Tag: Translation

Categories
Language Learning Science Technology Theocratic

wùzhǒng

wùzhǒng (wù·zhǒng {thing → [creature]} · species → [species] 物种 物種) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

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 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. Also, the Was Life Created? brochure and the Origin of Life brochure are now in the Teaching Toolbox section in the JW Library app. So, it would be good to consider some of the expressions used in the Mandarin versions of these publications that can be so helpful when discussing whether life was created.

Feeling Unqualified?

Whether or not a Creator exists is one of the first questions that needs to be settled in order for one to make spiritual progress, and these days, much scientific or technical information, both accurate and inaccurate, is available in connection with this question. So, it would be good for us to try our best to get conversant with such scientific or technical information.

However, perhaps some hesitate to discuss scientific or technical subjects in their ministry (especially in their Mandarin ministry), because of feeling unqualified, or not “smart” enough. Even practising professionals in technical industries such as web or app development, etc., sometimes talk about being affected by impostor syndrome, so it wouldn’t be surprising if some of us in the Mandarin field who have neither been highly educated about science nor systematically trained on Mandarin may feel like impostors when confronting the prospect of speaking to people in Mandarin about scientific subjects.

The Bible contains many examples of ones who similarly felt unqualified to do what Jehovah directed them to do, such as Moses, Gideon, Amos, Jeremiah, etc. However, despite them feeling unqualified, Jehovah provided them with the help and support required for them to ultimately accomplish what he wanted them to accomplish. Also, David coming off victorious against Goliath is a classic example of someone who, because of Jehovah’s help, succeeded in spite of appearing unqualified from a human viewpoint.

The article “Do Not Limit Yourself​—Overcoming Feelings of Inadequacy”, from the November 2012 Kingdom Ministry, makes some good points that can help us if we feel unqualified to participate in some aspect of our God-given ministry. It’s focused on the Bible study activity in general, but the points it makes can also apply to, say, speaking to people in Mandarin about evolution and creation.

Related Mandarin Resources

Speaking of speaking to people in Mandarin about evolution and creation, helping us to do so is the official Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) material for 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 for 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 that Jehovah’s organization has made available. Also, some related unofficial 3-line and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material is also available, as detailed at the tiandi.info/lc short link for Chinese language-learning resources for the Was Life Created? brochure. (Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus material and a short link for the Origin of Life brochure are also in the works.)

This blog will also seek to help out by occasionally discussing expressions that appear in the Mandarin versions of the Was Life Created? brochure and the Origin of Life brochure. One such expression is this week’s MEotW, “wùzhǒng (wù·zhǒng {thing → [creature]} · species → [species] 物种 物種)”, which is used to translate the English word “species”.

Species and Kinds in Mandarin

First, what does “species” even mean in English? One dictionary gives this definition:

Biology A group of closely related organisms that are very similar to each other and are usually capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.

Now, consider this footnote in the Was Life Created? brochure that discusses how “species” compares to the term “kind” that’s used in the Bible’s Genesis account:

While the word “species” is used frequently in this section, it should be noted that this term is not found in the Bible book of Genesis. There we find the term “kind,” which is much broader in meaning. Often, what scientists choose to call the evolution of a new species is simply a matter of variation within a “kind,” as the word is used in the Genesis account.

With the above in mind, note that the Was Life Created? brochure (Mandarin version © 2010, 2023-02 Printing) uses “wùzhǒng (wù·zhǒng {thing → [creature]} · species → [species] 物种 物種)” to translate “species”, and it uses the “lèi ({kind; type; class; category; genus [of]} | {resemble; be similar to} 类 類)” in “rénlèi (rén·lèi human/man·kind 人类 人類)” to translate “kinds”, as referred to in the Bible book of Genesis.

In comparison, worldly dictionaries like those that can be viewed in the Pleco app join the Was Life Created? brochure in presenting “Wùzhǒng Qǐyuán ((Wù·zhǒng {Thing → [Creature]} · Species’ → [Species’] 物种 物種) (Qǐ·yuán {Rising → [Starting]} · Source → [Origin] 起源/原) → [Origin of Species])” as the Mandarin translation of “Origin of Species”, the famous book by Charles Darwin. Also, note that in the Mandarin translation of this passage:

The Bible word “kinds” is not a scientific term, but it seems to refer to broad divisions of life-forms. Thus, a single “kind” may include many species or varieties.

the 2021 Awake, No. 3 uses “zhǒnglèi (zhǒng·lèi {{species [of]} | {seed; strain; breed [of]} | {type [of]}; {kind [of]}} · {kind; type; class; category; genus [of]} 种类 種類)” to translate “species”, and it follows the current Mandarin New World Translation Bible (nwtsty) in using “lèibié (lèi·bié kind; type; class; category; genus · differentiated → [classification; category; kind] 类别 類別)” to translate “kinds”. (Compare Genesis 1:24, 25 in English and Mandarin.) Also, in case you ever encounter “pǐnzhǒng (pǐn·zhǒng product · variety → [breed; strain; variety] 品种 品種)”, that’s what this issue of Awake! uses to translate “varieties”.

