Tag: Grammar

Categories
Theocratic

shēn‐lín‐qí‐jìng

shēn (body → [self] 身)‐lín ({being present (in)} 临 臨)‐qí (his/her/its/their… 其)‐jìng ({(set of) boundaries → [(bounded) place; area] → [condition; situation; circumstances]} 境) ← 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, “shēn (body → [self] 身)‐lín ({being present (in)} 临 臨)‐qí (his/her/its/their… 其)‐jìng ({(set of) boundaries → [(bounded) place; area] → [condition; situation; circumstances]} 境)”, occurs in subtitle 35 of the transcript for the video for lesson 11, point 4 of the Mandarin Enjoy Life Forever! book:

English:

My favourite Bible book is Esther.

And because I think she was a very special person,

it was especially then that I could imagine

what her situation was like and what kind of a person she was

and I could see myself in the account.

Mandarin:

32
00:01:15,309 → 00:01:18,187
📖 📄 📘 Wǒ (I 我) zuì (most 最 最/㝡) xǐhuan (xǐ·huan like · enjoy 喜欢 喜歡) de ({’s (Bible book)} 的) shì (is 是) Yǐsītiējì (Yǐsītiē·jì Esther · Record → [Esther] 以斯帖记 以斯帖記).

33
00:01:18,187 → 00:01:21,357
📖 📄 📘 Yīnwei (Yīn·wei because · for 因为 因為) wǒ (I 我) juéde (jué·de {to wake to → [to feel]} · get → [get to feel] 觉得 覺得) Yǐsītiē (Esther 以斯帖) hěn ({very much} 很) yǔ‐zhòng‐bùtóng ((yǔ with 与 與/与)‐(zhòng crowd 众 眾/衆)‐(bùtóng not · {was the same} → [was different] 不同) → [stood out from the crowd]),

34
00:01:21,357 → 00:01:23,901
📖 📄 📘 suǒyǐ (suǒ·yǐ {that which} · {is the reason} → [so] 所以) zài (at 在) dú ({(I) read} 读 讀) zhèige (zhèi·ge this · [mw] 这个 這個) jìzǎi (jì·zǎi recorded · writing → [account] 记载 記載) de (’s 的) shíhou ({(particular) times} 时候 時候),

35
00:01:23,901 → 00:01:26,696
📖 📄 📘 wǒ (I 我) gèng (more 更) róngyì (róng·yì {containing → [allowing]} · {being easy} → [easily] 容易) shēn (body → [self] 身)‐lín ({being present (in)} 临 臨)‐qí (her 其)‐jìng ({(set of) boundaries → [(bounded) place] → [situation]} 境) de ({in that way} 地) xiǎngxiàng (xiǎng·xiàng {think of} · {(instances of) being like → [images]} → [imagine] 想象 想象/像)

36
00:01:26,696 → 00:01:28,782
📖 📄 📘 dāngshí (dāng·shí {at that} · {(particular) time} 当时 當時) tā (she 她) suǒ ({that which (she)} 所) chǔ ({was dwelling in} → [was situated in] 处 處) de (’s 的) huánjìng (huán·jìng surrounding · {(set of) boundaries → [(bounded) place] → [situation]} → [situation] 环境 環境),

37
00:01:28,782 → 00:01:30,867
📖 📄 📘 háiyǒu (hái·yǒu also · {(there) is having → [(there) is]} 还有 還有) tā (she 她) shì (was 是) ge ([mw] 个 個/个) zěnyàng (zěn·yàng what · kind 怎样 怎樣) de (’s 的) rén (person 人).

Morphemic Breakdown

In “shēn (body → [self] 身)‐lín ({being present (in)} 临 臨)‐qí (his/her/its/their… 其)‐jìng ({(set of) boundaries → [(bounded) place; area] → [condition; situation; circumstances]} 境)”, “shēn (body [→ [self]] 身)”, which literally means “body”, is used to effectively mean “self”. Another Mandarin expression in which “shēn (body [→ [self]] 身)” is used this way is “xiànshēn (xiàn·shēn {offer → [dedicate]} · {body → [self]} | {offering of → [dedicating of]} · {body → [self]} → [dedication] 献身 獻身)”, which literally means “offer body”, but which effectively means “dedicate self”, as one does before getting baptized.

