Tag: Standards

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Culture Language Learning Technology Theocratic

háowú

háowú (háo·wú {(even) a fine hair (of)} · {is not having} → [is not having even a little] 毫无 毫無) ← 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).

“I Do Not Benefit at All”

This week’s MEotW, “háowú (háo·wú {(even) a fine hair (of)} · {is not having} → [is not having even a little] 毫无 毫無)”, is used in verse 3 (WOL, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus) of 1 Corinthians 13:

Screenshot of “_háowú_” in 1 Co. 13:3 (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.)

In “háowú (háo·wú {(even) a fine hair (of)} · {is not having} → [is not having even a little] 毫无 毫無)”, “háo ({[(even) a] fine hair [(of)]} | milli- 毫)” literally refers to a “fine hair”. As for “wú ({not having}; without; none; no | nothing 无 無/无)”, it means “not having; without; none; no”. So, “háowú (háo·wú {(even) a fine hair (of)} · {is not having} → [is not having even a little] 毫无 毫無)” literally means “a fine hair is not having”, and effectively means “is not having even a little”. This is an interesting metaphor for emphasizing to us the ultimate futility of doing things out of pride and not out of love, things like focusing Mandarin field language-learning efforts on Chinese cultural traditions like characters rather than on how best to communicate the good news. As a metaphor, it reminds me of the English expression of not having even a shadow of a doubt about something.

Below are English and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus renditions showing how “háowú (háo·wú {(even) a fine hair (of)} · {is not having} → [is not having even a little] 毫无 毫無)” is used in 1 Corinthians 13:3 in the current version of the Mandarin NWT Bible to correspond to “at all”, which is used in that verse in the current version of the English NWT Bible:

English:

And if I give all my belongings to feed others, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I do not benefit at all.

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

📖 📄 📘 Wǒ (I 我) jiùsuàn (jiù·suàn {even if} · {figuring → [considering]} 就算) biànmài (biàn·mài changing · sell → [sell off] 变卖 變賣) yíqiè (yí·qiè {one (whole)} · {corresponding (set of)} → [all] 一切) cáiwù (cái·wù wealth · things → [belongings] 财物 財物), ràng ({to allow} 让 讓) rén (people 人) yǒu ({to have} 有) shíwù (shí·wù eating · matter → [food] 食物) chī ({to eat} 吃 吃/喫), hái (also 还 還) shěshēn (shě·shēn {give up} · {(my) body} 舍身 捨身) juānqū (juān·qū {relinquish → [contribute]} · {(my) human body} 捐躯 捐軀), yǐcǐ (yǐ·cǐ using · this 以此) zìkuā (zì·kuā {(about) self} · {to boast} 自夸 自誇), què (but 却 卻) méiyǒu (méi·yǒu not · {do have} 没有 沒有) ài (love 爱 愛), zhè (this 这 這) duì (towards → [to] 对 對) wǒ (me 我) yě (even 也) háowú (háo·wú {(even) a fine hair (of)} · {does not have} → [does not have even a little] 毫无 毫無) yìchu (yì·chu beneficial · place → [benefit] 益处 益處).

Having a Word, or Not

While the WOL puts a space between “háo ({[(even) a] fine hair [(of)]} | milli- 毫)” and “wú ({not having}; without; none; no | nothing 无 無/无)”, the dictionaries I have checked all treat this expression as one word, with no space between the two morphemes. So, that is how Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material renders “háowú (háo·wú {(even) a fine hair (of)} · {is not having} → [is not having even a little] 毫无 毫無)”.

There seems to be a tendency in typical modern Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) to render many two-morpheme expressions this way, combined into single words. With Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material, I have so far decided to go along with this common practice, since the resulting expressions are still relatively easy to read. However, I am not so accepting of extending this common practice to combining three, four, or even more morphemes into single words, with no spaces or even hyphens in them. Doing so produces long, undifferentiated strings of characters that are hard to parse, and thus hard to read and reason on. So, I have decided to generally break up such long expressions into one- or two-morpheme words separated by hyphens or spaces, depending on the situation.

For example, compare “bìbùkěshǎo (bì·bù·kě·shǎo certainly · not · {can; is able; could | may} · {be missing} 必不可少)” with “bì (certainly 必)‐bùkě (bù·kě not · {can; is able; could | may} → [cannot; is not able; could not | may not] 不可)‐shǎo ({[be] few; little} | {[be] less} | lack; {be deficient} | lose; {be missing} 少)”. While some of the few Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) traditionalists in existence may object to it, I think the latter rendering is much easier to read and reason on, so that is how Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material now renders this expression—one of the few good things about how commonly used Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) is not is that there is not really much established Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) tradition or common practice to be “trampled” on, allowing for more leeway for exploring beneficial innovations, compared to the situations with relatively ossified and hidebound writing systems like Chinese characters, or even the modern English writing system.

