[This is a reposting of a post that was originally posted on December 7, 2020. I took the opportunity to flesh out the original post and this repost with additional material.]
For a long, long, long time, Chinese characters were just Chinese characters. Then, in 1956, the Communist government of mainland China issued what came to be known as the First Chinese Character Simplification Scheme (a second round of Chinese character simplification was later attempted and ultimately rescinded), and official simplified Chinese characters came into the world. (Some characters had been unofficially simplified and used for various purposes, both everyday and artistic, before that.)
On the matter of what simplified Chinese characters are called in Mandarin, Wikipedia provides this summary:
Simplified Chinese characters may be referred to by their official name above [(简化字; jiǎnhuàzì)[source]] or colloquially (简体字; jiǎntǐzì). In its broadest sense, the latter term refers to all characters that have undergone simplifications of character “structure” or “body”[source], some of which have existed for millennia alongside regular, more complicated forms. On the other hand, the official name refers to the modern systematically simplified character set, which (as stated by then-Chairman Mao Zedong in 1952) includes not only structural simplification but also substantial reduction in the total number of standardized Chinese characters.[source]
For reference, this is the term used on jw.org when referring to Mandarin written using simplified Chinese characters:
jw.org refers to simplified Chinese characters as “jiǎntǐ
(jiǎn·tǐ
simplified · {body → [style] → [typeface; font]} → [simplified Chinese]
简体
簡體)” characters.
The Great Simplified vs. Traditional Debate
While it seems obvious that simpler is generally better, there is actually much, much debate about the pros and cons of simplified characters vs. traditional characters, as discussed in these articles:
While the simplified characters themselves are indeed easier to learn and remember compared to the traditional characters, for many, they have become another set of characters in addition to the traditional characters that has to be learned and remembered. (There is, at least, some overlap between the two systems. Where do they overlap? That is yet more information that has to be learned and remembered…) And while simplified characters have been simplified, they are still characters, and characters are inherently extraordinarily complex and hard to learn and remember.
The simplified characters became a new standard that many have had to learn in addition to that of the traditional characters.
While Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin]
拼音) is also a different system to be learned and remembered, it is in a whole different league compared to any system of Chinese characters when it comes to ease of learning and remembering. One of the scholars who helped create Hangul (or Hankul), the Korean alphabet, said of it: “The wise can learn it in one morning, and even the unwise can learn it in ten days.” Being also a phonetic alphabet, Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin]
拼音) can be reasonably said to be in the same ballpark (with the added advantage that the Latin alphabet letters used in Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin]
拼音) are already familiar to many people)—downright revolutionary compared to the years (decades?) required to learn even simplified characters.
Simplified characters are thus a compromise that mainland China, Singapore, etc. have settled on—simpler than traditional characters, but perhaps thus not as good at being characters. Meanwhile, they are still characters, still having many of the complexities and vagaries of characters. They fall short of the fundamental reform envisioned by Máo Zédōng
((Máo
Hair (surname)
毛)
(Zé·dōng
Marsh · East
泽东
澤東)
(the founder of the People’s Republic of China)) (Wikipedia article), Lǔ Xùn
((Lǔ
Stupid; Rash (surname)
鲁
魯)
(Xùn
Fast; Quick; Swift
迅)
(pen name of Zhōu Shùrén, the greatest Chinese writer of the 20th cent. and a strong advocate of alphabetic writing)) (Wikipedia article), and others, that would have involved eventually moving on from any kind of characters to alphabetic writing.
A letter written by Máo Zédōng
((Máo
Hair (surname)
毛)
(Zé·dōng
Marsh · East
泽东
澤東)
(the founder of the People’s Republic of China)) endorsing “a basic reform” involving a transition from Chinese characters to alphabetic writing1
“Ài” is how Pīnyīn represents “love”. It doesn’t play the games the characters play—it helps you actually say “I love you” (“Wǒ ài nǐ”). ❤️
Dì‐Èr Cì Shìjiè Dàzhàn
({(Dì
[pref to form ordinal numerals]
第)‐(Èr
Two
二) → [Second]}
(Cì
Time
次)
(Shì·jiè
{Generation → [World]} · Extent → [World]
世界)
(Dà·zhàn
{Big → [Great]} · War
大战
大戰)
→[World War II]) 👈🏼 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. This week’s MEotW, “Dì‐Èr Cì Shìjiè Dàzhàn
({(Dì
[pref to form ordinal numerals]
第)‐(Èr
Two
二) → [Second]}
(Cì
Time
次)
(Shì·jiè
{Generation → [World]} · Extent → [World]
世界)
(Dà·zhàn
{Big → [Great]} · War
大战
大戰)
→[World War II])”, appears in lesson 13, point 5 of this book:
📖📄📘Dì‐Èr Cì Shìjiè Dàzhàn
({(Dì
[pref to form ordinal numerals]
第)‐(Èr
Two
二) → [Second]}
(Cì
Time
次)
(Shì·jiè
{Generation → [World]} · Extent → [World]
世界)
(Dà·zhàn
{Big → [Great]} · War
大战
大戰)
→[World War II])shí
({(particular) time}
时
時),
xǔduō
(xǔ·duō
numbers · many
许多
許多)jiàohuì
(jiào·huì
teaching · associations →[churches]
教会
教會)zuòle
(zuò·le
did · {to completion}
做了)shénme
(shén·me
what · [suf]
什么
什/甚麼)shì
(things
事)?
