Zhùyīn
(Zhù·yīn
{Annotating of} · Sounds → [Zhuyin]
注音
註/注音) 👈🏼 Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”
[Lately I’ve been unusually busy with the Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) Plus material for the Learn From the Bible book that’s being covered in the Congregation Bible Study meetings, and with preparing musical notation + Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) songbook material for this year’s Mandarin conventions. So, here’s another repost, this time of one of the earliest MEotW posts. It’s probably time for a reminder about this subject anyway. 😄]
The last imperial dynasty of China was the Qing dynasty. We call it the last dynasty, though, because it ended, and it was not followed by another dynasty. Towards the end of the Qing dynasty’s rule, China was in a bad way. Wikipedia provides this summary of the situation:
The dynasty reached its high point in the late 18th century, then gradually declined in the face of challenges from abroad, internal revolts, population growth, disruption of the economy, corruption, and the reluctance of ruling elites to change their mindsets.
One of the ways in which some sought to help with the deteriorating situation in China is described by American linguist, sinologist, author of Chinese language textbooks, lexicographer of Chinese dictionaries, and Professor Emeritus of Chinese Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa John DeFrancis, in his book The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy:
…toward the end of the nineteenth century…The obvious disintegration of Chinese society and the inability to cope with foreign aggressors led some reformers in contact with missionaries to conceive of carrying out a reform of the writing as part of a general educational reform that would help revitalize the country and save it from extinction.1
Professor DeFrancis goes on the describe the development and naming of an early result of the efforts of these reformers:
Official resolution of these issues was effected by the decisions reached by the Conference on Unification of Pronunciation that was held under government auspices in 1913. …The majority members of the conference reached the decision to adopt a set of thirty-nine phonetic symbols derived from Chinese characters, to use them as an adjunct to the characters, and to confine their scope to representing the Mandarin pronunciation as the national standard. The symbols were initially called Zhùyīn Zìmǔ (“Phonetic Alphabet”); later they were also called Guóyīn Zìmǔ (“National Phonetic Alphabet”). The fear that they might be considered an alphabetic system of writing independent of characters led in 1930 to their being renamed Zhùyīn Fúhào (“Phonetic Symbols”).2
Zhùyīn
(Zhù·yīn
{Annotating of} · Sounds → [Zhuyin]
注音
註/注音), or Bopomofo, in regular, handwritten regular, and cursive formats
This week’s MEotW, “Zhùyīn
(Zhù·yīn
{Annotating of} · Sounds → [Zhuyin]
注音
註/注音)”, is a commonly used name for this system. It’s also commonly called “Bopomofo (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ)”, after the first four symbols of the system. This is similar to how in English we use “ABCs” to refer to the alphabet, and to how the word “alphabet” itself comes from alpha and bēta, the first two letters of the Greek alphabet.
The Zhùyīn
(Zhù·yīn
{Annotating of} · Sounds → [Zhuyin]
注音
註/注音) system continues to be used in elementary schools in Taiwan for teaching reading and writing, with the system’s symbols often appearing as ruby characters over Chinese characters in textbooks.
In mainland China, Zhùyīn
(Zhù·yīn
{Annotating of} · Sounds → [Zhuyin]
注音
註/注音) has largely been replaced by Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin]
拼音), which was adopted by the mainland Chinese government in 1958. This was possible because Zhùyīn
(Zhù·yīn
{Annotating of} · Sounds → [Zhuyin]
注音
註/注音) and Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin]
拼音) both do the same job of representing in alphabetic writing the sounds of Mandarin speech—they just use different symbols.
Around the time that Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin]
拼音) was introduced, Premier of the People’s Republic of China 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))wrote the following comparing the different practical effects of using these different sets of symbols:
Although [Zhùyīn
(Zhù·yīn
{Annotating of} · Sounds → [Zhuyin]
注音
註/注音)] has been in existence for forty years and was popularized in primary schools by governments in the past, it has been forgotten by most of its students. Now only a few people know the phonetic transcript. In future, we shall adopt the Latin alphabet for the Chinese phonetic alphabet. Being in wide use in scientific and technological fields and in constant day-to-day usage, it will be easily remembered.
Some Mandarin field language learners prefer not to use the Latin alphabet-based Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin]
拼音) system, claiming that it makes them think of English sounds rather than Mandarin sounds. Perhaps those who feel this way could instead get the benefits of a phonetic alphabet by using Zhùyīn
(Zhù·yīn
{Annotating of} · Sounds → [Zhuyin]
注音
註/注音). However, they would first have to learn and remember the rarely-used symbols of Zhùyīn
(Zhù·yīn
{Annotating of} · Sounds → [Zhuyin]
注音
註/注音), which for almost everyone these days is going to be significantly harder than remembering the familiar Latin alphabet letters of Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin]
拼音).
