Tag: Pīnyīn

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rènmìng

rènmìng (rèn·mìng appoint · assign 任命) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

Appendix A2 of the English New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition), entitled “Features of This Revision”, discusses vocabulary changes that have been made in the current revision, words that have been translated differently than before. As noted in various entries in the excellent resource Referenced Theo. Expressions (RTE), Appendix A2 of the current Mandarin version of the New World Translation Bible (nwtsty) correspondingly discusses words that have been translated differently in the current revision of the Mandarin NWT Bible, compared to how they had been translated before.

Since we base what we say in Jehovah’s service on his Word the Bible, the vocabulary used in it—and the way those vocabulary words are translated—should be reflected in how we speak in our ministry, at our meetings, etc. So, it is beneficial for us Mandarin field language-learners to be familiar with the latest thinking from the organization on how Bible terms should be translated into Mandarin.

The Curious Case of “膏”

Sometimes, some words just gradually get used less and less, and people turn to using other words instead. Appendix A2 of the English New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition) gives these examples of English words that have fallen out of fashion so much that they may no longer be correctly or easily understood by modern readers, and the words that the English NWT Bible now uses instead of them:

The now obsolete meaning of “dumb” was replaced with “speechless.” (Matthew 9:32, 33) The term “harlot” was changed to “prostitute.” (Genesis 38:15) In this revision, “fornication” is usually rendered as “sexual immorality”; “loose conduct” as “brazen conduct”; and “revelries” as “wild parties.”

One example of a word used in the previous major revision of the Mandarin NWT Bible that may no longer be correctly or easily understood by modern readers is “gào ({apply liquid, ointment, etc.}; moisten; grease; lubricate [→ [dip a brush in ink]] 膏)”, which is a verb, and which is pronounced with the fourth tone. When modern readers see the character “膏”, they probably think of “gāo (fat; grease; oil [→ [paste; cream; ointment; plaster | fertile; rich]] 膏)”, which is pronounced with the first tone, and which is usually a noun that is still in common use.

(This confusion is so pervasive that even the official Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) version of Appendix A2 of the current Mandarin version of the New World Translation Bible (nwtsty) incorrectly shows the first tone pronunciation of “膏” (gāo) when discussing its verb form, which is actually pronounced with the fourth tone (gào). While many more of the official publications are available in official Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) versions than before—unquestionably a good thing—it seems that it has been difficult to avoid occasional lapses in quality in the greater quantity of Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) now being made available.)

By the way, the same character “膏” having different pronunciations and different attached meanings in different contexts is an example showing us that characters are actually not the ultimate clarifiers of meaning in Chinese writing. Rather, the context is what clarifies for us how a character like “膏” should be pronounced and understood when we see it in a sentence, paragraph, etc. And in the case of the Hànzì (Hàn·zì {Han (Chinese)} · Character 汉字 漢字) (character) “膏”, with its multiple possible pronunciations and meanings, seeing the spoken Mandarin word it represents written in Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) as either “gāo (fat; grease; oil [→ [paste; cream; ointment; plaster | fertile; rich]] 膏)” or “gào ({apply liquid, ointment, etc.}; moisten; grease; lubricate [→ [dip a brush in ink]] 膏)” is actually less confusing and more clear re pronunciation and meaning than seeing that spoken word written in Hànzì (Hàn·zì {Han (Chinese)} · Character 汉字 漢字) form, even if one has indeed learned and can remember that complex character.

With the above in mind, note that instead of “gàolì (gào·lì {apply liquid, etc. → [anoint]} · {make to stand → [appoint]} (nwt-CHS Appx. A2 notes change from “gàolì” to “rènmìng”) 膏立)” and “shòugào (shòu·gào received · {applying (of liquid, etc.)} → [anointed (nwt-CHS Appx. A2 notes change from “shòugào” to “shòu rènmìng”)] 受膏)”, the current version of the Mandarin NWT Bible now uses “rènmìng (rèn·mìng appoint · assign 任命)” (this week’s MEotW) and “shòu (received 受) rènmìng (rèn·mìng appointing · assigning 任命)” instead.—Sāmǔ’ěrjì Shàng ((Sāmǔ’ěr·jì Samuel · Record 撒母耳记 撒母耳記) (Shàng Upper 上) → [1 Samuel]) 10:1; Sājiālìyàshū (Sājiālìyà·shū Zechariah · Book 撒迦利亚书 撒迦利亞書) 4:14.

