Category: Science

Categories
Language Learning Science Technology Theocratic

wùzhǒng

wùzhǒng (wù·zhǒng {thing → [creature]} · species → [species] 物种 物種) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

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.

Feeling Unqualified?

Whether or not a Creator exists is one of the first questions that needs to be settled in order for one to make spiritual progress, and these days, much scientific or technical information, both accurate and inaccurate, is available in connection with this question. So, it would be good for us to try our best to get conversant with such scientific or technical information.

However, perhaps some hesitate to discuss scientific or technical subjects in their ministry (especially in their Mandarin ministry), because of feeling unqualified, or not “smart” enough. Even practising professionals in technical industries such as web or app development, etc., sometimes talk about being affected by impostor syndrome, so it wouldn’t be surprising if some of us in the Mandarin field who have neither been highly educated about science nor systematically trained on Mandarin may feel like impostors when confronting the prospect of speaking to people in Mandarin about scientific subjects.

The Bible contains many examples of ones who similarly felt unqualified to do what Jehovah directed them to do, such as Moses, Gideon, Amos, Jeremiah, etc. However, despite them feeling unqualified, Jehovah provided them with the help and support required for them to ultimately accomplish what he wanted them to accomplish. Also, David coming off victorious against Goliath is a classic example of someone who, because of Jehovah’s help, succeeded in spite of appearing unqualified from a human viewpoint.

The article “Do Not Limit Yourself​—Overcoming Feelings of Inadequacy”, from the November 2012 Kingdom Ministry, makes some good points that can help us if we feel unqualified to participate in some aspect of our God-given ministry. It’s focused on the Bible study activity in general, but the points it makes can also apply to, say, speaking to people in Mandarin about evolution and creation.

Related Mandarin Resources

Speaking of speaking to people in Mandarin about evolution and creation, helping us to do so is the official Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) material for 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 for 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 that Jehovah’s organization has made available. Also, some related unofficial 3-line and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material is also available, as detailed at the tiandi.info/lc short link for Chinese language-learning resources for the Was Life Created? brochure. (Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material and a short link for the Origin of Life brochure are also in the works.)

This blog will also seek to help out by occasionally discussing expressions that appear in the Mandarin versions of the Was Life Created? brochure and the Origin of Life brochure. One such expression is this week’s MEotW, “wùzhǒng (wù·zhǒng {thing → [creature]} · species → [species] 物种 物種)”, which is used to translate the English word “species”.

Species and Kinds in Mandarin

First, what does “species” even mean in English? One dictionary gives this definition:

Biology A group of closely related organisms that are very similar to each other and are usually capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.

Now, consider this footnote in the Was Life Created? brochure that discusses how “species” compares to the term “kind” that’s used in the Bible’s Genesis account:

While the word “species” is used frequently in this section, it should be noted that this term is not found in the Bible book of Genesis. There we find the term “kind,” which is much broader in meaning. Often, what scientists choose to call the evolution of a new species is simply a matter of variation within a “kind,” as the word is used in the Genesis account.

With the above in mind, note that the Was Life Created? brochure (Mandarin version © 2010, 2023-02 Printing) uses “wùzhǒng (wù·zhǒng {thing → [creature]} · species → [species] 物种 物種)” to translate “species”, and it uses the “lèi ({kind; type; class; category; genus [of]} | {resemble; be similar to} 类 類)” in “rénlèi (rén·lèi human/man·kind 人类 人類)” to translate “kinds”, as referred to in the Bible book of Genesis.

In comparison, worldly dictionaries like those that can be viewed in the Pleco app join the Was Life Created? brochure in presenting “Wùzhǒng Qǐyuán ((Wù·zhǒng {Thing → [Creature]} · Species’ → [Species’] 物种 物種) (Qǐ·yuán {Rising → [Starting]} · Source → [Origin] 起源/原) → [Origin of Species])” as the Mandarin translation of “Origin of Species”, the famous book by Charles Darwin. Also, note that in the Mandarin translation of this passage:

The Bible word “kinds” is not a scientific term, but it seems to refer to broad divisions of life-forms. Thus, a single “kind” may include many species or varieties.

the 2021 Awake, No. 3 uses “zhǒnglèi (zhǒng·lèi {{species [of]} | {seed; strain; breed [of]} | {type [of]}; {kind [of]}} · {kind; type; class; category; genus [of]} 种类 種類)” to translate “species”, and it follows the current Mandarin New World Translation Bible (nwtsty) in using “lèibié (lèi·bié kind; type; class; category; genus · differentiated → [classification; category; kind] 类别 類別)” to translate “kinds”. (Compare Genesis 1:24, 25 in English and Mandarin.) Also, in case you ever encounter “pǐnzhǒng (pǐn·zhǒng product · variety → [breed; strain; variety] 品种 品種)”, that’s what this issue of Awake! uses to translate “varieties”.