The “lín (face; overlook; {be near to} | arrive; {be present} | approach; {draw near} | {on the point of}; {just before}; {[be] about to} 临 臨)” in this week’s MEotW can have several possible meanings, as can be seen from its Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus “flashcard”. In the context of “shēn (body → [self] 身)‐lín ({being present (in)} 临 臨)‐qí (his/her/its/their… 其)‐jìng ({(set of) boundaries → [(bounded) place; area] → [condition; situation; circumstances]} 境)”, “lín (face; overlook; {be near to} | arrive; {be present} | approach; {draw near} | {on the point of}; {just before}; {[be] about to} 临 臨)” evidently means “being present (in)”.

Long-time Mandarin field language learners may recall that this “lín (face; overlook; {be near to} | arrive; {be present} | approach; {draw near} | {on the point of}; {just before}; {[be] about to} 临 臨)” also appears in the expression “línzài (lín·zài {having arrived} · {being present} 临在 臨在)”, which was used in older versions of the Mandarin New World Translation Bible to translate the Greek word pa·rou·siʹa in scriptures such as Matthew 24:3. However, as explained in Appendix A2 of the current version of the Mandarin NWT Bible, “línzài (lín·zài {having arrived} · {being present} 临在 臨在)” is no longer used to translate pa·rou·siʹa because many readers found this Mandarin expression to be unfamiliar—indeed, out of the several dictionaries loaded in my Pleco app, this expression only appears in the Referenced Theo. Expressions (RTE) one.

Moving on to “qí (he/she/it/they/his/her/its/their/that/such… 其)”, this morpheme seems to function in “shēn (body → [self] 身)‐lín ({being present (in)} 临 臨)‐qí (his/her/its/their… 其)‐jìng ({(set of) boundaries → [(bounded) place; area] → [condition; situation; circumstances]} 境)” as a possessive determiner, determiners being a part of speech that many modern grammar theorists see as distinct from adjectives, pronouns, etc. Regarding that, Wikipedia provides this summary:

Most determiners have been traditionally classed either as adjectives or pronouns, and this still occurs in traditional grammars: for example, demonstrative and possessive determiners are sometimes described as demonstrative adjectives and possessive adjectives or as (adjectival) demonstrative pronouns and (adjectival) possessive pronouns respectively. …However, modern theorists of grammar tend to distinguish determiners as a separate word class from adjectives, which are simple modifiers of nouns, expressing attributes of the thing referred to.[source][source] This distinction applies particularly in languages, such as English, that use definite and indefinite articles frequently as a necessary component of noun phrases—the determiners may then be taken to be a class of words that includes the articles as well as other words that function in the place of articles.

Finally, the “jìng ({[(set of)] boundaries; borders} [→ [[(bounded)] place; area; territory] [→ [condition; situation; circumstances]]] 境)” in “shēn (body → [self] 身)‐lín ({being present (in)} 临 臨)‐qí (his/her/its/their… 其)‐jìng ({(set of) boundaries → [(bounded) place; area] → [condition; situation; circumstances]} 境)” literally means “boundaries; borders”, which here effectively means “(set of) boundaries”, which in turn effectively means “(bounded) place; area”, which in turn effectively means “condition; situation; circumstances”. Another expression in which this “jìng ({[(set of)] boundaries; borders} [→ [[(bounded)] place; area; territory] [→ [condition; situation; circumstances]]] 境)” appears is “huánjìng (huán·jìng surrounding; encircling · {(set of) boundaries → [(bounded) place; area] → [condition; situation; circumstances]} → [environment; surroundings; circumstances; situation; context | environmental] 环境 環境)”, which appears in subtitle 36 of the above Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus video transcript excerpt.

Non-“Standard” Hyphenation?

