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Culture Current Events Language Learning Theocratic

shǔlíng zhànzhēng

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) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

Lately, the organzation has often been using “xīnlíng (xīn·líng heart · spirit [→ [spiritual]] 心灵 心靈)” (MEotW post) where it used to use “shǔlíng (shǔ·líng {(in the) category (of)} · spirit → [spiritual (nwtsty-CHS Appx. A2 notes change from “shǔlíng” to “xīnlíng”, etc.)] 属灵 屬靈)”. I noticed that in at least one of the videos presented during this year’s Mandarin convention, for example. However, a recent search on the Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY for “心灵战争” (“xīnlíng (xīn·líng heart · spirit → [spiritual] 心灵 心靈) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war] 战争 戰爭)”, a possible translation for “spiritual war”) returns no results at all. Searching for “心灵 战争”, with a space between the two words, returns some results, but not for the complete expression “xīnlíng (xīn·líng heart · spirit → [spiritual] 心灵 心靈) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war; warfare] 战争 戰爭)”. So, it seems like for now at least, “xīnlíng (xīn·líng heart · spirit → [spiritual] 心灵 心靈) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war; warfare] 战争 戰爭)” is not an officially used thing. However, a search on the WOL for this week’s MEotW, “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)”, did return some fairly recent results, including one from the May 2018 Watchtower.

It may just be that the English expression “spiritual war” has not come up in the organization’s production pipeline for translation into Mandarin for a while. I suppose time will tell if “xīnlíng (xīn·líng heart · spirit → [spiritual] 心灵 心靈) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war; warfare] 战争 戰爭)” eventually becomes a replacement translation for “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)”. For now at least, it seems that “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)” is still a relatively currently used official translation of “spiritual war”.—Ephesians 6:11, 12; 2 Corinthians 10:4, 5.

[Note, 2023-07-26: While searching the WOL for “spiritual war” returned limited post-2018 results, a more advanced search suggested by a reader turned up some more recent results, with some interesting Mandarin translations that are different from “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)”. For more information, see the next MEotW post.]

Know the Enemy

Speaking of war, many would agree that there is wisdom in this quote from Sūn Zǐ ((Sūn {Grandson (surname)} 孙 孫) (Zǐ Son’s; Child’s; Offspring’s 子) → [Sun Tzu’s]) Bīngfǎ (Bīng·fǎ Soldier’s · Way → [Art of War] 兵法) (孫子兵法, The Art of War):

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

With that in mind, let us consider a hypothetical scene from the command centre of Satan and the demons for their spiritual war against Jehovah and against the truth, taking place some time in the early part of the 21st century:

***

The Other Side of the Mandarin Front

Satan: Our hated Enemy Jehovah is raising up more workers for the Mandarin field. What is the state of our defences in this largest language field of all?

Demon: There is a useful government in place in China, where about 95% of all the earth’s Chinese people live. This government is intent on and efficient at suppressing all conceivable threats to its power, including religions like that of Jehovah’s people, that refuse to obey it rather than their God. This government even has a project underway to rewrite the Bible so that it serves their interests, those cheeky darlings!

Culturally, many proud, long-standing, personally inhibiting traditions are in place, making it difficult for many Mandarin-speakers to accept the truth, or to progress spiritually or otherwise as individuals if they do. (The well-known English expression “save face” was, after all, derived from a Chinese expression.)

Speaking of defences, one outstanding set of proud Chinese cultural traditions that serves as a highly effective fortification blocking the way to potential Mandarin-speaking sheep is the Great Wall of Chinese characters. This inhumanly complex system imposes extraordinary costs in the time and effort required for the simple, everyday tasks of reading and writing Chinese languages like Mandarin.

The Great Wall of China

Chinese characters even put unnecessarily heavy mental loads on native speakers, causing even them to sometimes be unable to remember how to read or write even certain common characters. Unsurprisingly, then, this delightful ball and chain made of human tradition is especially highly effective at making things difficult for any whom Jehovah raises up from other language fields to work in the Mandarin field, poor unfortunate souls who have not already been learning characters all their lives.

We have observed that only about one in ten of such ones is able to cope well with the unnecessary difficulties imposed by characters. The rest struggle along at greatly reduced spiritual combat effectiveness, and the Great Wall of characters even ends up completely filtering out many who try to serve in the Mandarin field, causing them to eventually leave it and become Mandarin field casualties, as viewed by Jehovah’s side.

Satan: How about these efforts by some in Jehovah’s organization to get through and around the Great Wall of characters by making and using Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) resources? It seems that Jehovah’s organization now uses Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) more than any other organization on earth.

Demon: That may be so, but overall, the Great Wall of characters is holding. The traditions around Chinese characters are among the most deeply entrenched human cultural traditions in existence. So, Chinese characters remain the entrenched default writing system for Mandarin-speakers worldwide, and, as you know, the vast majority of humans simply accept the default systems that are presented to them, and don’t bother to think about how it could be worthwhile to find better ways of doing things. This works out great for us when people just unthinkingly adopt the religion of their parents or the morals of their peers, and it works great for us when it comes to the Great Wall of characters too.

