
• Included in the above resource is the linked full text of all the cited scriptures that the English version specifically indicates should be read. The linked full text of the rest of the cited scriptures is in the process of being added as well.
• 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 picture links which point to the official pictures on jw.org. Thumbnails help identify the pictures linked to.
• The above resource contains links to the official Mandarin MP3 audio files on jw.org.
• On the web pages, there is a drop-down list at the top left for setting the desired text size.
• On the web pages, the ☀️/🌙 button at the top right can be used to turn Night Theme on or off.
• For your convenience, a short link (“God’s Love” Book Links (tiandi.info/lv)) is available for the above resource.

Also, the introduction explains why it’s good to use Pīnyīn as a writing system on its own.

New Resource: Disclaimer for 3-line, Pīnyīn Plus, etc. Material

Recently, 3lines.org stopped offering 3-line material for download or viewing, citing this recent Watchtower article. After finding out about this drastic change on the part of the 3lines.org team, I decided to dive more deeply than I had before into researching the legal and spiritual factors relating to 3-line, Pīnyīn Plus, and similar material. Eventually, I came to some perhaps surprising conclusions that are different from what the 3lines.org team concluded. These conclusions are expressed in a new article posted on tiandi.info:

• Disclaimer for 3-line, Pīnyīn Plus, etc. Material
• Short Links:
  Links ▶ Articles (tiandi.info/articles)

For easy reference, here is the text of this new disclaimer:

While the organization expresses valid general concerns here about posting official publications to the Internet, there are good reasons for concluding that those concerns do not apply to 3-line, Pīnyīn Plus, and similar material:

• Simply copying from the original official publication so as to supersede or take the place of it infringes on copyright. 3-line, Pīnyīn Plus, and similar material does not do this. On the contrary, 3-line, Pīnyīn Plus, and similar material uses material from the original official publication in a highly transformative way and repurposes it for a different nonprofit educational purpose, so there is good reason to consider this to be fair use. That would mean that such material does not infringe on copyright. (E.g., there are legal precedents (Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corp., Perfect 10, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc.) for considering the use of thumbnails to be fair use, and thus not infringing on copyright.) Also, producers of such material have avoided including trademarks in it. In view of the above, the existence of 3-line, Pīnyīn Plus, and similar material should provide no basis for claiming that the organization has abandoned its copyright or trademark rights. So, such material should present no hindrance to the organization’s efforts to deter opposers and commercial enterprises from misusing its copyrighted material.
• Only official material from “the faithful and discreet slave”’s official sources should be viewed or used as spiritual food. (And ideally, this spiritual food should be in one’s own mother tongue.) 3-line, Pīnyīn Plus, and similar unofficial material should not be viewed or used as spiritual food, which is for learning spiritual things from. 3-line, Pīnyīn Plus, and similar unofficial material is only meant to help Chinese field publishers with language learning, so that they can more quickly become more effective at using the original official publication’s contents to praise Jehovah and help others without being unnecessarily obstructed and delayed by the complex and difficult-to-learn-and-remember Chinese characters.
  • Along with the misuse of official publications by opposers and commercial enterprises, the serious yet unnecessary tradition-based difficulties presented by Chinese characters must also be fought against, since they act as a Great Wall seriously obstructing our God-honouring and life-saving preaching and teaching work in what is probably the biggest worldwide language field that has ever existed anywhere.
  • Rather than detracting from or competing with the original official publication’s value as spiritual food, the experiences of many have shown that 3-line, Pīnyīn Plus, and similar material can be extraordinarily effective at helping Chinese field publishers to break through the Great Wall of Chinese characters, so that these products of mere human tradition do not get in the way of them fully using the original official publication’s spiritual food for its intended purposes of honouring Jehovah and helping others spiritually.

I am also working to include a version of this new disclaimer with each relevant Chinese field resource I make available, including all the currently available publication-based Pīnyīn Plus resources, which are listed here:

• tiandi.info/pyp

tiandi.info/pyp Now Lists All Available Pīnyīn Plus Resources

All the currently available Pīnyīn Plus resources are now listed at this short link:

• tiandi.info/pyp

The above short link used to only list the Pīnyīn Plus Expressions (Web) vocabulary resource, but now, it also lists the currently available Pīnyīn Plus resources that are based on an official publication, e.g. the Good News brochure, the songbook, etc.

(NOTE: Re the valid general concerns expressed here about posting official publications to the Internet, there are good reasons for concluding that those concerns do not apply to 3-line, Pīnyīn Plus, and similar material. See the Disclaimer for 3-line, Pīnyīn Plus, etc. Material for more information.)

Hopefully, tiandi.info/pyp being a one-stop shop for all the available Pīnyīn Plus resources will make it easier and more convenient for Mandarin-field publishers to benefit more from this relatively new speech-first and mobile-first technology, which incorporates many lessons learned up to now. More information on Pīnyīn Plus technology can be found here.