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Zàowù‐Zhǔ

Zàowù‐Zhǔ ((Zào·wù Created · Things 造物)‐(Zhǔ Master 主) → [Creator]) 👈🏼 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 had just recently featured the article “How Can You Decide?”, from the No. 3 2021 issue of Awake! magazine. The title of this issue, in English and in Mandarin, is as follows:

English:

Should You Believe in a Creator?—You Decide

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Zhēnde (Zhēn·de Really · ’s 真的) Yǒu ({(There) Is Having} → [(There) Exists] 有) Zàowù‐Zhǔ ((Zào·wù Created · Things 造物)‐(Zhǔ Master 主) → [Creator]) Ma ([? ptcl for “yes/no” questions] 吗 嗎)? Nǐ (You 你) Néng (Can 能) Zhǎodào (Zhǎo·dào {Look For (and)} · {Arrive At} → [Find] 找到) Dá’àn (Dá’·àn Answering · {Long, Narrow Table or Desk → [Set of Information]} → [Answer] 答案)

As can be seen from the above example, “Zàowù‐Zhǔ ((Zào·wù Created · Things 造物)‐(Zhǔ Master 主) → [Creator])”, this week’s MEotW, is the Mandarin expression meaning “Creator”. And, as can be seen from this expression’s Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus “flashcard”, the literal meanings of its constituent morphemes come together to mean something like “Master (or Lord) Who Created All Things”.

“Did They Give You Evidence”?

A couple more examples of “Zàowù‐Zhǔ ((Zào·wù Created · Things 造物)‐(Zhǔ Master 主) → [Creator])” in use can be found in the second paragraph of the above-mentioned article from the No. 3 2021 issue of Awake!:

English:

Your schoolteachers may have confidently stated that the universe and life in it arose spontaneously, that no Creator was involved. But did your teachers provide you with evidence that a Creator does not exist? On the other hand, you may have heard religious leaders preach that there is a Creator. But did they give you evidence to back up their claim? Or did they ask you to accept their statement as a matter of “faith” or doctrine?

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Xuéxiào (Xué·xiào {learning (place) → [school]} · school 学校 學校) lǎoshī (lǎo·shī {old → [experienced]} · teachers → [teachers] 老师 老師) yěxǔ (yě·xǔ {on the whole} · maybe 也许 也許) huì (will 会 會) hěn (very 很) kěndìng (kěn·dìng agreeing · {to be set} → [being certain] 肯定) de (-ly 地) gàosu (tell 告诉 告訴) nǐ (you 你), yǔzhòu (yǔ·zhòu universe · {all time, past, present, and future} → [universe] 宇宙) hé ({(together) with} → [and] 和 和/龢) shēngmìng (life 生命) dōu (both 都) shì (were 是) pèngqiǎo (pèng·qiǎo {having bumped into} · {being coincidental} → [by chance] 碰巧) chǎnshēng (chǎn·shēng {given birth to → [produced]} · {given birth to → [caused to exist]} → [brought into being] 产生 產生) de ({’s (things)} 的), gēnběn (gēn·běn {root (of a plant)} · {root or stem of a plant} → [fundamentally] 根本) jiù (then 就) méiyǒu (méi·yǒu not · {did have} → [did not have] 没有 沒有) Zàowù‐Zhǔ ((Zào·wù Created · Things 造物)‐(Zhǔ Master 主) → [Creator]). Dàn (but 但) tāmen (tā·men he/she · [pl] → [they] 他们 他們) yǒu (had (or) 有) méiyǒu (méi·yǒu not · had → [had not] 没有 沒有) xiàng (to 向 向/曏/嚮) nǐ (you 你) tíchū (tí·chū {carried (hanging down from the hand) → [raised] → [referred to]} · out 提出) zhèngjù (evidence 证据 證/証據) ne ([? ptcl] 呢)? Lìng (another 另) yì (one 一) fāngmiàn (fāng·miàn {direction → [side]} · face → [aspect] 方面), yìxiē (yì·xiē one · {indefinite number of} → [some] 一些) zōngjiào (zōng·jiào {school of thought} · teaching → [religious] 宗教) rénshì (rén·shì persons · {persons trained in a certain field} → [personages] 人士) zhǔzhāng (zhǔ·zhāng advocate · spread → [maintain] 主张 主張) yǒu ({(there) is having} → [(there) exists] 有) yí (one 一) wèi ({place of a} → [mw for persons] 位) Zàowù‐Zhǔ ((Zào·wù Created · Things 造物)‐(Zhǔ Master 主) → [Creator]). Dàn (but 但) tāmen (tā·men he/she · [pl] → [they] 他们 他們) tígōng (tí·gōng {did carry (hanging down from the hand) → [did raise]} · {did provide} 提供) zhèngjù (evidence 证据 證/証據) le ({to completion} 了) ma ([? ptcl for “yes/no” questions] 吗 嗎)? Háishi (Hái·shi {still more → [or]} · {was (it) that} 还是 還是) zhǐshì (zhǐ·shì (they) merely · were 只是) gàosu (telling 告诉 告訴) nǐ (you 你), “xìn (believing 信)” jiù (then 就) gòule (gòu·le {is enough} · {to completion} 够了 夠了) ne ([? ptcl] 呢)?

