Category: Experiences

Categories
Culture Experiences Language Learning Theocratic

jiàoyù

jiàoyù (jiào·yù teaching · educating [→ [education]] 教育) ← 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.]

At the time of this writing, jw.org was featuring the article “Can Education and Money Guarantee a Secure Future?”. Of interest to those of us in the Mandarin field, this article mentions the comments and experiences of several Asians. Where the English version of this article uses the word “education”, the Mandarin version uses this week’s MEotW, “jiàoyù (jiào·yù teaching · educating [→ [education]] 教育)”. (Since this article is from a relatively recent issue of The Watchtower, it provides the option to show Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音).)

Related Expressions

The “jiào (teach | {teaching [→ [religion]]} | cause/ask 教)” in “jiàoyù (jiào·yù teaching · educating [→ [education]] 教育)” is a verb meaning “teach”. It also appears in past MEotW “jiàodǎo (jiào·dǎo teaching · {guiding [→ [instructing]]} 教导 教導)”, which means “teach” or “instruct”, and in “jiàoxun (teaching → [reprimanding | knowledge gained from an error; lesson; moral] 教训 教訓)”, which means “reprimanding” or “lesson”. (“Jiàoxun (teaching → [reprimanding | knowledge gained from an error; lesson; moral] 教训 教訓)” is also discussed in the MEotW post on “jiàodǎo (jiào·dǎo teaching · {guiding [→ [instructing]]} 教导 教導)”.) This “jiào (teach | {teaching [→ [religion]]} | cause/ask 教)” can also effectively mean “religion”, as it does in “Jīdū Jiào ((Jīdū Christ 基督) (Jiào Teaching → [Religion] 教) → [Christianity | Christian])” and in “Tiānzhǔ Jiào ((Tiān·zhǔ Heavenly · Lord → [Catholic] 天主) (Jiào Teaching → [Religion] 教) → [Catholicism])”.

The “yù ({give birth to} | rear; raise; {bring up}; cultivate | educating [→ [education]] 育)” in “jiàoyù (jiào·yù teaching · educating [→ [education]] 教育)” is a verb meaning “educate”. In other contexts, such as in the expressions “shēngyù ({giving [of] birth} [→ [fertility]] 生育)” and “yùzhǒng (yù·zhǒng {giving birth to} · breeds → [breeding] 育种 育種)”, it can mean “give birth to”.

Verbs or Nouns

While “jiàoyù (jiào·yù teaching · educating [→ [education]] 教育)” and its constituent morphemes are verbs, they can also be nouns. As the MEotW post for “jiàodǎo (jiào·dǎo teaching · {guiding [→ [instructing]]} 教导 教導)” explains:

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.

Usage Examples

Here are a couple of examples of “jiàoyù (jiào·yù teaching · educating [→ [education]] 教育)” in use, taken from the above-mentioned article:

English:

Can Education and Money Guarantee a Secure Future?

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Jiàoyù (Jiào·yù Teaching · Educating → [Education] 教育) hé ({(together) with} → [and] 和 和/龢) Cáifù (Cái·fù Wealth · {Being Wealthy} 财富 財富) Néng (Can 能) Dàigěi (Dài·gěi Bring · {to Give to} 带给 帶給) Rén (People 人) Měihǎo (Měi·hǎo Beautiful · Good 美好) de (’s 的) Wèilái (Wèi·lái (What) {Is Not Yet} · Come → [Future] 未来 未來) Ma ([? ptcl for “yes/no” questions] 吗 嗎)?

English:

Like Franklin, many have concluded that there is more to life than pursuing higher education and riches.

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Hěn (very 很) duō (many 多) rén (people 人) gēn (with 跟) Āfù (Franklin 阿富) yíyàng (yí·yàng {(of) one} · pattern → [the same] 一样 一樣), kànchū (kàn·chū see · out 看出) shēnghuó (shēng·huó life · living 生活) zhōng (within 中) yǒuxiē (yǒu·xiē {(there) are having → [(there) are]} · some 有些) shì (things 事) bǐ ({compared to} 比) zhuīqiú (zhuī·qiú pursuing · seeking 追求) gāoděng (gāo·děng high(er) · rank 高等) jiàoyù (jiào·yù teaching · educating → [education] 教育) hé ({(together) with} → [and] 和 和/龢) cáifù (cái·fù wealth · {being wealthy} 财富 財富) gèng (more 更) zhòngyào (zhòng·yào {being weighty} · {being important} 重要).