For convenience:

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

The short link for Chinese field language-learning links for the Was Life Created? 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 Was Life Created? brochure will be made available in the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web resource as time allows. Work is now underway to produce a Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web resource for the Mandarin Origin of Life brochure as well.

Categories
Culture Technology Theocratic

bǐyù xìng de zhànzhēng

bǐyù (bǐ·yù comparing · {explaining → [analogy; metaphor; simile]} [→ [illustration]] 比喻)
xìng (nature 性)
de (’s 的)
zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war; warfare] 战争 戰爭) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

After reading last week’s MEotW post on “shǔlíng (shǔ·líng {(in the) category (of)} · spirit → [spiritual (nwtsty-CHS Appx. A2 notes change from “shǔlíng” to “xīnlíng”, etc.)] 属灵 屬靈) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war; warfare] 战争 戰爭)”, one reader sent me an email with some informed and expert input. I especially appreciated the power-user searching example that he shared.

Supercharging WOL Searching

One of the suggestions that this user made was that when looking for official Mandarin translations for an English expression, it can be better to search for the English expression and then use the Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY’s (WOL’s) Synchronization feature to see what Mandarin translations turn up, rather than to search for specific possible Mandarin expressions that may or may not be used to translate that English expression.

Looking back at the browser tabs I had opened during my research for the MEotW post on “shǔlíng (shǔ·líng {(in the) category (of)} · spirit → [spiritual (nwtsty-CHS Appx. A2 notes change from “shǔlíng” to “xīnlíng”, etc.)] 属灵 屬靈) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war; warfare] 战争 戰爭)”, I noticed that I did try searching for “spiritual war” and comparing any English results with their corresponding Mandarin translations, which is how I found the May 2018 Watchtower example. However, the reader’s email provided an example that improves upon the simple search string “spiritual war” by using search operators, which include logical operators, wildcards, etc.

I tried looking up related information in jw.org’s Help section, but their section on using the Search feature doesn’t mention such search operators. I was, though, able to find a JWTalk forum post on WOL search operators, in which someone shared the following information from the Watchtower Library program’s Help section:

*** wtlib-help section 4 ***
Search Operators

& And operation
+ And operation
Space As specified in the Search menu
| Or operation
/ Or operation
ˆ Exclusive Or operation
% Exclusive Or operation
! Not operation
&!, +! Not operation
&-, +- Not operation
&& Adjacent And operation
++ Adjacent And operation
"..." Searches for the phrase that is enclosed in quotes
* Represents one or more characters (including nothing)
? Represents one character in a word
#number Allows searching for words using their word ID number
\ Forces the following operator to be a literal character
(...) Allow for setting precedence

Examples:

Jesus & Christ
Finds all documents that contain both words within the specified scope.

Jesus | Christ
Finds all documents that contain either word.

Jesus && Christ
Finds all documents that contain the word Jesus followed by the word Christ.

"Jesus Christ"
Finds all documents that contain the exact phrase Jesus Christ.

Jesus ˆ Christ
Finds all documents that contain either word, but not where both words occur in the specified scope.

Christian*
Finds all documents that contain words that begin with “Christian” followed by any additional characters (words such as Christian, Christians, Christianity).

Organi?ation
Finds all documents that contain words with 12 letters, where the first 6 letters are “Organi” and the last 5 letters are “ation” (words such as Organization, Organisation).

Jesus | Christ & Jehovah
Finds all documents that contain either Jesus or Christ, and then further limits the results by finding only the documents in that group that also include Jehovah in the specified scope.

Jesus | (Christ & Jehovah)
Finds all documents that contain Christ and Jehovah in the specified scope. It then searches again for all documents that contain Jesus and adds them to the results.

Jesus ! Christ
Finds all documents that contain the word Jesus without the word Christ in the specified scope.

