Tag: jw.org

Categories
Current Events

zhèngzhì

zhèngzhì (zhèng·zhì {politics | political} · governing [→ [politics | political]] 政治) ← 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 “Political Violence—What Does the Bible Say?”. As the article says:

A wave of political violence is sweeping the world.

  • The assassination of a record-high 39 political candidates along with other forms of political violence has marred Mexico’s 2023-2024 election season.
  • Europe has recently witnessed numerous incidents of political violence, including the attempted assassination of the prime minister of Slovakia on May 15, 2024.
  • The United States has been shaken by the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump on July 13, 2024.

Incidentally, “former president Donald Trump” is translated in the Mandarin version of this article as “qián (former 前) zǒngtǒng (zǒng·tǒng {overall → [chief]} · {gathering together → [commanding]} (person) → [president] 总统 總統) Tèlǎngpǔ (Trump 特朗普) (Chuānpǔ (Trump (Tw) 川普))”.

Speaking of Trump and this year’s US presidential election, another, um, unusual development has been President Joe Biden’s recent announcement that he is ending his campaign for president, which will require a different Democratic presidential nominee to be selected and promoted in the relatively short time remaining before the election is to take place in November. In turbulent and uncertain times such as these, we as Jehovah’s people can especially appreciate that coming to know and accept the truth about the good news of God’s Kingdom frees us from the anxiety and concern that many in this world that is greatly affected by the USA’s political policies are undoubtedly feeling.—Daniel 2:44; John 8:32.

Anyway, where the English version of the above-mentioned jw.org article uses the word “political”, the Mandarin version generally uses this week’s MEotW, “zhèngzhì (zhèng·zhì {politics | political} · governing [→ [politics | political]] 政治)”, which in other contexts can also be used as a noun that corresponds to “politics”. (Be careful not to confuse “zhèngzhì (zhèng·zhì {politics | political} · governing [→ [politics | political]] 政治)” with “jīngjì (jīng·jì {managing [of]} · {crossing [of] a river → [helping]} → [economy | [is] economical | economic] 经济 經濟)”, which basically means “economy” or “economic”.)

Morphemic Breakdown and Related Expressions

The first morpheme in “zhèngzhì (zhèng·zhì {politics | political} · governing [→ [politics | political]] 政治)” basically means “politics” or “political”, and it also appears in “zhèngfǔ (zhèng·fǔ political · {seat of government} → [government] 政府)”, which means “government”. Other expressions in which it appears include “zhèngcè (zhèng·cè political; government · {bamboo/wooden slip used for writing → [plan; scheme; strategy]} → [policy; political tactic] 政策)”, “zhèngquán (zhèng·quán political · power; authority [→ [regime]] 政权 政權)”, and “zhízhèng (zhí·zhèng {catch; capture → [hold]} · {government → [political power]} 执政 執政)”.

The second morpheme in “zhèngzhì (zhèng·zhì {politics | political} · governing [→ [politics | political]] 政治)” can mean “governing” or “ruling”, and it also appears in “tǒngzhì (tǒng·zhì {gather together → [command]} · rule (v) | {gathering together → [commanding]} · ruling → [rule] 统治 統治)”. Another sort of related meaning that this morpheme has is “treat; cure”, which likely comes from its meaning of “manage”. For example, it’s used this way in “zhìbìng (zhì·bìng {manage → [treat; cure]} · disease; illness; sickness 治病)” and in “zhìliáo (zhì·liáo {managing → [treating; curing]} · treating; curing [→ [medical treatment; cure]] 治疗 治療)”.

Usage Examples

Here are a couple of examples of “zhèngzhì (zhèng·zhì {politics | political} · governing [→ [politics | political]] 政治)” in use, taken from the above-mentioned jw.org article:

English:

Political Violence—What Does the Bible Say?

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Zhèngzhì (Zhèng·zhì Political · Governing → [Political] 政治) Bàolì (Bào·lì Violent · Force → [Violence] 暴力) Shìjiàn (Shì·jiàn Incidents · [mw] 事件) Huì (Will 会 會) Yǒu (Have 有) Zhōngzhǐ (Zhōng·zhǐ Ending · Stopping 终止 終止) de (’s 的) Yì (One 一) Tiān (Sky → [Day] 天) Ma ([? ptcl for “yes/no” questions] 吗 嗎)?

English:

Why is there so much political violence? Will it ever end? What does the Bible say?

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Wèishénme (Wèi·shén·me for · what · [suf] → [why] 为什么 為什/甚麼) yǒu ({are (there) having} → [are (there)] 有) zhème (zhè·me this · [suf for interrogatives and adverbs] 这么/末 這麼/末) duō (many 多) zhèngzhì (zhèng·zhì political · governing → [political] 政治) bàolì (bào·lì violent · force → [violence] 暴力) shìjiàn (shì·jiàn incidents · [mw] 事件) ne ([? ptcl] 呢)? Zhèixiē (Zhèi·xiē this · {indefinite number of} → [these] 这些 這些) shìqing (shì·qing events · situations 事情) huì (will 会 會) yǒu (have 有) zhōngzhǐ (zhōng·zhǐ ending · stopping 终止 終止) de (’s 的) yì (one 一) tiān (sky → [day] 天) ma ([? ptcl for “yes/no” questions] 吗 嗎)? Shèngjīng (Shèng·jīng (the) Holy · Scriptures → [the Bible] 圣经 聖經) zěnme (zěn·me what · [suf] 怎么 怎麼/麽) shuō ({does say} 说 說/説)?

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 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.