“Èrzhàn
(Èr·zhàn
Two · War →[World War II (abbr. of Dì‐Èr Cì Shìjiè Dàzhàn)]
二战
二戰)” is a widely used abbreviated form of this week’s MEotW. For example, it is used in the Watchtower article that, as of this writing, is featured on jw.org as part of a special campaign:
“The world is facing the highest number of violent conflicts since the Second World War and 2 billion people—a quarter of humanity—live in places affected by such conflict.”
United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed, January 26, 2023.
The “Dì
([pref to form ordinal numerals]
第)” in “Dì‐Èr Cì Shìjiè Dàzhàn
({(Dì
[pref to form ordinal numerals]
第)‐(Èr
Two
二) → [Second]}
(Cì
Time
次)
(Shì·jiè
{Generation → [World]} · Extent → [World]
世界)
(Dà·zhàn
{Big → [Great]} · War
大战
大戰)
→[World War II])” has an old meaning referring to the different grades in which successful candidates in the imperial examinations were placed. Nowadays, “dì
([pref to form ordinal numerals]
第)” is used in Mandarin as a prefix to form ordinal numerals. In the example contained in this week’s MEotW, “Dì‐Èr
((Dì
[pref to form ordinal numerals]
第)‐(Èr
Two
二)
→[Second])” corresponds to “Second”. In contrast, “èr
(two
二)” and its English equivalent “two” are cardinal numerals.
(By the way, I learned while researching this post that there seems to be a distinction between “numeral” and “number”. It seems that Wiktionary sums up the situation well by defining “ordinal numeral” as “a word used to represent an ordinal number”, and by defining “cardinal numeral” as “a word used to represent a cardinal number”. But then again, according to Wiktionary, when it comes to grammar (as opposed to mathematics), an “ordinal number” can be defined as “a word that expresses the relative position of an item in a sequence” (which is the definition of an ordinal numeral), and “cardinal number” can be defined as “a word that expresses a countable quantity; a cardinal numeral”.)
The Hyphenation of Ordinal Numerals
The recommended standard GB/T 16159-2012 of the People’s Republic of China recommends that an ordinal numeral be written with a hyphen between “dì
([pref to form ordinal numerals]
第)” and the associated cardinal numeral. As can be seen from the example of “Dì‐Èr
((Dì
[pref to form ordinal numerals]
第)‐(Èr
Two
二)
→[Second])” in this week’s MEotW, Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) Plus material follows this official recommendation, since the hyphen helps to indicate that the multi-morpheme expression that it’s in, e.g., “Dì‐Èr
((Dì
[pref to form ordinal numerals]
第)‐(Èr
Two
二)
→[Second])”, represents a single concept, like the single word “Second” indicates in English.
Historical Lessons
Worldly historians and others who study physical warfare consider World War II to be a highly significant chapter in the history of warfare, from which many important lessons can be learned. Lesson 13 of the Enjoy Life Forever! book shows that those of us who are concerned with spiritual warfare can also learn important lessons from World War II. This is especially so when we contrast what false religions did with how true Christians defended Bible truth and spiritually fought to stay politically neutral and faithful to the true God during that time. With the ongoing war in Ukraine being the largest scale armed conflict in Europe since World War II, and with all the other wars and violent conflicts that have been breaking out around the world and that may yet break out, it is becoming more and more important to remember and apply the lessons of World War II.
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:
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.
yīnwei
(yīn·wei
because · for | {because of} · for/{on account of} | {is because} · {is for}
因为
因為) 👈🏼 Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”
This week’s MEotW, “yīnwei
(yīn·wei
because · for | {because of} · for/{on account of} | {is because} · {is for}
因为
因為)”, was discussed in a podcast episode that I listened to recently. Here’s a clip from it, with the part in which this expression was discussed:
Here’s a transcript of this video clip:
David: You’re a good sport. Thank you for doing this. So you are a native speaker. This question is very important because if you pronounce a character with the wrong tone, you can be fined as much as 50 kuài
(pieces →[mw for Renminbi]
块
塊) at CCTV if you’re an announcer. So what I want you to do is just very slowly pronounce for us the word that in Chinese would be the equivalent of “because”.
