Tag: Speech

Categories
Culture Experiences History Language Learning Science Theocratic

héchuáng

héchuáng (hé·chuáng river/stream·bed 河床 河床/牀) 👈🏼 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.]

A few years back, I wrote up a brief web page listing reasons for producing Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), etc. material for the Imitate (ia) book. Some, especially some who grew up in the West, may have felt that this book is made up of “just stories”, and ones that they were already quite familiar with, at that. However, we must remember that Chinese Bible students may often have a different perspective regarding the Bible accounts that are made to come to life in the Imitate book. As that web page said:

  • Many Chinese people in the world have not been exposed to Bible accounts the way many Westerners have.
  • Also, I have heard that some, perhaps many, Chinese Bible students tend to approach their Bible studies like intellectual exercises for accumulating chōuxiàng (abstract) head knowledge as if for a school exam, rather than as training for their hearts for their own real lives.

Later, the web page touches on how some of the real-world benefits of good storytelling like that found in the Imitate book involve empathy:

  • …
    • The actress Natalie Portman once said, “I love acting. I think it’s the most amazing thing to be able to do. Your job is practicing empathy. You walk down the street imagining every person’s life.”
  • The Imitate book helps build Bible students’ empathy towards Bible characters, which in turn helps Bible students realize that others would feel empathy towards them as well if they imitated these Bible characters—not everyone will just think they’re crazy, like many worldly friends or family members might think.

While even fictional stories can have the benefits described in the links and the quote above, true stories from the Bible can have even greater benefits, including spiritual ones.

Besides the Imitate book, another book from Jehovah’s organization that relates Bible accounts is the Learn From the Bible (lfb) book. The letter from the Governing Body in this book says that, similarly to the Imitate book, the Learn From the Bible book also “brings the Bible accounts to life and captures the feelings of those depicted”, while, unlike the Imitate book, it “tells the story of the human family from creation onward”. While the Learn From the Bible book is especially suitable for children, the letter from the Governing Body in this book says that “it can also be used to help adults who desire to learn more about the Bible”. So, it would be good to consider on this blog some of the expressions used in the Mandarin Learn From the Bible book.

Correction

This week’s MEotW, “héchuáng (hé·chuáng river/stream·bed 河床 河床/牀)”, appears in Lesson 40 of the Mandarin Learn From the Bible book, which is entitled “Dàwèi (David 大卫 大衛) Yǒngzhàn (Yǒng·zhàn Bravely · Fights 勇战 勇戰) Gēlìyà (Go·liʹath 歌利亚 歌利亞)” (“David and Goliath”).

English:

David took his sling and went to a stream. He chose five smooth stones and put them in a pouch.

Mandarin (WOL, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus):

📖 📄 📘 Dàwèi (David 大卫 大衛) cóng (from 从 從) héchuáng (hé·chuáng stream·bed 河床 河床/牀) shang (upon 上) jiǎnle (jiǎn·le {picked up} · {to completion} 捡了 撿了) wǔ (five 五) kuài ({pieces of} 块 塊) guānghua (guāng·hua {light → [bare]} · smooth → [smooth] 光滑) de (’s 的) shízǐr (shí·zǐ·r stone · {small and hard things} · {children → [(diminutive) non-syllabic retroflex suffix; pronunciation feature in Beijing dialect]} → [stones] 石子[儿] 石子[兒]) zhuāngjìn (zhuāng·jìn {(and made them) to play the role → [(and) packed (them)]} · {to be entering into} 装进 裝進) dàizi (dài·zi pouch · [suf for nouns] 袋子),

“Héchuáng (Hé·chuáng river/stream·bed 河床 河床/牀)”, as shown in the above quote, was added as part of a correction made in the current 2025-03 Printing of the Mandarin Learn From the Bible book. Before, it had said that David had gone to “xiǎoxī (xiǎo·xī small · stream’s 小溪) páng (side 旁)”, the side of the stream, and chosen five smooth stones. However, the English New World Translation version of 1 Samuel 17:40 says that David “chose five smooth stones from the streambed”, which in Mandarin is “héchuáng (hé·chuáng river/stream·bed 河床 河床/牀)”.

Another thing that we can note from the above quotations is that the English version of the Learn From the Bible book just says that David “went to a stream” and chose the stones—it does not go into any detail about which part of the stream David chose the stones from. So, the detail that David chose the stones from the streambed is only mentioned in the Mandarin version. It’s good to know that Jehovah’s organization conscientiously corrects even such seemingly minor technical errors when they are found, even when they are “just” in the Mandarin text.