Regarding associating language sounds with a writing system (which both Zhùyīn
(Zhù·yīn
{Annotating of} · Sounds → [Zhuyin]
注音
註/注音) and Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin]
拼音) qualify as), once a Mandarin learner passes the very beginning stage and gets familiar with Mandarin sounds and gets used to the Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin]
拼音) system, he or she will actually have no more problem associating Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin]
拼音) with Mandarin sounds than an English-speaking non-beginner student of French has associating French words with French sounds.
For more information on how Zhùyīn
(Zhù·yīn
{Annotating of} · Sounds → [Zhuyin]
注音
註/注音) compares to Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin]
拼音) for Mandarin field language learners, please see the tiandi.info post “Pinyin and Zhuyin”. (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.)
The Shēngmìng Láizì Chuàngzào Ma?
((Shēngmìng
Life
生命)
(Lái·zì
Came · From
来自
來自)
(Chuàng·zào
Initiating · {Making, Creating} → [Creating]
创造
創造)
(Ma
[? ptcl for “yes/no” questions]
吗
嗎)?
→[Was Life Created? (lc)])(Was Life Created? (lc)) brochure and the Shēngmìng de Qǐyuán—Zhíde Sīkǎo de Wǔ Ge Wèntí
((Shēngmìng
Life
生命)
(de
’s
的)
(Qǐ·yuán
{Rising → [Starting]} · Source → [Origin]
起源/原)—(Zhí·de
Worth · Getting → [Worth]
值得)
(Sī·kǎo
{Thinking About} · Examining
思考)
(de
’s
的)
(Wǔ
Five
五)
(Ge
[mw]
个
個/个)
(Wèn·tí
Asking · Subjects → [Questions]
问题
問題)
→[The Origin of Life—Five Questions Worth Asking (lf)])(The Origin of Life—Five Questions Worth Asking (lf)) brochure were originally published back in 2010, but recently, the English version of the Was Life Created? brochure was updated to the December 2022 Printing, and the Mandarin version of it was updated to the February 2023 Printing. Also, the Was Life Created? brochure and the Origin of Life brochure are now in the Teaching Toolbox section in the JW Library app. So, it would be good to consider some of the expressions used in the Mandarin versions of these publications that can be so helpful when discussing whether life was created.
How It Started
This week’s MEotW, which appears right in the title of the Mandarin Was Life Created? brochure, is “chuàngzào
(chuàng·zào
initiating · {making, creating} →[creating | creation; innovation]
创造
創造)”. While this is basically a verb meaning “create”, it can also be used as a noun meaning “creation”. Such verbal/gerundial nouns were discussed in the MEotW post on “jiàodǎo
(jiào·dǎo
teaching · {guiding [→ [instructing]]}
教导
教導)”:
One interesting thing to note about “jiàodǎo
(jiào·dǎo
teaching · {guiding [→ [instructing]]}
教导
教導)” (and about “jiàoxun
(teaching →[reprimanding | knowledge gained from an error]
教训
教訓)”, for that matter) is that their component morphemes seem to basically be verbs. In certain contexts, however, they are used as nouns. An example of this being done in English is that “teach” and “teaching” are verbs (e.g. “Jesus was teaching the crowd.”), but in certain contexts, “teaching” is used as a noun (e.g. “The crowd was amazed at the teaching Jesus shared with them.”). When a word is used this way, it’s called a verbal noun, or a gerundial noun. Verbal nouns are quite common in Mandarin.
How It Breaks Down
The “chuàng
(initiate; create; start; originate; {achieve (sth. for the first time)}
创
創/刱/剏/剙)” in “chuàngzào
(chuàng·zào
initiating · {making, creating} →[creating | creation; innovation]
创造
創造)” is also used in “Chuàngshìjì
(Chuàng·shì·jì
{Initiating, Creating of} · {Generation → [World]} · Record →[Genesis]
创世记
創世記)”, and is associated with originality and creativity. For example, this “chuàng
(initiate; create; start; originate; {achieve (sth. for the first time)}
创
創/刱/剏/剙)” also occurs in “chuàngzuò
(chuàng·zuò
initiated; created; originated · {made [→ [written/composed]]} [(thing)] [→ [created; produced; written [(thing)]] [→ [creative work; creation]]]
创作
創作)” and in “chuàngzuò lì
((chuàng·zuò
{to initiate/create/originate} · {to make [→ [to write/compose]]} → [to create/produce/write]
创作
創作)
(lì
power → [ability]
力)
→[creative ability; creativity; originality])”, which can respectively mean “creative work” and “creativity”.
