Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus 🔼

This Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material provides rich information about the Mandarin speech used for Bible scriptures, as represented by the text of the Mandarin Chinese New World Translation Bible. “Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus” involves the following:

• This material is speech-first and mobile-first in design.
• The default Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) text simply and directly represents Mandarin speech, which should be our main focus.—1 Co. 14:8–11.
• Tapping/clicking on a Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression reveals a “flashcard” next to it showing its English meaning, Simplified character(s), Traditional character(s) (if they’re different), etc. Tapping/clicking on a “flashcard” or its Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression hides the “flashcard”.
  • Try it on this: Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音)
• More than one “flashcard” can be shown at a time.
• 📖 📄 📘 icons mean 📖 Reveal All, 📄 Reveal Advanced, and 📘 Reveal None re all the “flashcards” in the heading, paragraph, etc. that they are placed at the beginning of.

As the above-cited scripture helps us to understand, our purpose should not be just to get by and maintain “an appearance of godliness” in the Mandarin field. (2 Timothy 3:5) Rather, as language learners in the Mandarin field, our purpose in using material such as this Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material should be to learn to understand Mandarin speech and to learn to speak Mandarin understandably, so that we can reach the hearts of Mandarin-speaking people with Bible truth.

When we think of the Mandarin Chinese New World Translation Bible, we may naturally think first of the Chinese characters used to render the text of the official versions, since the characters are what we see. However, we have been trained to be spiritual persons who see the truth beyond just what is visible to the eyes. (2 Corinthians 5:7) For those of us who conduct Bible discussions using the Mandarin Chinese New World Translation Bible, the truth is that its most important aspect is actually the Mandarin speech that it shows us to use while discussing its contents with Mandarin-speaking interested persons, because how can they gain sufficient understanding and appreciation of what they read in the New World Translation Bible “unless someone guided [them]?”. (Acts 8:30, 31) And the vast majority of the time in the ministry, etc., we guide others to greater spiritual understanding through “the fruit of our lips”—speech.—Hebrews 13:15.

Yes, the scripturally sound modern linguistic (language science) principle that speech is primary and writing is secondary is especially true in our preaching and teaching work. This Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material accords with this important principle by focusing on Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) by default to represent the Mandarin speech represented by the Mandarin Chinese New World Translation Bible, in a way that’s simple, direct, and without distraction.

When you come across a Mandarin expression in this material that you need to learn or be reminded about, you can just tap/click on that expression’s Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) to reveal additional information about it. Thus, besides giving primary emphasis to speech, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material also provides the language-learning and memory-strengthening benefits of flashcards, which are used, for example, in the official JW Language app. Additionally, perhaps multiplicatively, this Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material integrates the benefits of flashcards into the context of the text of the Mandarin Chinese New World Translation Bible, in the style of augmented reality (AR).

Furthermore, to maximize the benefits of this integration of flashcards and context, the English translations in the “flashcards” have been carefully rendered to be context-appropriate. Thus, each Mandarin expression’s English translation doesn’t just tell you what that expression could mean in different contexts. Rather, it specifically tells you what that expression means in the particular context in which it appears. Building clear, correct understandings of contexts is especially important in Mandarin, since, probably because of over-reliance on characters, Mandarin has come to have many homophones requiring clarification by means of context. (More information on the translations can be found below.)

Compared to corresponding 3-line (Chinese characters-Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音)-English) material, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material by default is less visually complex, and it makes better use of limited display real estate on mobile devices. However, it still provides us Mandarin learners with assistance in the two language aspects we require in order to be able to discuss the New World Translation Bible with someone in Mandarin:

1. The pronunciations of the Mandarin words used
   • These show us how to communicate the New World Translation Bible’s message in Mandarin.
2. The meanings of the Mandarin words used
   • These show us what is being communicated in Mandarin.

Chinese characters are also included in the “flashcards” as a concession to their continuing pervasiveness in the Chinese world. Still, it must be kept in mind that while the Chinese characters may be the traditional writing system for Mandarin, they incur unusually and unnecessarily high costs in terms of the ongoing time, attention, and effort required to learn and remember them. With their overly, perhaps self-indulgently complex visual designs, they have become for many a bewitching but burdensome distraction, when, as shown above, our focus should really be on understanding Mandarin speech and speaking Mandarin understandably. (1 Corinthians 14:8–11) Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) is a simple full writing system for Mandarin that can help us to focus on and successfully develop these primarily required abilities. (There is more information on this below.)