A Big Presence in the Teaching Toolbox

It’s worth noting that the No. 3 2021 issue of Awake! is currently in the Teaching Toolbox in the JW Library app. That means that as of this writing, 3 out of the 6 books or brochures in the Teaching Toolbox—fully one half of them—are focused on the subject of creation/evolution. Additionally, the Enjoy Life Forever! book, one of the other publications in the Teaching Toolbox, has an entire lesson on the subject “How Did Life Begin?”. This big presence in the Teaching Toolbox of material focused on creation/evolution reflects a recent heavy emphasis on this issue on the part of the organization.

Indeed, for people in general to find real spiritual truth and make real spiritual progress, the question of the Creator’s existence is the first basic question that needs to be answered well in their minds, otherwise they are left with just the conflicting opinions, speculations, and platitudes of mere limited, imperfect humans. As Proverbs 9:10 says:

The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom,
And knowledge of the Most Holy One is understanding.

In the Mandarin field in particular, it is especially necessary to focus on the issue of the Creator’s existence, because current worldly Chinese culture has particularly heavily predisposed many Mandarin-speakers to not believe in a Creator.

At the same time, the worldwide Mandarin field is by far the largest language field in the world, and it’s likely that it is the largest language field ever in history.

Chart: Languages by First-Language Speakers—2019

So, the need is especially great for Mandarin field language learners to be able to help Mandarin-speakers overcome their cultural backgrounds and cultivate faith in the Creator!

Creation/Evolution, and Also the Great Wall of Characters

However, I suspect that even in their mother tongue, many Mandarin field language learners would be hesitant to discuss creation/evolution, since it is an especially deeply technical subject. Adding the requirement to conduct the discussion in Mandarin, which has traditionally been written using the extraordinarily complex Chinese characters, to many just makes an already daunting task seem even more undoable.

The Great Wall of China

In addition to the inherent technical difficulty of the subject of creation/evolution, Mandarin field language learners also face the Great Wall of characters.

To help with this formidable challenge, the organization’s official Mandarin digital material for the No. 3 2021 issue of Awake!, and for the Was Life Created? and Origin of Life brochures, is available with Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音). Additionally, unofficial Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material—specifically designed, not to be spiritual food, but for helping Mandarin field language learners to get past the Great Wall of characters and actually learn to understand and speak the Mandarin they need—is available for the Was Life Created? and Origin of Life brochures, and will soon be available for the No. 3 2021 issue of Awake! too. For updates on these Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resources, keep an eye on this blog, on the Links News blog, and on the related account on the social network of your choice listed on this blog’s Contact page.

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Culture Language Learning Languages Science

Zhōngwén

Zhōngwén (Zhōng·wén {Central → [Chinese]} · Writing 中文) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

[This is a reposting of a post that was originally posted on October 26, 2020. It’s about something that is fundamentally important for Mandarin field language learners to understand correctly.]

As discussed in a previous MEotW, the expression “Zhōngguó (Zhōng·guó Central · Nation → [China] 中国 中國)” is commonly used to refer to China, since historically, China views itself as the centre of the world, so much so, in fact, that it is the only nation to name itself as such. We can see then that Mandarin expressions starting with “Zhōng (Central → [Chinese] 中)-” can refer to things related to China.

In that case then, are “Zhōnghuà (Zhōng·huà {Central → [Chinese]} · Speech 中话 中話)” or “Zhōngyǔ (Zhōng·yǔ {Central → [Chinese]} · Language 中语 中語)” used to refer to any Chinese language, similarly to how “pǔtōnghuà (pǔ·tōng·huà common; universal · {through(out) → [common]} · speech → [(Modern Standard) Mandarin (term commonly used in China)] 普通话 普通話)” and “Guóyǔ (Guó·yǔ National · Language → [(Modern Standard) Mandarin (term commonly used in Taiwan)] 国语 國語)” are used to refer to Mandarin? Apparently not, according to my dictionaries.