Contribution

David’s example shows us that while we servants of Jehovah—including us Mandarin field language learners—should ultimately rely on him for success, we should also do what we ourselves can do to contribute to success. As written in the MEotW post on “Gēlìyà (Go·liʹath 歌利亚 歌利亞)”:

Back in David’s time, it may have seemed to the Israelites facing Goliath that they had no option but to become slaves to the Philistines, because who could defeat the mighty Goliath? However, rather than being intimidated by this abnormally large but still limited and imperfect human, David put Jehovah first and really trusted in him, resulting in Jehovah blessing his efforts and helping him to soundly and decisively defeat Goliath. And yes, besides trusting in Jehovah, David did also contribute his own efforts—he both prepared to battle Goliath (for example, by carefully selecting “five smooth stones from the streambed”, stones that would come off his sling and fly through the air smoothly), and also actually stepped up and fought this battle.—1 Samuel 17:40.

汉字 / 漢字? Pīnyīn?

Today, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) can be one of our symbolic “smooth stones” that help us prepare for and successfully fight our personal battle to, with Jehovah’s help, defeat the cultural Goliath that is the characters, and learn to understand Mandarin and speak it understandably (and smoothly!) to the Mandarin-speaking people we meet in the field.

For convenience:

The direct link for the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resource for the Learn From the Bible book is:

The short link for Chinese field language-learning links for the Learn From the Bible 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 Learn From the Bible book will be made available in the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web resource as time allows.

Categories
Culture Language Learning Science Technology Theocratic

búyì

búyì (bú·yì un·righteous[ness] 不义 不義) 👈🏼 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.]

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).

“Unrighteousness”

This week’s MEotW, “búyì (bú·yì un·righteous[ness] 不义 不義)”, is used in verse 6 (WOL) of 1 Corinthians 13:

Screenshot of “_búyì_” in 1 Co. 13:6 (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. Other web browsers may also have extensions with similar functionality.)

For comparison, here are the current English and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus renderings of 1 Corinthians 13:6:

English:

It does not rejoice over unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth.

Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus:

📖 📄 📘 bù (not 不) yīn ({because of} 因) búyì (bú·yì un·righteousness 不义 不義) ér (thus 而) huānxǐ (huān·xǐ {does be joyful} · {does be happy} 欢喜 歡喜), zhǐ (only 只 只/秖/衹/祇) yīn ({because of} 因) zhēnlǐ (zhēn·lǐ true · reasoning → [the truth] 真理) ér (thus 而) gāoxìng (gāo·xìng (is with) high · enthusiasm → [is glad] 高兴 高興).

In the above examples, “búyì (bú·yì un·righteous[ness] 不义 不義)” corresponds to “unrighteousness”, and it does so pretty straightforwardly, right down to the literal meanings of its morphemes. Regarding righteousness, the Insight book’s entry on “Righteousness” says:

the original-language terms are at times translated “justice”

So, “unrighteous” can mean “unjust” or “unfair”.

Don’t Be Unfair

While a certain amount of knowledge about Chinese characters is obviously of some practical benefit in this world in which characters are “everywhere”, remember that ultimately, Chinese characters are only “everywhere” because of human tradition—linguistically speaking, there is actually no technical need for any of the Chinese languages to be written using Chinese characters. With regard to the Mandarin field specifically, this is exemplified by the fact that Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) works well as a full writing system for Modern Standard Mandarin, meaning that anything that can be said in Modern Standard Mandarin, from the simpest expressions to the deepest, most advanced expressions, can be written with Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音). (In fact, Plan A for modern China was for Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) to eventually replace Chinese characters, but unfortunately, the B players have gotten their way in China so far.)

With that in mind, and also remembering the scriptural counsel at 1 Corinthians 14:8–11, it follows then that just following the crowd and focusing in our Mandarin field language learning on the traditionally imposed but extraordinarily complex Chinese characters, and thus allowing them to distract from, hinder, and impede our efforts to learn to understand Mandarin speech and to use understandable Mandarin speech to praise Jehovah and help people spiritually, would be unfair in the following ways:

  • It would be unfair to people in the field and at the meetings who lose out on how we could have helped and encouraged them spiritually using understandable Mandarin speech.
  • It would also be unfair to us ourselves, because it makes it much harder than necessary for us to function in the Mandarin field, and we also lose out and get weakened spiritually because of not understanding Mandarin speech at the meetings, assemblies, etc. that we could have been strengthened and encouraged by if we had only understood it!
  • Last but not least, it would be unfair to Jehovah God, to whom we have dedicated our best, but who would not be getting our best, if we are giving our first devotion to the human traditions involving Chinese characters, and then just giving Jehovah whatever’s left over after we’ve let the characters drain us with their unnecessary and self-indulgent difficulties and vagaries.

Indeed, it just wouldn’t be right for us to let devotion to mere human tradition prevent us from serving Jehovah and helping people in the Mandarin field as well as we ought to be able to, based on how Jehovah actually made us to use language!