Listening to Mandarin Audio While Using This Material 🔼

Near the top of most of the pages of this material, a link is provided for the official page for MP3 audio files for the Mandarin Chinese New World Translation Bible. Listening to these audio files while following along in this Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material can help us to learn to understand and use the Mandarin speech represented by the text of the Mandarin Chinese New World Translation Bible.

From the official page mentioned above, MP3 audio files can be streamed, meaning that they can be played, paused, etc. using the controls on the page. To use this capability along with this Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material, you can use the following method which has been successfully tested on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, and which should also work on other modern mobile devices:

• Navigate to the page in this resource for the New World Translation Bible material for which you want to listen to Mandarin audio.
• On that page, use the supplied link to open the official audio files page in a new tab in your web browser. (In Safari on an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, tap and hold on the link until a menu appears, then tap on Open in New Tab.)
• Switch to the new tab with the official audio files page, and start playing the audio for the desired material.
• Switch back to the browser tab that the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material is on and follow along while the Mandarin audio plays in the background.
• To pause the audio, etc., switch to the tab with the official audio files page and use the appropriate control there to do so.
  • On the iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, another way to pause the audio, etc., is to use the Control Centre, which provides controls for the audio that’s currently playing. (For more information, see this Apple Support page.) An advantage of this method is that it allows you to control the audio without leaving the tab in your browser with the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material.

Besides allowing for streaming, the official audio files page also allows for downloading the audio files. This allows them to be used offline (when there is no Internet connection) with the app used to store them. (On the iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, apps like Documents and GoodReader can be used to store MP3 audio files, and to play them in the background while you follow along in this Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material.)

The JW Library app can also be used to play official Mandarin audio in the background while you follow along in this Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material. In the JW Library app, just go to your desired Mandarin material, and tap on the Play button (a triangle pointing to the right) on the button bar on the top. (Note that this plays streaming audio, so an Internet connection will be needed.) Controls for pausing, etc. will appear near the bottom of the display. (On the iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, the Control Centre’s audio controls can also be used, as mentioned above.)

Some platforms can read aloud the Chinese characters in Mandarin using a fairly good computer voice. (Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), however, may still be read out as if it were English, etc. Hopefully, computers will in the future be able to recognize Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) for what it is.) For example, recent versions of iOS, the operating system on the iPad, the iPhone, and the iPod touch, can do so using the Speak Selection feature (Apple’s setup instructions can be found here, under the heading “Choose a voice for Speak Screen and Speak Selection”). To have some Chinese characters read aloud on iOS 10 and above, tap and hold on them, adjust the text selection to indicate the character(s) you want read, then tap on Speak in the popup menu. (In some versions of iOS, with some characters you will also be presented with a menu for telling the computer whether to read them in 中文 (Mandarin) or 日本語 (Japanese). In other versions of iOS, the computer decides for itself which language to use in such situations, and sometimes it gets it wrong—you’ll be able to tell by comparing what the computer voice says with the corresponding Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音). Remember that while computer-generated speech or writing may usually be better than nothing, computers still cannot handle languages as correctly or fluently as qualified humans can.)

Advantages of the Web Format 🔼

This Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material is in web format. Web material has many advantages, including:

• Exceptionally broad hardware and software support
• 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.
• Familiarity and ease of use
  • Once this web material is loaded in a supporting web browser, no further downloading or switching to another app is required.
• Hyperlinking that is familiar and expected, and that thus will get used and benefited from
  • Taking advantage of this, links are provided for “teleporting” from the table of contents to the books and chapters, and back.
• Interactivity
  • The web format supports the use of JavaScript code to build interactive features. The showing and hiding of Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus “flashcards” in response to user taps/clicks is an example of such interactivity.
• Producibility and editability with simpler, more accessible, more mobile tools
  • At this time, Microsoft Word running on a desktop or laptop PC is needed to produce satisfactory 3-line PDF files. In contrast, this plain text-based Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web material can be satisfactorily produced and edited with even an app running on a mobile device like an iPad.

Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) is a Good, Workable Writing System On Its Own 🔼

Reading just Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) may take some getting used to if you’re accustomed to reading (or trying to read) Hànzì (Hàn·zì {Han (Chinese)} · characters 汉字 漢字) (Chinese characters), but going by first principles of linguistics (the scientific study of language) rather than mere human traditions, it should be more than worth the effort. You should at least give yourself a chance to get used to it.

