jūnduì (jūn·duì {armed forces}; army · {row of people → [team; group; unit]} → [armed forces; army; troops] 军队 軍隊) 👈🏼 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.]
Recently, jw.org featured the video “I Put Down My Rifle”, perhaps at least partially due to the increasing military activity in the world. The person whose experience the video recounts is shown to be in Canada, so another factor may be that Canada, along with other Commonwealth member states, recently observed Rememberance Day on November 11.
A significant expression that appears in the Mandarin version of this video is this week’s MEotW, “jūnduì (jūn·duì {armed forces}; army · {row of people → [team; group; unit]} → [armed forces; army; troops] 军队 軍隊)”. For example, this passage begins at around the 0:18 mark:
English:
I lived the army 24/7. The clothes I wore, the people I associated with—everything was military.
Mandarin:
📖 📄 📘 Wǒ (I 我) shēnshang (shēn·shang {body → [self]} · upon 身上) chuān ({pierced through} → [was dressed in] 穿) de ({’s (clothes)} 的), wǒ (my 我) shēnbiān (shēn·biān {body → [self]} · beside → [beside me] 身边 身邊) de (’s 的) rén (people 人)—yíqiè (yí·qiè {one (whole)} · {corresponding (set)} → [everything] 一切) dōu (all 都) gēn (with 跟) jūnduì (jūn·duì {armed forces} · {row of people → [team]} → [armed forces] 军队 軍隊) yǒuguān (yǒu·guān had · {closing with → [connection]} 有关 有關). Jūnduì (Jūn·duì army · {row of people → [team]} → [the army] 军队 軍隊) jiùshì (jiù·shì exactly · was 就是) wǒ (my 我) shēnghuó (shēng·huó life · living 生活) de (’s 的) quánbù (quán·bù entire · part → [all] 全部).
(By the way, on a technical note, the Mandarin version of this video is the first from the organization that I have come across that doesn’t have a usual type of subtitle track, that users can choose to have superimposed on top of the video picture by apps, etc. that play the video. Instead, the subtitles, rendered in Chinese characters, seem to be “baked into” the actual video picture—there is no way to choose whether to display the Chinese subtitles or not. Perhaps this was done to ensure that viewers of the Mandarin video would be able to see the subtitles without first having to look for a setting that they would have to set.)
“We Are Jehovah’s Army!”
Interestingly, song 71 in our current songbook is called, in English, “We Are Jehovah’s Army!”. The Mandarin (WOL, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus) title, “Yēhéhuá (Jehovah 耶和华 耶和華) de (’s 的) Yīngyǒng (Yīng·yǒng {Are Flowers → [Are Outstanding Persons]} · Valiant → [Valiant] 英勇) Zhànshì (Zhàn·shì War · Soldiers → [Soldiers] 战士 戰士)”, is not a direct translation, but rather translates more like “Jehovah’s Valiant Soldiers”.
It’s an often-used illustration that our efforts in Jehovah’s service can be likened to spiritual warfare. (2 Corinthians 10:3–5; Ephesians 6:11–18) The experience highlighted in the video mentioned above emphasizes to us that while training for physical warfare in the service of the human nations of this world encourages crudeness and aggression, serving Jehovah God and fighting for peace and for the truth means showing kindness and being motivated by love. And while some say that part of the appeal of joining a human worldly jūnduì (jūn·duì army · {row of people → [team]} → [army] 军队 軍隊) is the fulfilment that comes from being part of something bigger than yourself, no family is bigger than Jehovah’s universal family, and no purpose is greater than that of doing God’s will as one of his valiant soldiers.—Ecclesiastes 12:13.