As a result, even though Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) works fine as a simple and easy-to-use full writing system for Mandarin, and even though some in Jehovah’s organization have made extraordinary progress in making advantageous use of Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) remains a cultural outlier, and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) users continue to be ridiculed and pressured by the great majority whom we have successfully brainwashed regarding characters. Pride, tradition, and peer pressure continue to be highly effective spiritual weapons of mass destruction for us in the Mandarin field, as they are in other fronts of the spiritual war.

Satan: Excellent. There will always be pesky upstarts among Jehovah’s people who challenge the human traditions that serve us so gloriously well, and Jehovah may even help them, but it deeply satisfies my great unholy anger to see that we are keeping them suppressed so effectively. Carry on.

***

Don’t like seeing Satan’s spiritual war plans working out in the Mandarin field? Then fight back with spirit and truth and reject obstructive human traditions that make it much harder than necessary to serve God in the Mandarin field, “so that we may not be overreached by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his designs.”—John 4:23, 24; 2 Corinthians 2:11.

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.

Categories
Culture Current Events History Technology Theocratic

shèjiāo wǎngzhàn

shèjiāo wǎngzhàn ((shè·jiāo {god of the land → [society] → [social]} · {meeting → [associating]} → [social contact/interaction] 社交) (wǎng·zhàn {net → [web]} · {stand → [station]} → [website] 网站 網站) → [social networking website; social network]) ← 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 recently featured a video that was introduced with the following words, which included this week’s MEotW, “shèjiāo wǎngzhàn ((shè·jiāo {god of the land → [society] → [social]} · {meeting → [associating]} → [social contact/interaction] 社交) (wǎng·zhàn {net → [web]} · {stand → [station]} → [website] 网站 網站) → [social networking website; social network])”, in the Mandarin text:

English:

Be Social-Network Smart

Learn how to avoid the pitfalls of social networking.

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Zài (On 在) Shèjiāo Wǎngzhàn ((Shè·jiāo {God of the Land → [Society] → [Social]} · {Meeting → [Associating]} → [Social Contact/Interaction] 社交) (Wǎng·zhàn {Net → [Web]} · {Stands → [Stations]} → [Websites] 网站 網站) → [Social Networks]) Zuò (Be 做) ge ([mw] 个 個/个) Cōngming (Cōng·ming Intelligent · {Bright → [Understanding]} 聪明 聰明) Rén (Person 人)

📖 📄 📘 Lái (come 来 來) kànkan (kàn·kan see · see 看看) zěnyàng (zěn·yàng what · {pattern → [way]} → [how] 怎样 怎樣) cái ({only then} 才 才/纔) néng ({to be able} 能) bìmiǎn ({to avoid} 避免) diàojìn (diào·jìn falling · {to go into} 掉进 掉進) shèjiāo wǎngzhàn ((shè·jiāo {god of the land → [society] → [social]} · {meeting → [associating]} → [social contact/interaction] 社交) (wǎng·zhàn {net → [web]} · {stands → [stations]} → [websites] 网站 網站) → [social networks]) de (’ 的) xiànjǐng (xiàn·jǐng {to be fallen into} · pitfalls 陷阱).

In the above excerpts from jw.org, “shèjiāo wǎngzhàn ((shè·jiāo {god of the land → [society] → [social]} · {meeting → [associating]} → [social contact/interaction] 社交) (wǎng·zhàn {net → [web]} · {stand → [station]} → [website] 网站 網站) → [social networking website; social network])” means “social networks”. A quick search on the Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY reveals that the organization has been using “shèjiāo wǎngzhàn ((shè·jiāo {god of the land → [society] → [social]} · {meeting → [associating]} → [social contact/interaction] 社交) (wǎng·zhàn {net → [web]} · {stand → [station]} → [website] 网站 網站) → [social networking website; social network])” to translate “social networking sites”, “social networking”, etc. since at least about 2007, not long after the launch in 2004 of the huge, well-known social network Facebook.

Websites and Native Apps

While on one level of literalness “shèjiāo wǎngzhàn ((shè·jiāo {god of the land → [society] → [social]} · {meeting → [associating]} → [social contact/interaction] 社交) (wǎng·zhàn {net → [web]} · {stand → [station]} → [website] 网站 網站) → [social networking website; social network])” means “social website” or “social networking website”, and while technically social networks can often also be accessed using native apps, social networks often start out using websites, and these websites generally continue to be major ways to access these social networks after native apps for them become available. The important thing is that undoubtedly people who know Mandarin will generally understand that you are referring to a social network when you use “shèjiāo wǎngzhàn ((shè·jiāo {god of the land → [society] → [social]} · {meeting → [associating]} → [social contact/interaction] 社交) (wǎng·zhàn {net → [web]} · {stand → [station]} → [website] 网站 網站) → [social networking website; social network])”.