Yajun:“Yīnwéi
(Yīn·wéi
because · for | {because of} · for/{on account of} | {is because} · {is for}
因为
因為)”.
David: Say again?
Yajun:“Yīnwéi
(Yīn·wéi
because · for | {because of} · for/{on account of} | {is because} · {is for}
因为
因為)”.
David: So I hear that the “wéi
(…
为
為/爲)” is second tone. Is that right?
Yajun: Yeah…
David: That’s Northern Mandarin. That’s also Běijīng
(Běi·jīng
North · {Country Capital} →[Beijing]
北京)‐huà
(speech
话
話). [With] the actual pǔtōng‐huà
((pǔ·tōng
common · {through(out) → [common]}
普通)‐(huà
speech
话
話)
→[(Modern Standard) Mandarin (term commonly used in China)]) citation version of that word, in 90% of the dictionaries that you will see, the second character is pronounced with fourth tone, as “yīnwèi
(yīn·wèi
because · for | {because of} · for/{on account of} | {is because} · {is for}
因为
因為)”.
Yajun: Sure…?
David: Yeah, well if you ask most Chinese, they’re very unsure about it, just like you.
Yajun: I was quite sure it’s “yīnwéi
(yīn·wéi
because · for | {because of} · for/{on account of} | {is because} · {is for}
因为
因為)”, something like that. Now I’m not so sure…and I don’t want to lose 50 kuài
(pieces →[mw for Renminbi]
块
塊).
David: Don’t worry, there are many examples like that and you are not actually wrong. This is an artificial standard that has been imposed and actually, few people, or, not everyone, actually follows it.
By the way, the David Moser speaking in the above clip is indeed the same one who wrote the relatively well-known essay “Why Chinese Is So D- Hard”, which has given many people a lot to think about regarding how Chinese characters make learning Mandarin much harder than it otherwise would be. (I’m not providing a link to this essay because the full title and an example used in the text are a bit less than family-friendly. However, for anyone who’s interested, here is a link to a family-friendly version of this essay that’s been translated into Mandarin and written in Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音).)
Getting back to “yīnwei
(yīn·wei
because · for | {because of} · for/{on account of} | {is because} · {is for}
因为
因為)”, there’s also a relatively detailed entry on this expression in the excellent Referenced Theo. Expressions resource.
Dealing With Different Right Pronunciations
The different pronunciations of “yīnwei
(yīn·wei
because · for | {because of} · for/{on account of} | {is because} · {is for}
因为
因為)” are an example showing us that, while they have a lot of overlap, pǔtōng‐huà
((pǔ·tōng
common · {through(out) → [common]}
普通)‐(huà
speech
话
話)
→[(Modern Standard) Mandarin (term commonly used in China)]), Northern Mandarin and Beijing Mandarin, and, for that matter, the Guóyǔ
(Guó·yǔ
National · Language →[(Modern Standard) Mandarin (term commonly used in Taiwan)]
国语
國語) spoken in Taiwan are not exactly the same. (More information on how pǔtōng‐huà
((pǔ·tōng
common · {through(out) → [common]}
普通)‐(huà
speech
话
話)
→[(Modern Standard) Mandarin (term commonly used in China)]) has been artificially constructed from various parts and promoted to be a national standard can be found in David Moser’s book “A Billion Voices: China’s Search for a Common Language”.)
So, when we get to a word like “yīnwei
(yīn·wei
because · for | {because of} · for/{on account of} | {is because} · {is for}
因为
因為)”, which pronunciation should we say it with? Well, considering that the basic principle regarding why language groups and congregations even exist is that Bible truth best reaches a person’s heart in that person’s mother tongue, the logical conclusion is that we should try, as much as we are reasonably able to, to use whichever pronunciation is used by whomever we are talking to. The apostle Paul said “to the Jews I became as a Jew in order to gain Jews”, so we should similarly seek to become as the Mandarin-speaking people we meet in the ministry. (1 Corinthians 9:20) And since tones are an essential part of Mandarin pronunciation, that would include trying to use whichever tone is used by whomever we are talking to.
That may be relatively straightforward—although it may not be easy—when speaking to an individual, but when speaking to a large, mixed audience, perhaps at a meeting or even a convention, we will have to use good judgement to try to speak so as to be understood without distraction by the majority of the audience. It helps, then, to know the audience.
The Accents of Network News Announcers
Speaking of the audience, the clip above mentions that CCTV announcers are required to speak in a particular standard way, and that they are actually fined when they deviate from this standard. CCTV (China Central Television) is the national television broadcaster of China (which, naturally in China, is ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party), and as such, has an audience that includes all of mainland China, with all its various languages, dialects, and accents. As we can see, those calling the shots at CCTV, and indeed, in China in general, have decided to approach this situation by seeking to impose and promote a standard way of speaking, from the top down.