Education in the “Deep Things” of the World

In addition to the issues discussed in the above-mentioned article, the world’s higher education also tends to indoctrinate people in the “deep things” of this world that we know is ruled by Satan. Regarding these, chapter 10, paragraph 17 of the Revelation Climax book says:

Satan has other “deep things” today, such as complicated speculations and philosophies that flatter the intellect. In addition to permissive, immoral reasonings, these include spiritism and the theory of evolution. How does the all-wise Creator regard these “deep things”? The apostle Paul quotes him as saying: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise ones.” In contrast thereto, “the deep things of God” are simple, lucid, and heartwarming. Wise Christians shun the “deep things” of Satan’s sophisticated world. Remember, “the world is passing away and so is its desire, but he that does the will of God remains forever.”—1 Corinthians 1:19, Kingdom Interlinear; 2:10; 1 John 2:17.

Should Chinese characters be counted as being among the “deep things” of Satan’s world? Well, they do come from Satan’s world, and, as per the above quote’s description, they certainly are complicated, and many do seem to enjoy how they flatter the intellect. Also, if they are allowed to, they can serve Satan’s interests by greatly adding to the weighty difficulties faced by Mandarin field language learners. In this respect, Chinese characters are like all the human traditions surrounding the Sabbath that added unnecessary weighty burdens to those trying to serve God in Jesus’ time, except that instead of just affecting God’s people one day a week, characters make things much harder than necessary for Mandarin field language learners every single day.

The article “Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Was Plan A” says the following about the attitude of many of those highly educated in Chinese characters towards the prospect of Chinese writing reform that would make things much easier for future language learners:

…as noted above, “opposition [to Chinese writing reform] ‘comes primarily from intellectuals, especially from high level intellectuals.’ ” Lǔ Xùn (鲁迅/魯迅, Lu Xun), considered by many to be the greatest Chinese writer of the twentieth century (he wrote “The True Story of Ah-Q”, “Diary of a Madman”, and “My Old Hometown”), had this to say about the matter:

In addition to the limitations of social status and economic means, our Chinese characters present another high threshold to the masses: their difficulty. If you don’t spend ten or so years on them, it’s not easy to cross this threshold alone. Those who cross over it are the scholar-officials, and these same scholar-officials do their utmost to make writing as difficult as possible because it makes them especially dignified, surpassing all other ordinary scholar-officials.

…

Chinese characters and the Chinese literary language are already difficult enough by their own nature. On top of that, the scholar-officials have purposely devised all of these additional difficulties that get added on. Such being the case, how could anyone hope that the masses would have any affinity for the Chinese writing system? But the scholar-officials precisely want it to be this way. If the characters were easy to recognize and everybody could master them, then they would not be dignified, and the scholar-officials would lose their dignity along with them.

Being more concerned about one’s own “dignity” than about what would greatly relieve the suffering of others certainly sounds to me like an attitude that’s characteristic of people of Satan’s world. Don’t let Satan’s world—including its well-meaning Mandarin language teachers—“educate” you (in other words, brainwash you) into having such an ungodly and unchristian attitude!

Categories
Culture Experiences History Technology

shūfǎ

shūfǎ (shū·fǎ writing · methods; ways → [calligraphy; penmanship] 书法 書法) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

Many know “shū (write | writing [→ [book | letter | document | style of calligraphy; script]] 书 書)” as the Mandarin word for “book”, but it actually has an old meaning of “write”. From “write” is derived “writing”, and from that, it’s easy to see how “shū (write | writing [→ [book | letter | document | style of calligraphy; script]] 书 書)” has come to have its modern meanings of “book”, “letter”, and “document”. For example, “shūxiě (shū·xiě write | writing 书写 書寫)” means “write” or “writing”, “Yǐsàiyàshū (Yǐsàiyà·shū Isaiah · {Writing → [Book]} 以赛亚书 以賽亞書)” is the Book of Isaiah, and a “qíngshū (qíng·shū {feelings; affection; emotion → [love]} · {writing → [letter]} 情书 情書)” is a love letter. Yet another effective meaning of “shū (write | writing [→ [book | letter | document | style of calligraphy; script]] 书 書)”, that can be derived from its meaning of “writing”, is “style of calligraphy”, or “script”.