Just like it’s an established fact that the earth is round, according to modern linguistics this is also an established fact: “Speech is primary, writing is secondary and is always derivative of speech.” Yes, speech is the foundation on which writing must be built, not vice versa. (That is just a natural result of the way Jehovah made us—he gave our bodies the built-in ability to produce speech, but writing requires external aids such as pens and paper, keyboards and screens, etc.) Thus, it is very good that Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) represents Mandarin speech so straightforwardly and easily, and that it enables us to focus on speech. Yes, while Chinese characters, as beautiful and traditional as they are, demand distractingly large commitments of precious time and energy just for themselves, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) frees and empowers us to focus on communicating the good news.

Indeed, in our ministry specifically, we definitely need to understand speech and to speak understandably much more than we need to read and write. (1 Corinthians 14:8–11) So, while many who have received traditional Mandarin language instruction have been influenced to believe that being able to read and write characters is the ultimate goal for a Mandarin language student to aspire to, actually, for us Kingdom publishers, our ultimate goal regarding Mandarin should be being able to understand and speak spoken Mandarin, so that we can preach and teach the good news effectively, from our hearts, using Mandarin speech. So, really, for us Kingdom publishers, being able to read, understand, and write Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), which directly represents Mandarin speech, is a more relevant and important (and easy-to-achieve) goal to aspire to than being able to read, understand, and write characters, which unfortunately have become this thing on their own that is warping and obfuscating Mandarin speech rather than supporting it.

But, is Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) even really a writing system? Interestingly, the Chinese national standard Zhōngguó (Zhōng·guó central · nation → [Chinese] 中国 中國) Mángwén (Máng·wén blind · writing → [Braille] 盲文) (中国盲文/中國盲文, Chinese Braille) is basically a transliteration or conversion of Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) into Braille letters. Braille is obviously a writing system, so Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) must also be a writing system, not just a pronunciation aid.

Also, as a Sumerian proverb stated, “a scribe whose hand matches the mouth, he is indeed a scribe”. Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) can indeed be used to write anything that can be spoken in Modern Standard Mandarin, from the simplest expressions to the most advanced, complex, and deeply meaningful expressions, so it qualifies as a full writing system in that fundamental sense as well.

Really, after a bit of research into what the definition of a “writing system” is, it becomes evident that a system like Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) should naturally be considered a writing system, in spite of the efforts of worldly Chinese intellectuals to artificially and unjustly keep Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) down in order to protect and enshrine the traditional Hànzì (Hàn·zì {Han (Chinese)} · characters 汉字 漢字) writing system that they have so much invested in.

Since Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) is not just a pronunciation aid, but a full writing system, it is not “training wheels”—it’s regular wheels. On the other hand, Chinese characters are like non-round wheels—more difficult than necessary. While some may find non-round wheels “interesting”, or maybe even “beautiful”, much of the time we just need to get from point A to point B as quickly and easily as possible. We may even need to do so to save someone’s life. For example, what kind of wheels should be on an ambulance? That’s the kind of “wheels” we should be using in our life-saving work.

That Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) is a full writing system for any and all Modern Standard Mandarin speech also means that, in addition to it being correct to say that “Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) is Chinese” because it was developed in China by Chinese people, it is also quite correct to say that “Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) is Chinese” in the sense that, even if it isn’t Hànzì (Hàn·zì {Han (Chinese)} · characters 汉字 漢字), it is indeed written Mandarin Chinese—it’s not as if Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) were written English or French or something!

But, aren’t characters more meaningful than Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音)? There are certainly meanings and stories behind how certain characters are written, but 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 (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音). 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 (méi·gui {fine jade} · {jade-like stone} → [rose] 玫瑰)”. Writing the word in characters does not add to its meaning, and writing it in Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) does not take away from its meaning.

If someone says that they don’t get much meaning from reading Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), that’s not a sign that Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) is not meaningful. Rather, it’s perhaps a sign that this person has become accustomed to and perhaps dependent on the way characters represent meaning visually, and it’s probably a sign that this person’s understanding of Mandarin speech needs improving, because Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) is a very simple and direct representation of Mandarin speech, such that if one understands Mandarin speech, one will understand Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), and vice versa. Furthermore, as a very simple and direct representation of Mandarin speech, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) is thus just as meaningful as Mandarin speech is, and it would be downright unscriptural to say that Mandarin speech is without meaning!—1 Corinthians 14:10.

Practically speaking, we should keep in mind that, as many in the Mandarin field have found, by investing the minimal amount of time and effort needed to learn and get used to the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) system, we will be equipped to always be able to quickly and easily read anything in Mandarin that’s written in Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), and we will always be able to quickly and easily write anything in Mandarin using Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音). In contrast, even those who are fairly familiar with Chinese characters will at times come across unfamiliar or forgotten characters whose meanings and pronunciations they can only guess at. Also, even those who are fairly familiar with Chinese characters will at times be completely unable to remember or figure out how to write a certain character.