Categories
Culture Experiences History Language Learning Science Theocratic

záluàn‐wú‐zhāng

záluàn (zá·luàn miscellaneous; mixed · {in disorder}; chaotic; random; arbitrary → [disorderly; mixed; in a jumble/mess; chaotic] 杂乱 雜亂)‐wú ({not having}; without; no 无 無/无)‐zhāng (sections [→ [order | rules; regulation; constitution | composition; structure; system; pattern]] 章) 👈🏼 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.]

We in the Mandarin field should keep in mind that many Mandarin-speaking people were taught to believe in evolution, and thus tend to not believe in God. 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 they are still considered current publications, and relatively 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. So, it would be good for us to consider some of the expressions used in the Mandarin versions of the Was Life Created? and Origin of Life brochures, which can be so helpful when discussing the fundamentally important question of whether life was created.

Not Haphazard

This week’s MEotW, “záluàn (zá·luàn miscellaneous; mixed · {in disorder}; chaotic; random; arbitrary → [disorderly; mixed; in a jumble/mess; chaotic] 杂乱 雜亂)‐wú ({not having}; without; no 无 無/无)‐zhāng (sections [→ [order | rules; regulation; constitution | composition; structure; system; pattern]] 章)”, occurs in paragraph 12 of the QUESTION 2 section of the Origin of Life brochure, which section is entitled, in English, “Is Any Form of Life Really Simple?”:

English:

Imagine that you have been allowed past the “security guard” and are now inside the cell. The interior of a prokaryotic cell is filled with a watery fluid that is rich in nutrients, salts, and other substances. The cell uses these raw ingredients to manufacture the products it needs. But the process is not haphazard. Like an efficiently run factory, the cell organizes thousands of chemical reactions so that they take place in a specific order and according to a set timetable.

Mandarin (WOL, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus):

📖 📄 📘 Jiǎshè (Jiǎ·shè {being artificial} · {set up} → [suppose] 假设 假設) nǐ (you 你) dédào (dé·dào {have gotten} · {arriving at} 得到) “ménwèi (mén·wèi door/entrance · {guarding (person’s)} 门卫 門衛)” yǔnxǔ (permitting 允许 允許), kěyǐ (kě·yǐ {are able} · [suf] 可以) jìnrù ({to enter} 进入 進入) xìbāo (xì·bāo tiny · womb → [cell] 细胞 細胞) “gōngchǎng (gōng·chǎng work · factory → [factory] 工厂 工廠)” le ([(at the end of a phrase/sentence) indicates a change] 了). Nǐ (you 你) huì (will 会 會) fāxiàn (fā·xiàn {send out → [develop]} · {appearing of} → [find] 发现/见 發現/見) yuánhé (yuán·hé primitive · {pit (of a fruit) → [nucleus]} → [prokaryotic] 原核) xìbāo (xì·bāo tiny · womb → [cell] 细胞 細胞) nèi (inside 内 內) mǎn ({filled with} 满 滿) shì (is 是) xiàng (like 像/象) shuǐ (water 水) yíyàng (yí·yàng {(of) one} · form → [the same] 一样 一樣) de (’s 的) yètǐ (yè·tǐ fluid · {bodies → [substances]} → [fluids] 液体 液體), zhèixiē (zhèi·xiē this · {indefinite number of} → [these] 这些 這些) yètǐ (yè·tǐ fluid · {bodies → [substances]} → [fluids] 液体 液體) hányǒu (hán·yǒu {hold in the mouth → [contain]} · have 含有) fēngfù (fēng·fù rich · abundant 丰富 豐富) de (’s 的) yǎngfèn (yǎng·fèn supporting · components → [nutrients] 养分 養分), yán (salts 盐 鹽), hé ({(together) with} → [and] 和 和/龢) qítā (qí·tā them · otherwise’s → [other] 其他) wùzhì (wù·zhì matter · substances → [substances] 物质 物質). Xìbāo (Xì·bāo tiny · womb → [cell] 细胞 細胞) yòng (uses 用) zhèixiē (zhèi·xiē this · {indefinite number of} → [these] 这些 這些) “yuán (original → [raw] 原) cáiliào (cái·liào {timber → [material]} · materials → [materials] 材料)” zhìzào (zhì·zào {to manufacture} · {to make} → [to manufacture] 制造 製造) suǒxū (suǒ·xū {those which} · {are needed} 所需) de (’s 的) dōngxi (dōng·xi easts · wests → [things] 东西 東西), dàn (but 但) guòchéng (guò·chéng {to be passed through} · {journey → [procedure]} → [process] 过程 過程) bìng (definitely 并 並/竝/并) bú (not 不) shì (is 是) záluàn (zá·luàn mixed · random → [disorderly] 杂乱 雜亂)‐wú (without 无 無/无)‐zhāng (sections → [structure] 章) de ({’s (process)} 的). Xìbāo (Xì·bāo tiny · womb → [cell] 细胞 細胞) hǎoxiàng (hǎo·xiàng {well → [very much]} · {is like} 好像/象) yùnzuò (yùn·zuò transports · does → [operates] 运作 運作) shùnchàng (shùn·chàng {being following → [being suiting]} · {being smooth} → [smoothly] 顺畅 順暢) de (’s 的) gōngchǎng (gōng·chǎng work · factory → [factory] 工厂 工廠) nàyàng (nà·yàng that · {form → [way]} 那样 那樣), zài (in 在) xìbāo (xì·bāo tiny · womb → [cell] 细胞 細胞) li (inside 里 裡/裏) jìnxíng (jìn·xíng {are advanced} · {are walked → [are carried out]} 进行 進行) de (’s 的) wúshù (wú·shù without · number 无数 無數) huàxué (huà·xué {transforming → [chemistry]} · studying → [chemical] 化学 化學) fǎnyìng (fǎn·yìng {in the reverse direction} · respondings → [reactions] 反应 反應) quándōu (quán·dōu completely · all 全都) ànshí (àn·shí {according to} · {(particular) times} → [on schedule] 按时 按時) jìnxíng (jìn·xíng {are advanced} · {are walked → [are carried out]} 进行 進行), érqiě (ér·qiě and · moreover 而且) jǐngrán (jǐng·rán {are orderly} · {are correct} 井然)‐yǒuxù (yǒu·xù {are having} · sequence 有序).