The “fǎ (law | method; way; mode | standard; model | {magic arts} | {follow; model after} 法)” in “fāngfǎ (fāng·fǎ direction · method 方法)” can mean “methods; ways”, and when it’s combined with “shū (write | writing [→ [book | letter | document | style of calligraphy; script]] 书 書)”, we get this week’s MEotW, “shūfǎ (shū·fǎ writing · methods; ways → [calligraphy; penmanship] 书法 書法)”. This expression literally means “writing methods/ways”, and it is used to effectively mean “calligraphy”.

Eastern and Western Calligraphy

Calligraphy that involves the artistic writing of Chinese characters, as practised in Asian cultures, is well-known and highly esteemed. However, does calligraphy only exist in Asian cultures? Are beauty, artistry, and craftsmanship the exclusive province of Chinese characters? Is Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) only able to be cold, efficient, and artless, since it lacks the arguably self-indulgently complex visual designs of Chinese characters? No, no, and no! The fact is that there is a long history—and yes, tradition—of calligraphy involving the Latin alphabet, the alphabet that was deliberately chosen for Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) by the Chinese team that developed it.

This reminds us that while the Latin alphabet used by Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) may have originated outside of China, its adoption for use in Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) for writing Mandarin Chinese makes it part of Chinese culture. As the article “Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Is a Good, Workable Writing System on Its Own” puts it:

While Pīnyīn uses the Latin alphabet, it does so because the Chinese developers of Pīnyīn 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 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 (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.’

So, since Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) has both Eastern and Western aspects, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) calligraphy would be both Eastern and Western calligraphy.

Calligraphy and Computer Fonts

In the modern world of computing, handwritten calligraphy has been augmented by computer fonts, which enable the billions of users of desktop and laptop computers and mobile devices to enjoy and benefit from the work of artists and designers who work with text and typography.

Incidentally, some of you may have noticed that there are way fewer fonts available for Chinese characters, compared to the overflowing cornucopia of fonts available for the Latin alphabet. This is undoubtedly yet another negative consequence of the simple fact that there are literally thousands of characters in common use that would have to be supported by any font for Chinese characters that’s intended to be usable in daily life, never mind the tens of thousands of Chinese characters that exist in total.

An interesting thing that some may not know is that calligraphy influenced the development of modern computer font design and technology. Steve Jobs, one of the founders of Apple, maker of the iPhone, the iPad, the Macintosh personal computer, etc., said the following in the Stanford Commencement address that he gave in 2005:

Much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But 10 years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backward 10 years later.

Time-Lapse Videos of Calligraphed MEotWs

Another way in which modern computing has augmented handwritten calligraphy is by supplying new tools for this ancient craft. A while ago, I acquired the app Procreate for my iPad, and more recently, I also bought an Apple Pencil on sale. As time allows, I hope to be able to put my old hobby of calligraphy to use, and use Procreate to create time-lapse videos, like the one near the beginning of this post, of certain MEotWs being hand-calligraphed. Hopefully these amateur efforts of mine will add a little artistry and craftsmanship for readers of this blog to enjoy.

The Truly Precious Things of All the Nations

The calligraphy produced of Chinese characters is a major aspect of what some fear would be lost if the hypothetical total replacement of characters with something as “mundane” as an alphabet were ever to take place. However, first of all, with how proud and stubborn worldly Chinese people are when it comes to their precious characters, there is little likelihood of that actually happening in the little time that this old system has left. (There’s probably just about as much likelihood that all the Catholics or all the Buddhists will come into the truth before the end comes!) As the MEotW post on “Yànwén (Yàn·wén {Proverb (Korean: Vernacular)} · Writing → [Hangul/Hankul (modern Korean writing system)] 谚文 諺文)” (the modern Korean writing system) said:

If Hangul took hundreds of years to become the dominant writing system in Korea, even with the added nationalistic motivation of it having been invented in Korea to be used instead of the characters invented in China, then Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) could take even longer to become the dominant writing system for Mandarin, if it ever does, and if this old system were hypothetically allowed to last that long—the supporters of invented-in-China Chinese characters are even more proudly and stubbornly resistant to the idea of changing away from Chinese characters in China itself.

At this rate, the current government of China, as long as it lasts, will probably never explicitly officially approve of using Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) as a full writing system for Mandarin in China, even if it’s just as an alternative to the characters instead of as a total replacement for them. Even if it actually wanted to do so, even this government would hesitate to approve of something like this that would probably be opposed by many of the people of China. (As a historic comparison, in 1977, the PRC promulgated a second round of simplified Chinese characters, but this was rescinded in 1986 following widespread opposition.)