“Anointed Christian”

Speaking of “shòugào (shòu·gào received · {applying (of liquid, etc.)} → [anointed (nwt-CHS Appx. A2 notes change from “shòugào” to “shòu rènmìng”)] 受膏)”, before, the English expression “anointed Christian” was translated by the organization into Mandarin as “shòugào (shòu·gào received · {applying (of liquid, etc.)} → [anointed (nwt-CHS Appx. A2 notes change from “shòugào” to “shòu rènmìng”)] 受膏) de (’s 的) Jīdūtú (Jī·dū·tú {Foundation · {Directing (Person)} → [Christ]} · Follower → [Christian] 基督徒)”. However, as indicated above, going forward the organization has decided to use “shòu (received 受) rènmìng (rèn·mìng appointing · assigning 任命)” instead of “shòugào (shòu·gào received · {applying (of liquid, etc.)} → [anointed (nwt-CHS Appx. A2 notes change from “shòugào” to “shòu rènmìng”)] 受膏)”. This seems to indeed apply to how “anointed Christian” is to be translated into Mandarin. For example, the Mandarin version of the January 2020 Watchtower (Study Edition) here uses “bèi ([passive signifier] → [got] 被) rènmìng (rèn·mìng appointed · assigned 任命) de (’s 的) Jīdūtú (Jī·dū·tú {Foundation · {Directing (Person)} → [Christ]} · Follower → [Christian] 基督徒)” to translate “anointed Christian”. (The meanings of “shòu (received 受)” and “bèi ([passive signifier] → [got] 被)” are practically the same.)

Alternately, note that the Mandarin version (2021) of the Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY Glossary entry for “Israel” translates “anointed Christians” as “shòu (received 受) hūzhào (hū·zhào {breathing out → [calling]} · summoning 呼召) dào ({to arrive at} 到) tiānshang (tiān·shang heaven · upon 天上) qù ({to go} 去) de (’s 的) Jīdūtú (Jī·dū·tú {Foundation · {Directing (Person)} → [Christ]} · Followers → [Christians] 基督徒)”.

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ài

ài (love 爱 愛) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

The Mandarin word for “love”, “ài (love 爱 愛)”, is undoubtedly one of the first Mandarin words learned by Mandarin field language-learners.

One noteworthy thing about the Mandarin word “ài (love 爱 愛)” is that just like the English word “love” can be used as either a verb, as in “to love and be loved”, or a noun, as in “a crazy little thing called love”, “ài (love 爱 愛)” can also be used as either a verb or a noun.

Also noteworthy about the Mandarin word “ài (love 爱 愛)” are the contrasting ways in which it is written using a Traditional Chinese character, a Simplified Chinese character, and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), and what those contrasting ways of writing tell us about those different writing systems:

 

Besides Traditional Chinese characters, Simplified Chinese characters, and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), there is actually also another way in which the Mandarin word for “love” can be written:

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Culture Languages

zìmǔ

zìmǔ (zì·mǔ character; word · mothers → [letters (of an alphabet) [→ [alphabet]]] 字母) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

As previous MEotW posts (like this one) have shown, “zì (character; word; letter 字)” in Mandarin can mean “character”, such that “Hànzì (Hàn·zì {Han (Chinese)} · Characters 汉字 漢字)”, for example, means “Chinese characters”. In fact, even though “zì (character; word; letter 字)”, like its English counterpart “character”, can refer to printed or written letters or symbols in general, Hànzì (Hàn·zì {Han (Chinese)} · Characters 汉字 漢字) are such an 800-pound gorilla in Chinese culture that in Mandarin, “zì (character; word; letter 字)” by itself is often understood to specifically mean the Hànzì (Hàn·zì {Han (Chinese)} · Characters 汉字 漢字), the Chinese characters. This way of thinking has spilled over into the English-speaking world as well, which is why when English-speaking publishers in the Chinese fields speak of “the characters”, that’s generally understood to mean “the Chinese characters”, which in turn is understood to mean the 汉字 and not the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), even though Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) is also Chinese and made up of characters (printed or written letters or symbols).

So, when we want to refer to a letter of an alphabet, as opposed to a Chinese character, when speaking Mandarin, we can make that clear by using this week’s MEotW, “zìmǔ (zì·mǔ character; word · mothers → [letters (of an alphabet) [→ [alphabet]]] 字母)”. In Mandarin, a zìmǔ (zì·mǔ character; word · mothers → [letters (of an alphabet) [→ [alphabet]]] 字母) is literally a “character/word mother”, something that characters or words come from.

How is it that even Chinese characters or words come from letters? Well, contrary to the traditional Chinese cultural view that Chinese characters are the primary aspect of Chinese languages, linguists (language scientists) now recognize that speech is primary and writing is secondary. So, a Mandarin expression is not primarily something written with Chinese characters, but rather is primarily something spoken in Mandarin. Whereas a Chinese character coarsely represents an entire syllable, letters of alphabets in general represent the individual speech sounds (called phonemes by linguists) that make up the spoken expressions that are the primary part of a language, and this is especially true of a purpose-designed phonetic alphabet like Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音).

For example, whereas the Chinese character “字” represents an entire Mandarin syllable as one coarse unit, the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression “zì (character; word; letter 字)” finely spells out the initial sound, the final sound, and even the tone that actually make up that Mandarin syllable.

That speech and the individual sounds that make it up are the real foundation of any human language is such an important, unignorable linguistic principle that even schoolchildren in China (see especially the Z.T. subheading) learn basic Mandarin speech and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) before getting immersed in Hànzì (Hàn·zì {Han (Chinese)} · Characters 汉字 漢字), Chinese characters, as tradition dictates.

Perhaps, then, it would be appropriate for Chinese culture, which values filial piety, to be more respectful towards the letters of its phonetic alphabet Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), which, both linguistically and educationally, are the “mothers” of the characters it loves so much!