Instead, Chinese people commonly use “Zhōngwén (Zhōng·wén {Central → [Chinese]} · Writing 中文)”—this week’s MEotW—to mean “Chinese language”. It should be noted, though, that although “Zhōngwén (Zhōng·wén {Central → [Chinese]} · Writing 中文)” is often used to refer to Chinese speech (e.g., in “shuō (speak 说 說/説) Zhōngwén (Zhōng·wén {Central → [Chinese]} · Writing 中文)” (“speak Chinese”)), “wén (writing; script [→ [language | culture]] 文)” really means “writing”.

Why do so many Chinese people thus conflate writing with speech and language, when they, while related, are really distinctly different things? This seems to be a symptom of the deeply ingrained Chinese cultural conceit that the Chinese characters are the primary aspect of the Chinese languages—to many Chinese people, the characters are the language. This is contrary to the principle recognized by modern linguists (language scientists) that speech is the primary aspect of any language, not writing. The truth of this basic linguistic principle is shown by the fact that many languages don’t even have a writing system, showing that the required foundation of a language is its speech, not its writing.

Our Creator himself touches on this matter in his Word the Bible:

8 For if the trumpet sounds an indistinct call, who will get ready for battle? 9 In the same way, unless you with the tongue use speech that is easily understood, how will anyone know what is being said? You will, in fact, be speaking into the air. 10 It may be that there are many kinds of speech in the world, and yet no kind is without meaning. 11 For if I do not understand the sense of the speech, I will be a foreigner to the one speaking, and the one speaking will be a foreigner to me.—1 Corinthians 14:8–11.

Yes, Jehovah God himself, the One who designed us with our ability to use language, emphasizes the primary importance of understandable speech when it comes to communicating with people, especially when communicating about the potentially life-saving good news of the Kingdom.

Chinese people, however, often have the mistaken view, based on nothing more than deeply ingrained human tradition and not a little cultural pride, that their characters writing system is the primary aspect of the Chinese languages. So, we must take that into consideration when they or people deferring to them erroneously tell us, with all sincerity, that we need to focus first on Chinese characters in our efforts to learn one or more of the Chinese languages. The truth, as testified to by both real language experts among humans and by the Creator himself, is that speech—both understanding speech and speaking understandably—should be our primary focus as Chinese field language-learners.

Regarding the expression “Zhōngwén (Zhōng·wén {Central → [Chinese]} · Writing 中文)”, another thing I have noticed is that when Mandarin-speakers say “Zhōngwén (Zhōng·wén {Central → [Chinese]} · Writing 中文)”, they mean Mandarin speech, but when Cantonese-speakers say “Zhōngwén (Zhōng·wén {Central → [Chinese]} · Writing 中文)” in Cantonese, they mean Cantonese speech. As a Chinese person, I must reluctantly admit that with such habits, and with naming their nation “Zhōngguó (Zhōng·guó Central · Nation → [China] 中国 中國)”, the central nation of the world, many Chinese people have taken quite far the tendency of imperfect humans to consider themselves the centre of the universe!

Categories
Current Events Experiences History Language Learning Technology Theocratic

lìliang

lìliang (lì·liang power; strength; force · quantity 力量) 👈🏼 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.]

One of the publications that is now recommended to be used on Bible studies is the Yǒngyuǎn Xiǎngshòu Měihǎo de Shēngmìng—Hùdòng Shì Shèngjīng Kèchéng ((Yǒng·yuǎn Eternally · {Far (in Time)} 永远 永遠) (Xiǎng·shòu Enjoy · Receive 享受) (Měi·hǎo Beautiful · Good 美好) (de ’s 的) (Shēngmìng Life 生命)—(Hù·dòng {Each Other} · Moving → [Interactive] 互动 互動) (Shì (Type 式) (Shèng·jīng Holy · Scriptures → [Bible] 圣经 聖經) (Kè·chéng Lessons · Procedure → [Course] 课程 課程) → [Enjoy Life Forever!—An Interactive Bible Course (lff)]) (Enjoy Life Forever! (lff)) book. An outstanding feature of this book is its extensive use of the post-paper technology of video, which enables information to be presented much more vividly than could be done with paper. Also, at this time, one of the unique features of Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material is Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus video transcripts. These can help us Mandarin field language learners to analyze and understand the Mandarin speech used in the many videos referenced in the Mandarin Enjoy Life Forever! book. This in turn can help us make more effective use of these videos while participating in Mandarin Bible discussions using this book.

This week’s MEotW, “lìliang (lì·liang power; strength; force · quantity 力量)”, occurs in subtitle 69 of the transcript for the video for lesson 16, point 6 of the Mandarin Enjoy Life Forever! book:

English:

Someone touched me,

for I know that power went out of me.