Websites on the World Wide Web can be accessed using web browsers, in which these websites basically work the same on different computing devices like Windows, Mac, and Linux desktop and laptop computers, iPhones and iPads, Android devices, etc. (In this old world’s technological Babel, it’s not always quite that simple, as an example discussed below illustrates, but perhaps amazingly, this is true now to a large extent.) Thus, a website can often be a single development target that provides at least the same basic functionality on many different computing platforms.

An app that is native to Windows/Mac/iPhone/Android/etc. can take advantage of the full performance of, as well as specific features of, the specific platform it is native to, and thus can be noticeably faster, nicer, etc. than a website designed for the lowest common denominator middleman that is the web environment. However, for a social network, developing a native app for each of several computing platforms is generally comparatively difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. Thus, social networks often start out by providing a website for people to use, and then they may or may not go on to develop native apps for particular computing platforms like the iPhone, Android, etc.

Alternate and Related Expressions

An alternate Mandarin term used to translate “social network”, which more literally matches its meaning, is “shèjiāo wǎngluò ((shè·jiāo {god of the land → [society] → [social]} · {meeting → [associating]} → [social contact/interaction] 社交) (wǎng·luò net · enmeshing → [network (computing, transport, etc.) (PRC)] 网络 網絡) → [(online) social network])”. A search on the Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY shows that the organization has also been using this term since at least 2007. Note that the organization has sometimes preceded this term with “zàixiàn (zài·xiàn on·line 在线 在線)”, which means “online”. This distinguishes online social networks from the more abstract social networks (which may or may not be online) studied in the social and behavioural sciences. (By the way, “wǎngluò (wǎng·luò net · enmeshing → [network (computing, transport, etc.) (PRC)] 网络 網絡)” is a PRC (People’s Republic of China) term. The corresponding term used in Taiwan is “wǎnglù (wǎng·lù net · road; path; way; route → [network (computing, transport, etc.) (Tw)] 网路 網路)”.)

An expression that is related to “shèjiāo wǎngzhàn ((shè·jiāo {god of the land → [society] → [social]} · {meeting → [associating]} → [social contact/interaction] 社交) (wǎng·zhàn {net → [web]} · {stand → [station]} → [website] 网站 網站) → [social networking website; social network])” and “shèjiāo wǎngluò ((shè·jiāo {god of the land → [society] → [social]} · {meeting → [associating]} → [social contact/interaction] 社交) (wǎng·luò net · enmeshing → [network (computing, transport, etc.) (PRC)] 网络 網絡) → [(online) social network])”, and that some may use as an abbreviation for one or both of them, is “shèjiāo wǎng ((shè·jiāo {god of the land → [society] → [social]} · {meeting → [associating]} → [social contact/interaction] 社交) (wǎng net → [network] → [Web; Internet] 网 網) → [social media; abbr. for shèjiāo wǎngluò/wǎngzhàn (social networks/social networking websites)])”.

“Shèhuì wǎngluò ((Shè·huì {god of the land → [society] → [social]} · {gathering → [society] → [social]} → [social] 社会 社會) (wǎng·luò net · enmeshing → [network (computing, transport, etc.) (PRC)] 网络 網絡) → [social network (abstract concept)])” is an expression that evidently refers to the more conceptual social networks mentioned above, that are studied in the social and behavioural sciences. A similar expression is “guānxi wǎng ((guān·xi {closing [with] → [involving]} · {tying → [relating]} → [relationship] 使徒) (wǎng net → [network] 网 網/网) → [Internet and/or real-life social network, relationship network, network of friends/connections])”.

Browser Babel and Subtitles

As a side note, while researching this post, I discovered that the Referenced Theo. Expressions (RTE)’s bookmarklet (tap/click on the “Show bookmarklets” link) for adding unproofread, computer-generated Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) to a web page with Chinese characters will also add such Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) to the subtitles of the Mandarin videos on jw.org (the ones I was able to try, at least), if one is using one of the following web browsers on a Mac, or presumably, on a PC or an Android device:

  • Firefox
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Presumably, other browsers that, like MS Edge, use the Blink browser engine, such as Google Chrome, Opera, etc.

Screenshot of a Mandarin video on jw.org, in Firefox, after processing by the RTE _Pīnyīn_ bookmarklet, with an arrow pointing out the _Pīnyīn_ added to the subtitles

Unfortunately, at this time, this does not work on Safari browsers, whether on a Mac or on an iPad or iPhone. In those web browsers, the Chinese characters of the video subtitles remain unadorned by added Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) when the bookmarklet does its thing. While this is a case of Apple’s Safari web browsers allowing for less functionality compared to other browsers, the underlying reason for this may be related to Apple’s relatively high prioritization of user privacy and security, which benefits users in other ways.

Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus video transcripts can potentially provide more and better-proofread information (and are usable in all major modern browsers, including Safari), but when such material is not available for a particular Mandarin video, for many the above option is much better than having to deal with raw characters. Also, there may be some benefit in seeing even unproofread Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) displayed right in the video picture as one is watching a Mandarin video.