As for the “zào
(make; build; create
造)” in “chuàngzào
(chuàng·zào
initiating · {making, creating} →[creating | creation; innovation]
创造
創造)”, it’s more associated with making and building, and it’s the same “zào
(make; build; create
造)” that’s in “jiànzào
(construct; build
建造)”. “Jiànzào
(build
建造)fángwū
(houses
房屋)”, for example, means “build houses”.
How It Comes Together
So, “chuàngzào
(chuàng·zào
initiating · {making, creating} →[creating | creation; innovation]
创造
創造)”, being made up of “chuàng
(initiate; create; start; originate; {achieve (sth. for the first time)}
创
創/刱/剏/剙)” and “zào
(make; build; create
造)”, covers the entire process of coming up with the idea for something, and then actually making or building it. This is in contrast with the idea of theistic evolution (Mandarin: Shéndǎo‐jìnhuà‐lùn
((Shén·dǎo
God · guided; led
神导
神導)‐(jìn·huà
{to advance} · transforming → [evolution]
进化
進化)‐(lùn
discussing → [theory; doctrine]
论
論)
→[theistic evolution])), that God somehow got the ball rolling and then sat back and let the process of evolution develop all the wonderful living things in the natural world.
One person in particular whom I remember having such a viewpoint was my grade 7 teacher, who was actually quite smug about how her Catholic/personal beliefs had thus seemingly neatly reconciled the contradictions between the worldly “scientific” theory of evolution and the creation account in the Bible book of Genesis. However, the actual wording of the Genesis account, including how it is often translated into Mandarin, does not really go along with such a seemingly neat reconciliation with evolution.—Genesis 1:27 (English WOL, Mandarin WOL, Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音)Plus).
To represent how God caused humans to come into existence, the Mandarin New World Translation Bible uses “chuàngzào
(chuàng·zào
initiated · {made, created} →[created]
创造
創造)”, and the Héhé Běn
((Hé·hé
Harmonious · {Closed → [United]}
和合)
(Běn
{Root or Stem} → [Edition]
本)
→[Union Version (Chinese Bible)]) uses “zào
(made; built; created
造)”. Both these expressions contain the sense of “made, created”, and perhaps “built”.
How the Py+ Material Is Going
A while ago, I got the feeling that I should shift focus to get to work on producing current-generation Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) Plus material for the Was Life Created? brochure, which I had last produced older-style material for several years earlier. The official material for this brochure had also not been changed for several years, with the last Mandarin printing of it being dated 2016-12.
However, not long after I had started working on new Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) Plus material for this brochure, I noticed that a new printing, dated 2022-12, had been put out for the English version of the Was Life Created? brochure, and then, a new printing, dated 2023-02, appeared in the JW Library app for the Mandarin version of this brochure. Also, the Was Life Created? brochure and the Origin of Life brochure were added to the Teaching Toolbox section in the JW Library app at around this time. It seems that Jehovah had decided that the time had come for renewed focus on these brochures, and it seems that the work of producing Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) Plus material for the Was Life Created? brochure was privileged to be part of this renewed focus.
At the time of this writing, the old 3-line files (iPad-Letter-A4, XLP-iPhone-A5) together with the newer Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音)Plus web resource cover the entire Was Life Created? brochure. (The 3-line files were based on an older version of the brochure, though.) The Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) Plus web resource (which can be used offline in supporting browsers) itself now covers the entire Was Life Created? brochure except for page 17.
For convenience:
The direct link for the current generation Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) Plus resource for the Was Life Created? brochure is:
More Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) and Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) Plus web material based on the Mandarin Was Life Created? brochure will be made available in the Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音)Plus web resource as time allows. Work is now underway to produce a Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) Plus web resource for the Mandarin Origin of Life brochure as well.
jiāng‐xīn‐bǐ‐xīn
((jiāng
take
将
將)‐(xīn
heart
心)‐(bǐ
{to compare}
比)‐(xīn
heart[s]
心)
→[be empathetic; put oneself in sb. else’s shoes; feel for another/others]) 👈🏼 Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”
[Notes:Tap/click on a Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) expression to reveal its “flashcard”; tap/click on a “flashcard”or its Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) expression to hide the“flashcard”. 📖📄 📘 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.]
Rather than dismissively thinking to ourselves that the songs produced by the organization are “just songs”, we should remember that the slave class takes seriously its responsibility to provide spiritual food to God’s people, and so it is going to make sure that the lyrics in its songs are spiritually correct, while also being emotionally moving.—Ezekiel 33:32; Matthew 24:45.