As for the PRC government’s official national standard for Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) orthography, with the designation GB/T 16159-2012, as discussed in the MEotW post on “diǎnliàng (diǎn·liàng {dot → [light (v); ignite]} · {to be bright} [→ [illuminate; shine light on]] 点亮 點亮)”, this is at most a set of recommendations that is not legally binding or anything like that, even in China itself.

Categories
Culture Current Events Language Learning Science Technology Theocratic

yì‐nián‐yí‐dù

yì‐nián‐yí‐dù ((yì one 一)‐(nián year 年 年/秊)‐(yí one 一)‐(dù {spending; passing (of time)} → [mw for occasions/times] 度) → [once a year; annual | annually]) ← 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.]

This week’s MEotW, “yì‐nián‐yí‐dù ((yì one 一)‐(nián year 年 年/秊)‐(yí one 一)‐(dù {spending; passing (of time)} → [mw for occasions/times] 度) → [once a year; annual | annually])”, occurs in the following sentence, which, at the time of this writing, jw.org is featuring to invite people to attend the Memorial:

English:

We invite you to attend our annual event to remember the death of Jesus Christ.

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Wǒmen (Wǒ·men we · [pl] 我们 我們) yāoqǐng (invite 邀请 邀請) nǐ (you 你) cānjiā (cān·jiā {to take part in} · {to add to} → [to attend] 参加 參加) zhèige (zhèi·ge this · [mw] 这个 這個) yì‐nián‐yí‐dù ((yì one 一)‐(nián year 年 年/秊)‐(yí one 一)‐(dù {spending (of time)} → [mw for occasions/times] 度) → [annual]) de (’s 的) jìniàn (jì·niàn remembering · {thinking of} → [commemorating] 记/纪念 記/紀念) jùhuì (meeting 聚会 聚會), jìniàn (jì·niàn {to remember} · {to think of} → [to commemorate] 记/纪念 記/紀念) Yēsū (Jesus 耶稣 耶穌) Jīdū (Christ 基督) wèi (for 为 為/爲) rénlèi (rén·lèi human·kind 人类 人類) xīshēng (xī·shēng sacrificed · {(as with a) domestic animal} → [sacrificed] 牺牲 犧牲) shēngmìng (life 生命).

“Yì‐nián‐yí‐dù ((Yì one 一)‐(nián year 年 年/秊)‐(yí one 一)‐(dù {spending; passing (of time)} → [mw for occasions/times] 度) → [once a year; annual | annually])” on one level of literalness means “one year one occasion/time”, which effectively means “annual”. Its final morpheme “dù (degree; extent; {degree of intensity} | {spending; passing (of time)} [→ [mw for occasions/times]] 度)” in this expression serves as a measure word for occasions or times, which likely derives from its meaning of “spending; passing (of time)”. In other expressions, “dù (degree; extent; {degree of intensity} | {spending; passing (of time)} [→ [mw for occasions/times]] 度)” can also mean “degree; extent; degree of intensity”:

  • 📖 📄 📘 dùguò (dù·guò {spend; pass (time)} · pass; cross → [spend; pass (time/etc.) | pull/get through; survive] 度过 度過)
  • 📖 📄 📘 tàidu (tài·du state · degree → [attitude; manner] 态度 態度)
  • 📖 📄 📘 wēndù (wēn·dù {(of) being warm} · {degree of intensity} → [temperature] 温度 溫度)
  • 📖 📄 📘 zhìdù (zhì·dù system · extent → [system] 制度)

Same Character, Different Tones

Note that in “yì‐nián‐yí‐dù ((yì one 一)‐(nián year 年 年/秊)‐(yí one 一)‐(dù {spending; passing (of time)} → [mw for occasions/times] 度) → [once a year; annual | annually])”, the morpheme meaning “one” is first pronounced “yì (one 一)”, with a fourth tone, and then it’s pronounced “yí (one 一)”, with a second tone. This is tone sandhi, and as the MEotW post on “diǎnliàng (diǎn·liàng {dot → [light (v); ignite]} · {to be bright} [→ [illuminate; shine light on]] 点亮 點亮)” said:

On the other hand, the unofficial Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resources join the official Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) publications, old and new, in explicitly indicating tone sandhi for “bù (not 不)” and “yī (one 一)” (e.g., “búzài (bú·zài not · again; further; continuing; anymore 不再)” instead of the standard “bùzài (bù·zài not · again; further; continuing; anymore 不再)”) to make things easier for readers, even though this practice is not included in the GB/T 16159-2012 [PRC national] standard’s recommendations.

In the end, what matters most re how anything is written is not just what is officially recommended or what happens to be popular among changing, imperfect humans. Rather, what matters most is what really works best to accomplish the goal of writing: To communicate to readers. This is especially true when God-honouring and life-saving Bible truths need to be communicated. So, this blog and the other Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resources will continue to seek to render Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) in ways that maximize how clearly, easily, effectively, and appropriately it communicates with readers.