But, does using Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) mean that we are failing to show proper respect for Chinese culture? Since, as mentioned above, the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) system was developed in China by Chinese people, it is a product of Chinese culture, and it is a part of Chinese culture. So, using Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) is not an imposition of Western culture—it is an application of Chinese culture! While Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) uses the Latin alphabet, it does so because the Chinese developers of Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) of their own free will purposely chose to base it on this international alphabet (it’s not just the English alphabet) so that users of Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) would benefit from its familiarity. This Chinese design decision has caused the international Latin alphabet to be adopted as part of Chinese culture. As Zhōu Ēnlái ((Zhōu {circumference (surname)} 周 周/週) (Ēn·lái kindness · comes 恩来 恩來) (the first Premier of the People’s Republic of China)) (the first Premier of the People’s Republic of China) said, ‘When we adopt the Latin alphabet, in which we make necessary adjustments to suit the needs of the Chinese language, it becomes the phonetic alphabet of our language and is no longer the alphabet of ancient Latin, still less the alphabet of any foreign country.’

While those who love traditional Chinese culture may dislike such a radical innovation, it can be said that such innovations are actually a sign of positive, healthy cultural development. Another example of such a radical but positive and beneficial innovation was the West and China moving from always using Roman numerals and the Chinese characters for numbers to mostly using Arabic numerals. I’m sure just about everyone would agree that it’s a very good thing that we no longer have to deal with CMXXXVI÷III or 九百三十六÷三, because we can just work out 936÷3! Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) brings similar benefits as a writing system for Mandarin, while still being Chinese rather than Arabic, etc.

Anyway, the merely human cultures and traditions of this world that is passing away should not be the most important things to us Witnesses of Jehovah. (Mark 7:13; 1 John 2:17) The most important thing for us to consider is the truth about what really works best for our God-given work of sanctifying Jehovah’s name, preaching the good news of the Kingdom, and helping to save the lives of those who respond positively to that good news.—John 4:24; Matthew 6:9; 24:14; 1 Timothy 2:3, 4.

The truth is that, based on first principles of language science that help us to understand how Jehovah actually designed us humans to learn and use language, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) is a good, workable writing system on its own for Modern Standard Mandarin. Not only that, but the experiences of many in the Mandarin field also provide living proof that Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) works much more quickly, easily, and effectively than Chinese characters do for helping publishers who are learning Mandarin to become effective preachers and teachers in the Mandarin field.

For a more in-depth discussion about how we in the Mandarin field should view Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), see the article “Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Was Plan A”. Here is a quote from it:

“That there are so many different words in modern Mandarin that sound the same is not a good reason not to use Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), any more than it is a good reason not to speak Mandarin.”

Translation 🔼

Proofreading 🔼

Proofreading is generally the production step that requires the most time and intense mental effort. However, it is necessary in order to produce the sharpest possible tools for our spiritual harvesting work, the sharpest possible weapons for our spiritual warfare.–Ecclesiastes 10:10; 2 Corinthians 10:4, 5.

The regular portions of this New World Translation Bible material have been carefully translated, rendered, and proofread. Thus, those who are learning Mandarin can confidently rely on them to offer correct and insightful information on the pronunciations and meanings of Mandarin expressions, and on how these expressions are used in various contexts. Of course, the proofread portions of this material may still contain errors. If you find any, please email me to let me know.

Any unproofread or partially proofread material is rendered with a lower-contrast grey background. More proofreading of it may be done later as time allows.

Any proofread Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) material that has not fully had its “flashcards” added and proofread is rendered with a golden-hued background. More “flashcards” may be added and proofread later as time allows.

Offline Viewing and Printing 🔼

This web resource is divided into different files and folders. These files and folders have been “zipped” into the zip file linked to below, which can be saved or downloaded and unzipped for offline use:

NWT-bi12_Pinyin_Plus_2022-09-28.zip

To download and unzip this file on an iPad or an iPhone/iPod touch using GoodReader:

• In Safari (or whatever other web browser you’re using to view this page), tap and hold on the zip file link above, and select Copy or something similar from the menu that appears. This copies the link’s URL (web address).
• Switch to GoodReader.
  • Tap on Connect.
  • Tap on Enter URL. The URL (web address) you just copied from your web browser should have been automatically entered into the dialogue box that appears. If not, paste it there now. Tap the OK button.
  • The zip file should get downloaded into the My Documents > Downloads folder. If you want to, you can move it to another folder.
  • Tap on the zip file, then tap the Unzip button in the dialogue box that appears. The files and folders inside the zip file will be extracted and placed into a folder with the same name as the zip file.
  • In the folder with the extracted files and folders, tap the index.html file to open it in GoodReader.
  • Note: When viewing one of the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web pages in GoodReader, a regular tap makes the GoodReader controls appear or disappear, but it also makes any drop-down list menus disappear. To make a drop-down list menu stay on the screen long enough for you to make a selection from it, tap and hold on the drop-down list briefly before lifting your finger.