Four-syllable/character expressions like “shēn (body → [self] 身)‐lín ({being present (in)} 临 臨)‐qí (his/her/its/their… 其)‐jìng ({(set of) boundaries → [(bounded) place; area] → [condition; situation; circumstances]} 境)” have often been written in Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) with a hyphen between the middle syllables, or as one whole word. These formats are really just general stylistic conventions, since even the PRC government’s official standard for Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) orthography is at most a set of recommendations.

Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material renders such multi-morpheme expressions with hyphens at the actual word boundaries, which should make it easy for readers to parse how these expressions are constructed and thus make sense of them.

Just Like Being There

Interestingly, while it’s obviously relatively easy to get immersed in a good video, with its sights and sounds, the sister quoted in the above-mentioned video from the Enjoy Life Forever! book said that the Bible’s true-life written account about Esther was so compelling to her that she could see herself being there. This week’s MEotW can help us to talk with our Mandarin-speaking Bible students about that kind of Bible-reading experience.

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.

Categories
Language Learning Technology Theocratic

qǐshì

qǐshì (qǐ·shì {opening → [enlightening]} · showing → [inspiring; revealing] 启示 啟示) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

I have long especially liked 1 Corinthians 13. It contains counsel on what really does and doesn’t matter in life, an extensive description and definition of the most important kind of love, and a sublime discussion about the need to become complete, mature, as a person. As these apply to life in general, so too do they apply to our lives as Mandarin field language learners.

As Mandarin field language learners, it can benefit us greatly to consider what we can learn from 1 Corinthians 13, and along the way, we can also consider some of the Mandarin expressions used in that chapter in the current version of the Mandarin New World Translation Bible (nwtsty).

Inspiration

This week’s MEotW, “qǐshì (qǐ·shì {opening → [enlightening]} · showing → [inspiring; revealing] 启示 啟示)”, is used in verse 2 (WOL, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus) of 1 Corinthians 13:

Screenshot of “_qǐshì_” in 1 Co. 13:2 (nwtsty, CHS+_Pīnyīn_ WOL)

(Dark mode for the Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY (WOL) website, as shown in the above image, can be enabled in the Safari web browser by using the Noir Safari extension.)

“Qǐshì (Qǐ·shì {opening → [enlightening]} · showing → [inspiring; revealing] 启示 啟示)” can be used to mean “to inspire” or “to reveal”, and as you may be suspecting, this is indeed the same “qǐshì (qǐ·shì {opening → [enlightening]} · showing → [inspiring; revealing] 启示 啟示)” that is used in “Qǐshìlù (Qǐ·shì·lù {Opening → [Enlightening]} · Showing · Record → [Revelation] 启示录 啟示錄)”, the Mandarin translation for the name of the Bible book of Revelation. (A revelation is basically something that is revealed.)

The “qǐ (open [→ [enlighten; awaken; explain; expound | state; inform | start; initiate]] 启 啟)” in “qǐshì (qǐ·shì {opening → [enlightening]} · showing → [inspiring; revealing] 启示 啟示)” basically means “to open”, and in “qǐshì (qǐ·shì {opening → [enlightening]} · showing → [inspiring; revealing] 启示 啟示)”, it effectively means “to enlighten”. The “shì (show; indicate; notify; instructing; reveal; manifest; demonstrate 示)” in “qǐshì (qǐ·shì {opening → [enlightening]} · showing → [inspiring; revealing] 启示 啟示)” means “to show”, and it also appears in expressions like “biǎoshì (biǎo·shì indicate; express · show 表示)” and “shìfàn (shì·fàn {showing; demonstrating [of]} · pattern; model; example → [demonstrating; setting an example | demonstration] 示范 示範/范)”.

The above-mentioned morphemes in “qǐshì (qǐ·shì {opening → [enlightening]} · showing → [inspiring; revealing] 启示 啟示)” are both basically verbs, and “qǐshì (qǐ·shì {opening → [enlightening]} · showing → [inspiring; revealing] 启示 啟示)” itself is also basically a verb. However, it’s also used as a noun, making it a verbal noun, or a gerundial noun, in those cases.