The existence of much calligraphy based on the Latin alphabet that is used by Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) and many other writing systems reminds us that art and beauty do exist apart from Chinese characters. As for the precious things of China and Chinese culture, while humans may point to Chinese characters and the calligraphy based on them, what is truly precious about China in Jehovah God’s eyes? This quote from the September 2021 issue of The Watchtower reveals the answer as it discusses Haggai 2:7–9:

He tells us that as a result of the shaking, “the precious things [honesthearted people] of all the nations will come” to worship Jehovah.

Yes, to Jehovah God, the truly precious things of China are the honesthearted people in it, not the cultural products of any part of this old world that is passing away.—1 John 2:15–17.

While culture can definitely influence the people that are exposed to it, ultimately, people don’t come from culture. Rather, culture comes from people. So, let us focus on helping to save honesthearted Chinese people, not on trying to save the old world’s Chinese culture. Then, we will be able to enjoy the beautiful cultural products that these people will produce for eternity, as they live forever in paradise in God’s new system. Those cultural products will greatly surpass anything ever produced by this old world’s Chinese culture in its relatively brief (compared to eternity) and troubled existence, as the Chinese people who are able to live in the new system join the rest of God’s universal family in being “taught by Jehovah”. (Isaiah 54:13) As Haggai 2:9 says, “the future glory…will be greater than the former”.

Categories
Culture Experiences Language Learning Science Theocratic

pǔ

pǔ ({register or record for reference} [→ [musical notation [→ [set to music; compose (music)]] | sth. to base oneself on | table; chart; list | guide; manual | standards | airs; pretensions | spectrum (physics)]] 谱 譜) ← 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.]

Summer is nearing, and soon, many of us will be singing together in Mandarin at our Mandarin conventions. Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, there was no official Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) available on the official page for the Mandarin version of this year’s convention song, but I am happy to report that proofread Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) lyrics or better and proofread musical notation 🎼 with Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) lyrics for this year’s convention song, and for all the other songs scheduled to be sung at this year’s Mandarin conventions, are now available at this unofficial Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resource:

2024 convention song “‘Hǎo Xiāoxi’!” (music+_Pīnyīn_), on iPhone 13 mini (landscape orientation)

[Note: As with all the other Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resources, the above-mentioned Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resource is made to be supplementary language-learning material for those learning the Mandarin language to help others in the Mandarin field. For spiritual food (which is for you yourself to learn spiritual things from, and which ideally should be in your own mother tongue), please go to jw.org.]

Very Lyrical Mandarin Lyrics

This week’s MEotW, “pǔ ({register or record for reference} [→ [musical notation [→ [set to music; compose (music)]] | sth. to base oneself on | table; chart; list | guide; manual | standards | airs; pretensions | spectrum (physics)]] 谱 譜)”, comes from the second verse of the Mandarin version of this year’s convention song:

English:

He will reign for righteousness.
Peace he will provide.
Jesus is the way to endless life.

Mandarin (jw.org, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus):

📖 📄 📘 Dāng (when 当 當) zhèngyì (zhèng·yì {being upright} · righteousness 正义 正義) shǎnyào (shǎn·yào shines · {to be bright} (on) → [shines on] 闪耀 閃耀) tiānjì (tiān·jì sky · boundary → [horizon] 天际 天際),
Pǔ ({register or record for reference} → [musical notation] → [compose] 谱 譜) hépíng (hé·píng {being (together) with (one another)}’s · {being flat, level, even}’s → [peace’s (nwtsty-CHS Appx. A2 says this term mainly refers to the absence of war or conflict)] 和平) xuánlǜ (xuán·lǜ looping · {regulation → [style of poetry]} → [melody] 旋律),
Qīngchūn (Qīng·chūn {being green → [youth]} · spring → [youth] 青春) huì (will 会 會) xiàng (like 像/象) hé (river 河) bēnliú (bēn·liú rush · flow 奔流) bùxī (bù·xī not · {being ceasing} → [unceasingly] 不息).

Interestingly, this passage of the Mandarin lyrics is more poetic—or lyrical, since we are dealing with lyrics—than is strictly required to correspond to the original English lyrics in meaning. Here is a translation of these Mandarin lyrics back into English:

When righteousness shines on the horizon,
Compose peace’s melody,
Youth will like a rushing river flow unceasingly.