In the above examples, “záluàn (zá·luàn miscellaneous; mixed · {in disorder}; chaotic; random; arbitrary → [disorderly; mixed; in a jumble/mess; chaotic] 杂乱 雜亂)‐wú ({not having}; without; no 无 無/无)‐zhāng (sections [→ [order | rules; regulation; constitution | composition; structure; system; pattern]] 章) is used to translate the English word “haphazard”. Yes, in contrast to the haphazard mess that any system generated by random chance would be (if anything even resembling a system gets generated at all), the system inside our cells for manufacturing needed products actually operates with a very high degree of organization, orderliness, and efficiency. This is strong evidence that our cells were actually not produced by the random processes of evolution, but rather, by an organized and orderly intelligent Creator.

Haphazard, Not Haphazard

Of particular interest to Mandarin field language learners, if we look at Chinese characters, which were designed by imperfect humans, it would be fair to describe the way they were designed as being haphazard, even compared to other human-designed systems. For example, the book The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy, on page 111, says:

Comparatively speaking, the Japanese syllabaries are quite simple and efficient. Their forty-seven symbols do a reasonably good job of representing the sound system of Japanese with its mere 113 different syllables. In contrast, the Chinese syllabary, which must cope with a far more complex syllabic system (3,877 syllables in earlier Chinese and 1,277 in current standard Chinese if tones are included, 398 if tones are excluded), is not only appallingly large but also quite unstandardized and hence extremely inefficient—all this of course due to the fact that it has not been manipulated and refined like the Japanese syllabaries but throughout its history right down to today has evolved in a more or less haphazard manner.

One of the ways in which Chinese characters are relatively haphazard is in how they represent their pronunciations. Even though many characters have phonetic (relating to speech sounds) elements that supposedly relate to how they are to be pronounced, ultimately, there is no consistent, overall system such that if a character is like this, then its pronunciation must thus be that—if you bump into a Chinese character that you never learned, or that you learned but forgot (this character amnesia actually happens all the time, even to experienced native Mandarin speakers), then ultimately you can only guess at how to pronounce it!

Speaking of phonetic elements, characters are so old that the phonetic elements of characters that have them may actually be based on old pronunciations that are different from the modern day pronunciations that these phonetic elements appear to modern readers to indicate. So, even the supposedly phonetic elements of characters are not reliable indicators of the modern Mandarin pronunciations of these characters, adding to the overall haphazard nature of characters.

Another haphazard aspect of characters is the many homographs among them, that is, different words that are written with the same characters, but that have different possible pronunciations and meanings, such that one must examine the context to deduce which pronunciation and meaning are actually the intended ones in any given situation.

In marked contrast, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) is a simple, elegant, consistent system of representing modern Mandarin speech, such that if Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expressions are written a certain way, then they must be pronounced a certain way—not haphazard at all!

For convenience:

The direct link for the current-generation Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resource for the Origin of Life brochure is:

The short link for Chinese field language-learning links for the Origin of Life 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 Origin of Life brochure will be made available in the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web resource as time allows.