A Really Big Deal, But…

And if I have the gift of prophecy and understand all the sacred secrets and all knowledge, and if I have all the faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
—1 Corinthians 13:2.

The expression “the gift of prophecy” appears in the English New World Translation Bible’s rendering of 1 Corinthians 13:2, quoted above, and for any human servant of Jehovah God, having what this expression represents would be A REALLY BIG DEAL. The corresponding Mandarin expression “néng ({am able} 能) zài (at 在) Shàngdì (Shàng·dì Above’s · {Emperor’s → [God’s]} → [God’s] 上帝) qǐshì (qǐ·shì {opening → [enlightening]} · showing → [inspiring] 启示 啟示) xià (under 下) fāyán (fā·yán {to issue forth} · speech → [to speak] 发言 發言)” more literally means something like “am able to speak under God’s inspiration”, and the organization has also used “qǐshì (qǐ·shì {opening → [enlightening]} · showing → [inspiring; revealing] 启示 啟示)” in relation to how the Bible writers were inspired to write what they did in the Bible. (E.g., compare this English paragraph in the Bearing Witness (bt) book to the corresponding Mandarin paragraph (February 2023 Printing).) Today, even the slave class does not claim to be inspired, like the prophets of old and the Bible writers were.—Matthew 24:45–47.

However, 1 Corinthians 13:2 tells us that even if we somehow did have the gift of prophecy, or of inspiration from God, we would still be nothing if we do not have love. Indeed, the one whom God used to write this part of the Bible, the apostle Paul, actually was an inspired Bible writer, so he was speaking under inspiration and from some personal experience when he effectively said in this verse that even such a rarefied status would mean nothing if he did not have love.

So, no, for God’s people, having love is not a mere secondary, touchy-feely “soft” skill that women are especially good at, as the human corporate world might think of it. On the contrary, having love as our foundational motivation is, in fact, a hard requirement—even more of a hard requirement than the gift of prophecy or inspiration would be—for all of God’s people, including us Mandarin field language learners.

Categories
Current Events

xǐshǒu

xǐshǒu (xǐ·shǒu wash · hands [→ [go to the washroom/lavatory/toilet/restroom]] 洗手) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

[Note: Tap/click on a Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to reveal its “flashcard”, tap/click on a “flashcard” or its Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to hide the “flashcard”.]

As of this writing, nearing the middle of the year 2022, the subject of the COVID-19 pandemic has been, to say the least, on people’s minds now for a while. So, it would be good to be able to refer to things related to it in Mandarin when speaking to people in the Mandarin field, or when speaking to our brothers and sisters in the truth.

electron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19

An electron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19
Creative Commons Attribution License logo NIAID

This week’s MEotW, “xǐshǒu (xǐ·shǒu wash · hands [→ [go to the washroom/lavatory/toilet/restroom]] 洗手)”, literally means “wash hands”, something that has taken on even more importance than before after the COVID-19-causing coronavirus got added to the list of disease-causing things that washing our hands can help protect us from.

“Xǐshǒu (Xǐ·shǒu wash · hands [→ [go to the washroom/lavatory/toilet/restroom]] 洗手)” can also effectively mean “go to the washroom/lavatory/toilet/restroom”. Indeed, “xǐshǒu jiān ((xǐ·shǒu washing · hands 洗手) (jiān {space in between} → [room] 间 間) → [washroom; lavatory; toilet; restroom])” is a commonly used Mandarin expression which literally means “washing hands space in between”, and which effectively means “washroom; lavatory; toilet; restroom”.

Verb-Object Construction

“Xǐshǒu (Xǐ·shǒu wash · hands [→ [go to the washroom/lavatory/toilet/restroom]] 洗手)”, with the verb “xǐ (wash; bathe; rinse 洗)” (“wash”) and its object “shǒu (hand | personally | [→ [mw for skill]] 手)” (“hands”), is an example of a Mandarin expression with verb-object construction.