“Pǔ ({register or record for reference} [→ [musical notation [→ [set to music; compose (music)]] | sth. to base oneself on | table; chart; list | guide; manual | standards | airs; pretensions | spectrum (physics)]] 谱 譜)” corresponds with “compose” in the above back translation. This Mandarin expression seems to basically mean “register or record for reference”, and it also has several effective meanings other than “compose”, depending on the context. One of these effective meanings is “musical notation”, such as when it’s used in “jiǎnpǔ (jiǎn·pǔ simple · {register or record for reference → [musical notation]} → [numbered musical notation] 简谱 簡譜)”, which refers to a type of simple numbered musical notation that many Chinese people are familiar with. (In fact, a jiǎnpǔ (jiǎn·pǔ simple · {register or record for reference → [musical notation]} → [numbered musical notation] 简谱 簡譜) version of the “Sing Out Joyfully” to Jehovah book is available on jw.org.)

Music and Mandarin Tones

Another effective meaning that “pǔ ({register or record for reference} [→ [musical notation [→ [set to music; compose (music)]] | sth. to base oneself on | table; chart; list | guide; manual | standards | airs; pretensions | spectrum (physics)]] 谱 譜)” can have is “spectrum”. So, it seems that this can also be considered a kind of pǔ ({register or record for reference} [→ [musical notation [→ [set to music; compose (music)]] | sth. to base oneself on | table; chart; list | guide; manual | standards | airs; pretensions | spectrum (physics)]] 谱 譜):

Chart showing the relative changes in pitch for the four tones of Mandarin Chinese

Chart showing the relative changes in pitch for the four tones of Mandarin Chinese
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License logo Wereon

Tones in Mandarin are made of pitch, something that is also an important concept in music. It is not surprising, then, that being musically inclined can help one in learning Mandarin. Does that mean that one must be a musical genius to master Mandarin? Not at all! There are about a billion people in China who speak Mandarin just fine, and they can’t all be musical geniuses.

Music, Tones, and Talent

While some are definitely more naturally talented with music or with languages (or with both) than others, talent is far from being the only factor in how well one can come to make music, or learn a tonal language like Mandarin.

As an example, many years ago, early in my own musical journey, I was in a music store trying to tune a guitar by myself. I was trying my best, but I was having a hard time telling which pitches were higher and which were lower—my pitch-discriminating “muscles” were still quite undeveloped. I was doing so poorly that a nearby employee of the music store was imploring me to just let him tune the guitar! Because of my love of music and my determination, though, over time I kept working on improving my ability to distinguish different pitches, and eventually I improved greatly.

I also remember that when I was a young kid in the local Cantonese congregation in an English-speaking country, there was a time when my Bible teacher was putting me through exercises in recognizing different Cantonese tones, and I was doing terribly, not being able to tell which tones were which. Now, though, after acquiring information such as that in the graph above about the nature of the tones, and after ongoing effort and practice over time, my tone-discriminating abilities are much more highly developed, and I can instantly tell which Cantonese or Mandarin tones are which.

Propaganda and Misinformation vs. Truth

Keep in mind, though, that improving the sound of your Mandarin requires focusing on exactly that—the sound of your Mandarin. I have observed that many, influenced by worldly propaganda and misinformation, unfortunately focus instead on the visible Chinese characters, resulting in the invisible sound of their spoken Mandarin being neglected. However, modern linguistics (language science) and God’s Word the Bible both testify that the truth is that speech is actually the real primary aspect of language.—1 Corinthians 14:8–11.

In contrast to the time when I was following the crowd and focusing on characters, I have found that switching to using Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) as much as possible has helped me to properly focus on the sound of Mandarin. (Matthew 7:13, 14) After I made that switch, people began saying that I sound like a native Mandarin-speaker, whereas no one had ever said that back when I was focused on characters.

Moving Forward Surprisingly Much

So, while I know that others are more talented at music and at Mandarin than I am, I have been able to put whatever talent I have to good use and improve greatly at both music and Mandarin, by continuing to study them and to work at them with the help of the available tools and resources. Regarding Mandarin specifically, I have also been helped to greatly improve by learning to recognize worldly propaganda and misinformation about it, which enables me to avoid being misled by these.

If you continue to study Mandarin and to work on learning it for the Mandarin field out of love, if you continue to take advantage of the available resources and tools like Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), and if you avoid being misled by worldly propaganda and misinformation, then with the blessing and the help of Jehovah, the Source of music, language, talent, etc., you can also greatly improve, perhaps even to an extent that would surprise your past self!

For convenience:

The direct link for the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resource for the “Sing Out Joyfully” book is:

The short link for Chinese field language-learning links for the “Sing Out Joyfully” book 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 “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.