This week’s MEotW, “jiāng‐xīn‐bǐ‐xīn
((jiāng
take
将
將)‐(xīn
heart
心)‐(bǐ
{to compare}
比)‐(xīn
heart[s]
心)
→[be empathetic; put oneself in sb. else’s shoes; feel for another/others])”, comes from the first verse of song 163, this year’s convention song, which is entitled “Happy Are These Eyes” in English and “Wǒ de
((Wǒ
Me
我)
(de
’s
的)
→[My])Yǎnjing
(Yǎn·jing
Eyes’ · Eyeballs →[Eyes]
眼睛)Duōme
(Duō·me
{(How) Much} · [suf] →[How]
多么
多麼)Yǒufú
(Yǒu·fú
Have · Blessings → [Are Happy]
有福)” in Mandarin:
While not being a direct translation, “jiāng‐xīn‐bǐ‐xīn
((jiāng
{to take}
将
將)‐(xīn
heart
心)‐(bǐ
{to compare}
比)‐(xīn
hearts
心)
→[to be empathetic])” seems to correspond with “was kind to all” in the above example. A more literal translation of “jiāng‐xīn‐bǐ‐xīn
((jiāng
{to take}
将
將)‐(xīn
heart
心)‐(bǐ
{to compare}
比)‐(xīn
hearts
心)
→[to be empathetic])” as used above would be “to take heart to compare hearts”. Effectively, this is a rather poetic way to say “to be empathetic”.
Other Mandarin expressions related to empathy include:
The importance of empathy with regard to Mandarin field language learning is emphasized in the below excerpt from the article “Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音)Was Plan A”:
Yes, Pīnyīn was Plan A, but China unfortunately let the proud, self-serving B players have their way.
Is that the way we as Jehovah’s people should be? Shouldn’t godly, self-sacrificing love move us to do what’s best for others rather than fulfilling the imperfect human instinct for being self-glorifying, self-justifying, and self-serving? Are we showing pride in the name of love?
In this, I agree with Zhōu Ēnlái (周恩来/周恩來, Zhou Enlai), the first Premier of the People’s Republic of China, who agreed with Lǐ Zhúchén (李烛尘/李燭塵, Li Zhuchen), who said,
Every time the question of the reform of Chinese characters is brought up, somebody raises an objection, or even stubbornly opposes it for this or that reason. Some say that the characters are not difficult. I will say that such a person is like one who, as soon as his wounds are healed, forgets the pain he suffered. …If he will but recall his bitter experience in learning characters, and consider the interests of the children and the illiterates by placing himself in their place, he will not dissent or object so strongly. [This was actually said regarding opposition to the simplification of the characters, but the principle applies to opposition to Pīnyīn as well.—W. W.]
If we have optimism, but we don’t have empathy, then it doesn’t matter how much we master the secrets of science, we’re not really solving problems—we’re just working on puzzles.
Mr. Gates’ above observation applies to the subject at hand in that while many enjoy trying to solve the puzzles presented by Chinese characters, and while many also enjoy being known for being good at solving these puzzles, empathy should move us to recognize that there are much bigger issues involved than just our personal enjoyment or glorification.
Yes, when even some worldly people can recognize the above points, we Christians should recognize even more the need to show love and empathy rather than being proud, self-glorifying, self-justifying, and self-serving. Also, we should be actively and determinedly following the course of true Christian love and empathy rather than just going along with others who are proud, self-glorifying, self-justifying, and self-serving. We should especially do so when we have scriptures such as this to guide us:
In this post about a Mandarin expression found in our songbook, another subject that I want to touch on is: Is musical notation 🎼 too hard to be worth the trouble of producing it and using it? Are fewer and fewer people able to read it? I was fortunate enough to have been taught how to read musical notation in school. I have never thought of musical notation as being particularly difficult to use (it’s much easier to learn than characters, which many unquestioningly try to learn), and I find that it helps me to sing Kingdom songs more correctly (according to the intended melody, message, etc.) and more confidently more of the time. However, I am aware that not everyone in the Mandarin field has the same experience with musical notation. For example, a while ago, an older brother told me that he didn’t know how to read musical notation. Also, some people in the Mandarin field may have been affected by how education systems in this old world have been facing significantchallenges relating to providing music education for younger ones.
Regardless of how the world may be failing in many cases to equitably provide good music education, Jehovah’s organization has pointed out that music is important in Jehovah’s worship. For example, not long ago, a Meeting Workbook said:
Music can have a powerful influence on the mind and body. Singing is an important part of our worship of Jehovah.