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:

The short link for Chinese field language-learning links 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.

Categories
Culture History Language Learning Science

tóngbèi yālì

tóngbèi (tóng·bèi (from people of the) same · generation → [peer] 同辈 同輩)
yālì (yā·lì pressing · force → [pressure] 压力 壓力) ← 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 a video with the following title, which includes this week’s MEotW, “tóngbèi (tóng·bèi (from people of the) same · generation → [peer] 同辈 同輩) yālì (yā·lì pressing · force → [pressure] 压力 壓力)”, in the Mandarin text:

English:

Stand Up to Peer Pressure!

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Xiàng (To 向 向/曏/嚮) Tóngbèi (Tóng·bèi (from People of the) Same · Generation → [Peer] 同辈 同輩) Yālì (Yā·lì Pressing · Force → [Pressure] 压力 壓力) Shuō (Say 说 說/説) Bù (No 不)!

Morphemic Breakdown

In “tóngbèi (tóng·bèi (from people of the) same · generation → [peer] 同辈 同輩) yālì (yā·lì pressing · force → [pressure] 压力 壓力)”, “tóng (same; similar | {together [with]}; {in common} 同 同/仝)” means “same”, and “bèi (generation | lifetime | {people of a certain kind}; class 辈 輩)” means “generation”. Additionally, in this context, we can consider it to be implied that the “tóngbèi (tóng·bèi (from people of the) same · generation → [peer] 同辈 同輩)” effectively means “(from people of the) same generation”, or “peer”, used as an adjective.

As for the “yālì (yā·lì pressing · force → [pressure] 压力 壓力)”, in this expression, “yā (press; {push/hold down} [→ [control; quell]] 压 壓)” means “pressing”, and “lì (power; strength; force [→ [ability]] | forcefully 力)” means “force”. So, “yālì (yā·lì pressing · force → [pressure] 压力 壓力)” here effectively means “pressure”, and thus “tóngbèi (tóng·bèi (from people of the) same · generation → [peer] 同辈 同輩) yālì (yā·lì pressing · force → [pressure] 压力 壓力)” effectively means “peer pressure”.

As mentioned in the MEotW post on “shǔlíng (shǔ·líng {(in the) category (of)} · spirit → [spiritual (nwtsty-CHS Appx. A2 notes change from “shǔlíng” to “xīnlíng”, etc.)] 属灵 屬靈) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war; warfare] 战争 戰爭)”, Satan and his underlings undoubtedly continue to view peer pressure as a highly effective spiritual weapon of mass destruction for them.

Should We Fear the Dead?

What do dead people have to do with peer pressure? As ones educated in Bible truth, we know that the dead are not conscious, so they can no longer affect those of us who are living, right? (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10) Well, they can if we let them, as illuminated by this English saying:

Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people.

Yes, while many may assume that peer pressure is mainly just a problem that affects young people who have not yet come into their own as individuals with their own minds and hearts, the truth is that people of all ages who follow traditions handed down from those who came before us are going along with peer pressure from these dead people—they all did x so we also do x. Sometimes, such following of tradition can be good, just as some peer pressure can be positive. However, just as peer pressure to smoke, to take drugs, to engage in nationalistic, immoral, or false religious practices, etc. is bad, some traditions can be bad too.

Peer Pressure and Chinese Characters

Since Chinese characters are the oldest continuously used writing system, lots and lots of tradition has accumulated around them, that is, lots and lots of peer pressure from lots and lots of dead people. However, even with this exceptional weight of tradition, is there any more reason to go along with the traditions associated with characters than there is to go along with any other traditions or peer pressure from imperfect humans in Satan’s world? No! For example, the exceptional weight of tradition involving Christmas, so beloved and celebrated by so many for so long, does not make it any less problematic for God’s true people.

汉字 / 漢字? Pīnyīn?

Regarding characters and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), after decades of learning Mandarin for the Mandarin field and several years of research into how first principles of linguistics apply to such learning, the advice I now give is: Use the simple, elegant Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) system when you can, and just use the unnecessarily extraordinarily complex characters when you have to.

That advice may be contrary to the traditional consensus of thousands of years’ worth of dead people, as well as that of most living people, but as Jesus taught us, the wide road can lead to a bad place, and the narrow road can be the one that leads to a good place. To walk such a narrow road when most are on the corresponding wide road, we need to overcome peer pressure, whether it comes from the living or it comes from the dead in the form of tradition.—Matthew 7:13, 14.

