Disclaimer: For security reasons, some person names mentioned on this webpage are pseudonyms.

Print

Neasu New Testament, 1st, 2018Hans Grass of RFLR Germany began working on the Neasu language together with the Three-Self Pastor Liú Huī 刘辉 from Wēiníng 威宁 in the autumn of 1997. They developed a Romanised writing system, analysed the grammar and started to translate the New Testament into Neasu. A trial version of the four gospels was completed just before Hans Grass’s first furlough, in 1998. After a year of interruption, they resumed the translation project, kept revising the writing system and compiled a corpus of native stories in the new script. By 1999, the first draft of the New Testament in Neasu was completed. In 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2006, four rounds of revision followed suit during one of which Neasu pastors from churches in Wēiníng 威宁and Hèzhāng 赫章 checked the manuscript and provided feedback on the naturalness of the text. In spite of the advanced state of the project, it was not possible to complete the project until 2017, when the manuscript was prepared for publication. The New Testament was edited as a Hmu/Chinese diglot using the Romanised Neasu script and the text of the Chinese Union Version (Hèhébĕn Version). A foldable syllabary serving as introduction to the Neasu script was included at the end of the text. The Verlag für Theologie und Religionswissenschaft in Nürnberg, Germany, published the New Testament in 2018 and had 3,000 copies printed in Hong Kong. In the summer of 2018, literacy classes with eight Neasu pastors were held in Guǎngdōng province involving the newly printed Scriptures.

Android Smartphones

Following the publication of the print edition, Hans Grass, together with the programmer Moses Chen and the designer Jens Weigel, developed a mobile application for the New Testament. This application is text-only, as no audio recordings have been made so far. The application can switch between a monolingual and bilingual display.

Start Screen Bilingual Text Keyterm Search Hit List

Website

Hans Grass, Moses Chen and Jens Weigel, also developed a web application. Person and place names are marked in different colours. Both applications integrate a wordlist of 4,000 items which can be searched in the New Testament. The web application further lists these items according to semantic groups.

Interlinked Text Display Built-in Dictionary

Interactive Mediterranean MapHans Grass and the cartographer Michael Siegel of Rutgers Cartography (New Jersey) further developed interactive Israel and Mediterranean Sea maps, which allow users to track ancient places by the Bible verses that mention them.