The ABC Chinese-English Dictionary, edited by John DeFrancis and Victor H. Mair, among others, tells us the following about the entries in it that are marked as having verb-object construction:

V.O. (Verb-Object Construction, Dòng-Bīn Jiégòu 动宾结构).

Many English verbs get translated into natural Chinese as a verb plus an object noun, e.g. chīfàn for ‘eat’, shuōhuà for ‘speak’, etc. It is important for two reasons to know what is merely a verb in Chinese and what is actually a verb-object construction.

First, verb-object constructions can never take a second object, i.e. chīfàn can never be followed directly by something else to be eaten.

Second, a verb and its object can be separated from one another, thus allowing

(i) aspect particles to be placed directly after the verb, e.g. chīle fàn ‘after finishing eating’;

(ii) modification of the object, e.g. chī Zhōngguófàn ‘eat Chinese food’; and (iii) quantification of the noun, e.g. chīle sān wǎn fàn ‘ate three bowls of rice’.

One Word? Not Two Words?

While “wash hands” is two words in the English writing system, the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) writing system typically renders “xǐshǒu (xǐ·shǒu wash · hands [→ [go to the washroom/lavatory/toilet/restroom]] 洗手)” as one word. The MEotW post on “Jìniàn Jùhuì ((Jì·niàn Remembering · {Thinking Of} → [Commemorating] 记/纪念 記/紀念) (Jùhuì Meeting 聚会 聚會) → [[the] Memorial])” (including a recently added comment there) went into some reasons why it can be good for the relatively “young” Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) writing system to at times emulate the relatively “experienced” English writing system, but in cases like the relatively digestible two-syllable “xǐshǒu (xǐ·shǒu wash · hands [→ [go to the washroom/lavatory/toilet/restroom]] 洗手)”, there is little practical reason relating to readability to impose English word separation conventions.

On the other hand, while “xǐshǒu jiān ((xǐ·shǒu washing · hands 洗手) (jiān {space in between} → [room] 间 間) → [washroom; lavatory; toilet; restroom])” is generally rendered in the world as one three-syllable word, this blog and other Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resources will generally render such expressions as two separate words, to make them easier to read. This is similar to how in English, “changeroom” is a single two-syllable word, but “changing room” is separated into two words, rather than being rendered as the single three-syllable word “changingroom”.

“Melting” Away the Pounds Viruses

While researching the subject of washing hands in this age of COVID-19, I found the following interesting information:

…soap — all sorts of it: liquid, solid, honeysuckle-scented, the versions inexplicably only marketed to men or women — is…even more routinely effective than hand sanitizer. …

That’s because when you wash your hands with soap and water, you’re not just wiping viruses off your hands and sending them down the drain. You’re actually annihilating the viruses, rendering them harmless. Soap “is almost like a demolition team breaking down a building and taking all the bricks away,” says Palli Thordarson, a chemistry professor at the University of New South Wales…

…coronaviruses are…bits of genetic information — encoded by RNA — surrounded by a coat of fat and protein. Thordarson likes to call viruses “nano-sized grease balls.” And grease balls, no matter the size, are the exact type of thing soap loves to annihilate.

…

The soap takes care of the virus much like it takes care of the oil in the water. “It’s almost like a crowbar; it starts to pull all the things apart,” Thordarson says.

One side of the soap molecule (the one that’s attracted to fat and repelled by water) buries its way into the virus’s fat and protein shell. Fortunately, the chemical bonds holding the virus together aren’t very strong, so this intrusion is enough to break the virus’s coat. “You pull the virus apart, you make it soluble in water, and it disintegrates,” he says.

Then the harmless shards of virus get flushed down the drain. And even if it the soap doesn’t destroy every virus, you’ll still rid them from your hands with soap and water, as well as any grease or dirt they may be clinging to.

So, while technically soap and water disintegrates and dissolves coronaviruses, if a coronavirus subjected to soap and water could talk, it might say, “I’m melting!”