Categories
Culture History Science Technology Theocratic

jìnhuà lùn

jìnhuà (jìn·huà {to advance} · transforming → [evolution] 进化 進化)
lùn (discussing → [theory; doctrine] 论 論) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

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

For most of human history, people in general believed that life was created. Of course it was, because how else could the wonderful, extraordinarily complex thing that is life have come into existence? The very first part of the Bible contains an account of how God created life, and many ancient peoples had their creation myths. (The ancient Chinese seem to have had several creation myths.) Eventually, though, the idea represented in English by the word “evolution” and in Mandarin by this week’s MEotW “jìnhuà (jìn·huà {to advance} · transforming → [evolution] 进化 進化) lùn (discussing → [theory; doctrine] 论 論)” came to grow in popularity in this world that’s alienated from God.—Ephesians 4:17, 18.

Screenshot of the CHS+Py _Was Life Created?_ brochure on the Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY, with _“Jìnhuàlùn”_ circled

How It Breaks Down

The “jìn ({advance; enter [into; in]} 进 進)” in “jìnhuà (jìn·huà {to advance} · transforming → [evolution] 进化 進化)” is also used in “jìnbù (jìn·bù {advancing [of]} · steps → [progress[ing]; advancing; improvement] 进步 進步)”, and it means “to advance”.

The “huà (change; transform; convert [→ [melt; dissolve; thaw | abbr. for huàxué (chemistry)]] 化)” in “jìnhuà (jìn·huà {to advance} · transforming → [evolution] 进化 進化)” is also used in “qiánghuà (qiáng·huà {to be strong} · transform → [strengthen] 强化 強化)” (“strengthen”), and it basically means “to transform”. Interestingly, this “huà (change; transform; convert [→ [melt; dissolve; thaw | abbr. for huàxué (chemistry)]] 化)” also occurs in “wénhuà (wén·huà {(with) writing} · transformed (system) → [culture] | {(with) writing} · transformed → [cultural] 文化)” (“culture”), which seems to literally mean “(system) transformed by writing”.

As for the “lùn (discussing → [theory; doctrine] 论 論)” in “jìnhuà (jìn·huà {to advance} · transforming → [evolution] 进化 進化) lùn (discussing → [theory; doctrine] 论 論)”, it basically means “to discuss”, as it does in “tǎolùn (discussing [→ [discussion]] 讨论 討論)”, and it can effectively mean “theory; doctrine”.

On one level, then, the way that the expression “jìnhuà (jìn·huà {to advance} · transforming → [evolution] 进化 進化) lùn (discussing → [theory; doctrine] 论 論)” works is that it’s “the theory of transforming to advance”.

How It’s Going

A while ago, I saw a video on the Internet in which the presenter pointed out that in science, “theory” does not mean the same as it does in regular usage. As Wikipedia summarizes in its article on scientific theories:

A scientific theory differs from a scientific fact or scientific law in that a theory explains “why” or “how”: a fact is a simple, basic observation, whereas a law is a statement (often a mathematical equation) about a relationship between facts and/or other laws. For example, Newton’s Law of Gravity is a mathematical equation that can be used to predict the attraction between bodies, but it is not a theory to explain how gravity works.[source] Stephen Jay Gould wrote that “…facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world’s data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts.”[source]

The meaning of the term scientific theory (often contracted to theory for brevity) as used in the disciplines of science is significantly different from the common vernacular usage of theory.[source][source] In everyday speech, theory can imply an explanation that represents an unsubstantiated and speculative guess,[source] whereas in a scientific context it most often refers to an explanation that has already been tested and is widely accepted as valid.[source][source]

How It Could, and Will, End Up

Note, though, the statements that follow in that Wikipedia article:

The strength of a scientific theory is related to the diversity of phenomena it can explain and its simplicity. As additional scientific evidence is gathered, a scientific theory may be modified and ultimately rejected if it cannot be made to fit the new findings; in such circumstances, a more accurate theory is then required.

Yes, while a scientific theory like evolution may be considered by some to be having some evidence supporting it, in true science, it may also end up being disproven and thus rejected after new evidence comes to light. As suggested by the basic meaning of the “lùn (discussing → [theory; doctrine] 论 論)” in “jìnhuà (jìn·huà {to advance} · transforming → [evolution] 进化 進化) lùn (discussing → [theory; doctrine] 论 論)”, a scientific theory is an ongoing discussion, not a sealed, unalterable conclusion.

Let us be positive and courageous then, in discussing with Mandarin-speaking people the evidence presented 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 in 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. If the ones we speak to are truly scientific people, as well as being humble people, they will consider the evidence with open minds, and not just dogmatically stick to believing in evolution simply because it’s a currently accepted scientific theory.

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:

The short link for Chinese field language-learning links 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.