In accordance with the importance of music in Jehovah’s worship, Mandarin field language learners used to have available to them official material from the organization containing musical notation with Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) in the lyrics. However, perhaps at least partially because of the technical difficulty and costliness of producing material with musical notation and both Chinese characters and Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) in the lyrics, as of this writing, there is no official material currently available from the organization that shows Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) and musical notation on the same page or screen.
A screenshot from an official video, of Sis. Margarita Königer and others using official Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音)Sing to Jehovah songbooks with musical notation
The organization continues to publish official songbook material for different languages in general that contains musical notation, so it evidently still considers musical notation to generally be worthwhile to produce. It continues to produce official material for the current songbook that uses musical notation along with lyrics rendered only in Chinese characters, without Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音), and it has even produced official material that uses jiǎnpǔ
(jiǎn·pǔ
simple · {register or record for reference → [musical notation]} →[numbered musical notation]
简谱
簡譜) (a kind of musical notation also known as numbered musical notation) and Chinese characters.
For Jehovah’s official organization, continuing to produce musical notation with lyrics rendered in Chinese characters but discontinuing production of musical notation that includes Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) lyrics when it becomes necessary to conserve time and effort makes sense, when we consider that the primary focus of Jehovah’s official organization is to provide spiritual instruction, not language instruction, even though language instruction can provide significant practical help to people seeking to learn or teach sprititual truths. (Another reminder of this primary focus is the recent discontinuation of the JW Language app.) The way the world is, with its deeply embedded traditions and prejudices, people whose mother tongue is Mandarin—and who thus learn spiritual truths best in Mandarin—mainly still use Chinese characters as their “mother writing system”, even as the game-changing practical benefits of Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) are obvious to unprejudiced Mandarin language learners.
And, even as the organization has continued to add Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音)ruby text to much of its Mandarin material, in recognition of the value of these practical benefits—even people who have been learning characters since childhood occasionally, perhaps even regularly, suffer from character amnesia, due to the inhuman complexity and number of the characters, and also, there are actually tens of millions of Chinese people who are still illiterate regarding the characters—it seems that when faced with the prospect of producing a version of the current songbook with musical notation, characters, andPīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) ruby text, those in charge, perhaps remembering how difficult and time-consuming it was to do so for the previous songbook, felt that it would just be too much this time.
For those who find it helpful in their Mandarin field activities to put musical notation together with Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音), the unofficial Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) Plus resource “Sing Out Joyfully” Bk. (Pīnyīn+Music, Pīnyīn Plus, Web) exists and is continuing to be improved. As shown in the screenshot near the beginning of this post, this resource aids Mandarin field language learners by breaking with tradition and featuring lyrics in the musical notation that are only in relatively large-print Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) by default—characters are relegated to Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) Plus “flashcards” that are added as time allows.
Unlike the traditionally-used but unnecessarily extraordinarily complex characters that need to be accompanied by Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) before many are able to read them, Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) itself is a simple, elegant alphabetical full writing system for Mandarin that is easy to learn and remember. Also, it is no harder to typeset than other alphabetical writing systems with diacritics, such as the writing systems now used for French, Czech, Vietnamese, etc.*
More Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) and Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) Plus web material based on the Mandarin “Sing Out Joyfully” book will be made available in the Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音)Plus web resource as time allows.
* Thanks to ongoing advancements in personal computing hardware and software, producing material that contains things like musical notation and Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) text at reasonable cost is quicker and easier than ever. At this time, production of the musical notation in the “Sing Out Joyfully” Bk. (Pīnyīn+Music, Pīnyīn Plus, Web) resource begins in free open source software called MuseScore Studio, running on a Mac. Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) text for the lyrics in the musical notation is entered using macOS’s ABC – Extended input source (keyboard layout). (Just using Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) text only here simplifies things so much compared to having to somehow input characters with Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音)ruby text!) When it’s ready, the musical notation for a song is exported from MuseScore Studio into SVG format, which is a plain text format that allows for the inclusion of links that activate Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) Plus flashcards on webpages. (These SVG links are a bit more involved to produce than “regular” web Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) Plus material, but at least the procedure for doing so is consistent and dependable, unlike Chinese characters, which have no consistent, dependable system regarding how they are designed compared to how they are pronounced.) The coding for the SVG links is currently done using the text editor BBEdit, in which editing large text files is quite performant. For Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) Plus web material production in general, my current favourite tool is Nova, but such web material can be produced in any application suitable for web development, such as Visual Studio Code, etc. ^