Same Characters, Different Word Boundaries

Another interesting thing to note is that the last two morphemes in “yì‐nián‐yí‐dù ((yì one 一)‐(nián year 年 年/秊)‐(yí one 一)‐(dù {spending; passing (of time)} → [mw for occasions/times] 度) → [once a year; annual | annually])” can in some contexts form the expression “yídù (yí·dù [(at)] one · {spending; passing (of time) → [mw for occasions/times]} → [once; at one time; on one occasion; for a time] 一度)”, which is appropriately written in Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) without a space or other word divider between the two morphemes. Why then, does this blog post render “yì‐nián‐yí‐dù ((yì one 一)‐(nián year 年 年/秊)‐(yí one 一)‐(dù {spending; passing (of time)} → [mw for occasions/times] 度) → [once a year; annual | annually])” with a hyphen (that acts as a word divider) between its last two morphemes?

The reason for the different renderings of the same two morphemes in the two different expressions is, well, because we are indeed dealing with two different expressions. Whereas “yì‐nián‐yí‐dù ((yì one 一)‐(nián year 年 年/秊)‐(yí one 一)‐(dù {spending; passing (of time)} → [mw for occasions/times] 度) → [once a year; annual | annually])” uses its last two morphemes in a “one-[word divider]-[measure word]” pattern, as does “yí (one 一) ge ([mw] 个 個/个)”, “yídù (yí·dù [(at)] one · {spending; passing (of time) → [mw for occasions/times]} → [once; at one time; on one occasion; for a time] 一度)”, treated as one word without a space in it, is used to effectively mean “once; at one time; on one occasion; for a time”. The ABC Chinese-English Dictionary, edited by John DeFrancis and Victor H. Mair, among others, provides these examples of this expression in use:

📖 📄 📘 Wǒmen (Wǒ·men we · [pl] 我们 我們) yídù (yí·dù (at) one · {passing (of time) → [mw for occasions/times]} → [once] 一度) shì (were 是) hǎo (good 好) péngyou (friends 朋友).
We were once good friends.

📖 📄 📘 Tā (she 她) yídù (yí·dù (at) one · {passing (of time) → [mw for occasions/times]} → [for a time] 一度) duì (towards 对 對) huìhuà (huì·huà painting · paintings 绘画 繪畫) gǎn (felt 感) xìngqù (interest 兴趣 興趣).
She was interested in painting for a time.

Context Is the Key, Not Characters

The above points about how the characters “一” and “度” can have different pronunciations or meanings in different contexts remind us that Chinese characters are NOT the ultimate clarifiers of meaning in Mandarin. This excerpt from the MEotW post on “yǔjìng (yǔ·jìng language · {(set of) boundaries → [(bounded) place; area] → [condition; situation; circumstances]} → [context] 语境 語境)” explains further:

Context and Mandarin Writing Systems

Research into the importance of context turned up a couple of interesting sayings from the business world:

Content is king.
—Bill Gates

Content is king, but context is God.
—Gary Vaynerchuk

Mandarin field language-learners may hear the assertion from Chinese culture traditionalists that it is necessary to use Chinese characters to clarify the ambiguity that results from Mandarin having so many homophones, words that sound the same but that have different meanings. The insinuation, or even the outright accusation, is that the upstart Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) system is thus unusable as a writing system for Mandarin, that the Chinese characters writing system is still the rightful king. Besides, there is so much existing content written in Chinese characters, and content is king!

However, a little consideration of the yǔjìng (yǔ·jìng language · {(set of) boundaries → [(bounded) place] → [situation]} → [context] 语境 語境), the language situation or context, shows up the fallacy of this assertion. The Chinese characters writing system exists along with Mandarin speech, and if Chinese characters are truly required to clearly communicate meaning in Mandarin, then that would mean that Mandarin speech on its own, without the help of visible characters, is unusable as a means of communication. That, however, is obviously not true—people who are proficient in spoken Mandarin communicate clearly with each other all the time, undoubtedly pretty much as clearly as proficient English speakers communicate with each other.

The key reason why proficient Mandarin speakers can communicate clearly with each other despite all of the homophones in Mandarin is not that they are constantly referring to Chinese characters, although people do occasionally do that in the current characters-saturated cultural climate. No, the key reason why Mandarin-speakers routinely communicate clearly with each other is because they use sufficient context to clarify any potentially ambiguous homophones. And, since Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) is a simple and direct representation of Mandarin speech, anything that is understandable when spoken in Mandarin is understandable when written in Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音)—1 Corinthians 14:8–11.

So, while Chinese characters-based content may be so predominant in the Chinese world that it’s king there, context is God, relatively and metaphorically speaking, and Mandarin speech and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) rightly rely on context, not on Chinese characters, just like we rightly rely on God, not on merely human kings.

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.