To download and unzip this file on an iPad or an iPhone/iPod touch using Documents:

• In Safari, tap on the zip file link above, and wait for the zip file to be downloaded.
• After the zip file has finished being downloaded, if an Open in “Documents” link/button appears, tap on it.
• If an Open in “Documents” link/button does not appear after downloading, tap on the More… link/button, then tap on the Copy to Documents icon.
• In Documents, note where the app’s dialogue box says the zip file was saved to (probably the Documents folder). If you want to, you can move it to another folder.
• If Documents has not yet unzipped the zip file, tap on the zip file. The files and folders inside the zip file will be extracted and placed into a folder with the same name as the zip file.
• In the folder with the extracted files and folders, tap the index.html file to open it in Documents.

To download and unzip this file on a PC or a Mac:

• Right-click on the zip file link above and select Save Link As..., or Save Target As..., or Download Linked File As..., or something similar depending on your browser.
• In the resulting dialogue box, select a folder to save the file to, and click the Save button or something similar to proceed with the download.
• Modern PCs and Macs generally come with software for unzipping zip files. So, to unzip the downloaded zip file, you generally just need to double-click on it.
  • Note: On some Windows computers, double-clicking on a zip file lets you view its contents while leaving them inside the zip file. In such cases, a separate step would be required to actually extract the contents of the zip file.
• From among the files and folders extracted from the zip file, double-click the index.html file to open it in your default web browser.

This Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web resource was primarily designed to be used on computing devices like smartphones and tablets, but its content can also be printed out from your web browser. Of course, nothing will happen if you tap on the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expressions on paper printouts. However, when one of this resource’s web pages is loaded in your web browser, whatever text you can see on your display—including any visible “flashcard” text—will get printed out when you print out that web page. (Note, though, that so far in my testing the printed out text is all the same colour.) So, if you want your printouts of a Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web page to include the information in all of its “flashcards”, then select 📖 Reveal All from the drop-down list near the top of that page before printing it.

For reading out, quick scanning, etc., you may also want printouts of this material with just the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) text. If so, then print the material when its “flashcards” are all hidden. This is the case on a Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web page right after you select 📘 Reveal None from the drop-down list near the top of that page.

To include page numbers on the printouts, be sure to select the corresponding option in your web browser’s print settings. (It may be related to printing headers and footers.)

Disclaimer 🔼

This is not a publication of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, and if an official version of the New World Translation Bible is available, this material should be used along with it, not instead of it. This material is primarily intended to help publishers working in the Mandarin field, so that they can more quickly become more effective at preaching and teaching the good news to Mandarin-speaking people without being unnecessarily obstructed and delayed by the complex and difficult-to-learn-and-remember Chinese characters. (Also, see the Disclaimer on the title page.)

IMPORTANT: Please do not use this material as an excuse or as a crutch to just “get by” or “muddle through” at Mandarin meetings or Bible discussions. By all means, make good use of this material in such settings, but most importantly, use this material to help you really improve your knowledge and understanding of the Mandarin language, so that you can 1) listen to it with more understanding and 2) speak it more effectively from your heart while praising Jehovah and preaching and teaching the good news in the Mandarin field.

Updates and Other Information 🔼

Check the Links News blog (news feed, Twitter) for news regarding updates to this resource, and also for news regarding other resources prepared by our fellow workers in the Chinese fields. You may also find it interesting to check out the tiandi.info blog (news feed, Twitter), which is about various things related to the Chinese fields. (If you need login information for the parts of tiandi.info that require it, request it by email, and include information on who referred you and/or what group/cong. you are in.)

To follow the Twitter account for the Links News and tiandi.info blogs, click or tap this button:

Follow @TiandiLinksNews

If you have any questions or comments, email them to me. I am often very busy, but I will try my best to answer your emails.

Enjoy using the material. May it help you to serve more effectively and joyfully in the Mandarin field.