Mandarin:

68
00:03:30,620 → 00:03:32,038
📖 📄 📘 Yídìng (Yí·dìng {(with) one} · {setting fixedly} → [definitely] 一定) yǒurén (yǒu·rén {(there) was having → [(there) was]} · person (who) 有人) mō (touched 摸) wǒ (me 我)—

69
00:03:32,038 → 00:03:34,207
📖 📄 📘 wǒ (I 我) juéde (jué·de {to wake to → [to feel]} · got → [got to feel] 觉得 覺得) yǒu ({(there) was having} → [(there) was] 有) lìliang (lì·liang power · quantity 力量) cóng (from 从 從) wǒ (me 我) shēnshang (shēn·shang {body → [self]} · upon 身上) chūqu (chū·qu {having gone out} · {to go} 出去).

Here, “lìliang (lì·liang power; strength; force · quantity 力量)” is used as the Mandarin word for “power”. Speaking of God’s power and the vocabulary used to talk about it in Mandarin, “lìliang (lì·liang power; strength; force · quantity 力量)” appears in “shénshèng lìliang ((shén·shèng godly · holy 神圣 神聖) (lì·liang force · quantity 力量) → [holy spirit])”, the expression currently used in the publications of Jehovah’s organization to translate “holy spirit”. (Interestingly, comparing the English and Mandarin (WOL, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus) versions of song 112 in the “Sing Out Joyfully” book, we see that there, “we ask you for your spirit” is translated as “kěnqiú (kěn·qiú (we) earnestly · request 恳求 懇求) nǐ (you 你) cìyǔ ({to give} 赐予/与 賜予/與) lìliang (lì·liang force · quantity → [(as per the English lyrics, this may be an abbr. for shénshèng lìliang (holy spirit))] 力量)”. I suppose it’s possible, though, that this apparent abbreviation of “shénshèng lìliang ((shén·shèng godly · holy 神圣 神聖) (lì·liang force · quantity 力量) → [holy spirit])” to “lìliang (lì·liang force · quantity → [(this may be an abbr. for shénshèng lìliang (holy spirit), e.g., in the lyrics for song 112)] 力量)” was just something done to fit the song’s rhythm.)

“Power Had Gone Out of Him”

The above-mentioned video—and the Bible account it was based on—simply refers to “power”, translated into Mandarin as “lìliang (lì·liang power; strength; force · quantity 力量)”. However, considering the miraculously beneficial results of this flow of “power”, much more must have been involved than what humans typically think of when they think of power.

Power flowing out of Jesus may make some imagine something happening like what happens when contact is made that completes a circuit with a battery, like when one tries to jump-start a car. When that’s done properly and the power flows, the result can be the safe and gratifying starting up of the previously unstartable car. I once had an experience, though, that didn’t go as expected, when I helped to jump-start an old Nissan that for some reason had the colours on its battery posts reversed from the usual practice, such that the post that I thought was the negative post was actually the positive post, and vice versa. The result in that case was a runaway flow of power that caused the jumper cable to rapidly heat up and catch fire! (Fortunately, I was able to grab a long wooden stick I had in the trunk of my car for chipping away at road ice, and use it to forcibly break the cable, which by then had been weakened by the extreme heat.)

So, power alone is not enough to ensure good results. Indeed, power alone can destroy rather than make things better. Besides my misadventure with that confusingly designed car battery, another obvious example is what happened when huge amounts of power were released by the explosions of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

In the case of the sick woman who touched Jesus’ outer garments, Jesus only knew that “power had gone out of him”—he didn’t know this woman and didn’t understand her situation until she explained things to him after the fact. So, even without Jesus’ active participation and direction, the “power” that went out from him displayed

  • recognition of the woman’s faith and of the rightness of helping her, even if she was technically in violation of the Mosaic Law,
  • understanding of the nature of her sickness and of the technical process required to completely and immediately heal her of it,
  • and willingness to help her in this way.

Power, Beneficially Applied

It is evident from what happened in this situation that, as corroborated by the rest of God’s Word, God’s almighty power is always used along with his abundant justice, wisdom, and love—it never runs amok on its own, like a runaway electric current or an exploding bomb.

While humans in Satan’s world continue to fight wars and otherwise hungrily seek power for its own sake, it’s good to know of Jehovah God’s unmatched power, and of how he always uses it justly, wisely, and lovingly. In the Mandarin field, we have the privilege of helping people in what’s probably the largest language field ever to also come to an appreciation of the impressive and moving ways in which Jehovah God uses power.

Chart: Languages by First-Language Speakers—2019

For convenience:

The direct link for the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resource for the Enjoy Life Forever! book is:

The short link for Chinese field language-learning links for the Enjoy Life Forever! 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 Enjoy Life Forever! book will be made available in the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web resource as time allows.