American network news announcers face a sort-of similar challenge—while English is understood throughout the USA, people in different parts of the USA have come to speak with different regional accents.
No matter which channel you tune into or what local broadcast you receive, news anchors share one common trait beyond professional attire and perfect hair. They tend to sound exactly the same, from their cadence to enunciation to a completely curious lack of a regional accent. How does that happen?
Broadcasters didn’t always sound so geographically neutral. In the early part of the 20th century, many radio personalities and performers adopted what was known as a Mid-Atlantic accent, or a blend of mannered British and the East Coast dialect of the United States. This polished, proper method of speaking was popular in Hollywood movies of the 1930s and on radio because it signaled some kind of upper-class education and erudition. Thanks to America’s infatuation with England, sounding even vaguely British made people sound intelligent. Pundits like William F. Buckley Jr. carried the Mid-Atlantic torch even as it fell out of favor in entertainment.
The more contemporary practice of sounding linguistically neutral is often referred to as having a General American accent—which is a bit misleading, since there’s really not much of an accent at all. Also referred to as Standard American, Broadcast English, or Network English, General American was a term first used in the 1920s and ’30s by linguists who wanted to isolate a more widespread accent than the New England or Southern dialects.
Balancing Authenticity with Avoiding Distraction
A relatively recent Business Insiderarticle points out, though, that what American people expect of their media personalities has evolved over time:
“There is something called a broadcast news type voice,” Brice told Insider. “And I really try to coach people to not have that voice. In fact, I coach routinely people to sound more like themselves. People try to emulate other anchors and reporters, and in my opinion, it gets them in trouble.”
…
“We’ve definitely evolved, just as the news industry has evolved, into a different mindset,” Cairns told Insider, adding that listeners now look for signs of authenticity from their media personalities. “With people being flooded with content, their expectations have changed. People don’t want the typical woman with the big head of hair and the perfect voice, looking a certain way.”
Instead of trying to eliminate regional accents like Fleming’s Boston pronunciations [heard in the post embedded above], Cairns told Insider, speakers who speak with accents should focus only on making sure their speech patterns aren’t distracting from what they’re trying to say.
“It’s just like your hairstyle—you have your own voice style.” Cairns told Insider. “Use it. It’s part of what identifies you. Just don’t let it distract from the message.”
Considering the above and coming back to the Mandarin field, we can see that when speaking to Mandarin-speaking people in the field, there are at least three ways of speaking that we need to mentally juggle:
The way we ouselves normally speak Mandarin
Modern Standard Mandarin/pǔtōng‐huà
((pǔ·tōng
common · {through(out) → [common]}
普通)‐(huà
speech
话
話)
→[(Modern Standard) Mandarin (term commonly used in China)])/Taiwanese Guóyǔ
(Guó·yǔ
National · Language →[(Modern Standard) Mandarin (term commonly used in Taiwan)]
国语
國語)
The kind of Mandarin best understood by whomever we are speaking to
In the Mandarin field, we want to speak authentically, sincerely, in a way that other people can tell is coming from our hearts, while avoiding speaking in a way that is so different from what others expect that it distracts from our God-honouring and life-saving message—it’s a balancing act, that may involve juggling! The standard forms of Mandarin that have been promoted by governments, widely broadcast in the media, etc. may heavily influence people’s expectations of the kind of Mandarin we speak, but different situations may require different approaches. So, we should do our best to adapt accordingly, so as to speak in the way that best helps others and glorifies, not any human entity, but rather, our great God Jehovah.
Note:Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) Plus material is aimed at and made available to the worldwide Mandarin field, and so as far as possible, it is based on how most people seem to actually speakpǔtōng‐huà
((pǔ·tōng
common · {through(out) → [common]}
普通)‐(huà
speech
话
話)
→[(Modern Standard) Mandarin (term commonly used in China)]), the artificial standard mentioned in the clip at the beginning of this post, that is the standard language promoted in mainland China, where about 95% of the world’s Chinese people are. (As Mr. Moser pointed out in the clip, people don’t always follow the pronunciations found in many dictionaries. E.g., many seem to use more neutral tones than many dictionaries indicate.) Since Taiwan is also a relatively big presence in the Mandarin-speaking world, Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) Plus material also contains notes indicating when Taiwan Mandarin has different pronunciations. (Offhand, the only Mandarin dictionary mentions that I can recall that refer to Northern or Beijing pronunciations involve the “r”
({child | youth | son} →[(diminutive) non-syllabic retroflex suffix; pronunciation feature in Beijing dialect]
儿
兒) that Beijingers add to the ends of many words. Pīnyīn
(Pīn·yīn
{Piecing Together of} · Sounds →[Pinyin]
拼音) Plus material includes notes about this.)