From testing so far, it seems that the WOL uses the same search operators that the Watchtower Library does, which makes sense, since the WOL was created to be the online version of the Watchtower Library.

Using this knowledge of the WOL’s search operators, I tried searching the WOL for “spiritual & (war | warfare)” (not including the quotation marks), which returns documents that contain both “spiritual” and “war”, or that contain both “spiritual” and “warfare”, with no restriction on which word occurs first.

Some Noteworthy Results

Did searching the WOL for “spiritual & (war | warfare)” point me to more results of note than searching for “spiritual war” did? Yes! Here are some of them that are more recent than the May 2018 Watchtower result that I had found when searching for “spiritual war”:

From the October 2022 Watchtower:

English:

In our spiritual warfare,

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Zài (at 在) gēn (with 跟) Sādàn (Satan 撒但) zuòzhàn (zuò·zhàn {engaging in} · {fighting (a war)} 作战 作戰) shí ({(particular) times} 时 時),

From the September 2020 Watchtower:

English:

That warfare was, not literal, but spiritual.

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Bǎoluó (Paul 保罗 保羅) shuō ({was speaking of} 说 說/説) de (’s 的) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [warfare] 战争 戰爭) bìng (actually 并 並/竝/并) bú (not 不) shì (was 是) shíjì (shí·jì {being solid → [reality]} · {boundaries → [inside]} → [real] 实际 實際) de (’s 的) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [warfare] 战争 戰爭), …

From the Organized (od) book, © 2005, 2015, 2019:

English (November 2021 Printing):

This puts us at the battle lines of the spiritual warfare

Mandarin (December 2021 Printing):

📖 📄 📘 Yīncǐ (Yīn·cǐ {because of} · this 因此), wǒmen (wǒ·men we · [pl] 我们 我們) dōu (all 都) yào (must 要) dǎ (strike → [fight] 打) yì (one 一) chǎng ({large gathering place of} → [mw for recreational, sports, or other activities] 场 場/塲) bǐyù (bǐ·yù comparing · {explaining → [analogy]} → [illustration] 比喻) xìng (nature 性) de (’s 的) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [warfare] 战争 戰爭).

Not Being Direct

One thing that sticks out about the above-mentioned search results is that these don’t seem to be direct translations, but rather, cases of translating around “spiritual war/warfare/…”, to get to the desired result. They seem like cases of “we don’t commonly say this expression directly in everyday Mandarin, so let’s express the meaning indirectly instead”. However, it would seem that “spiritual war” is not really in particularly common use in English either, but nevertheless, the organization does use this English expression. Maybe the original writers of the English material felt more free to exercise a sort of “creative licence” than the translators of the Mandarin material did (perhaps because of organizational hierarchy, culture, etc.), in using a particular fitting expression even if it’s not in common usage. Maybe these recent indirect Mandarin translations, which are all different from each other, are the results of the Mandarin translators feeling their way towards eventually coming up with a consistent direct translation of “spiritual war/warfare/…” that they can feel good about. I suppose time will tell.

Looking at the above-mentioned search results in more detail, “gēn (with 跟) Sādàn (Satan 撒但) zuòzhàn (zuò·zhàn {engaging in} · {fighting (a war)} 作战 作戰)”, when used in relation to us humans, implies warfare limited to that of a spiritual kind, since we humans have no means to actually injure, kill, or restrain Satan’s actual spirit body. However, Jesus and loyal angels do have such means, or can be given such means by Jehovah, so when they “gēn (with 跟) Sādàn (Satan 撒但) zuòzhàn (zuò·zhàn {engage in} · {fighting (a war)} 作战 作戰)” in what we could call “spirit warfare” or “spirit realm warfare”, it’s different from the kind of spiritual warfare that we humans are limited to fighting against Satan, unless we humans are one day given fighting abilities like those of angels. (Daniel 10:12, 13, 20; Revelation 12:7–9; 20:1–3) However, with so many actual angels already in Jehovah’s service, there doesn’t seem to be any need or reason for Jehovah to ever do this. Anyway, what “gēn (with 跟) Sādàn (Satan 撒但) zuòzhàn (zuò·zhàn {engaging in} · {fighting (a war)} 作战 作戰)” means will, strictly speaking, continue to be a superset of what “spiritual war/warfare/…” currently means for us humans, not a direct translation of it.

As for the result from the September 2020 Watchtower, it translated the “that warfare was, not literal,” part, and then it translated the “but spiritual” part by not translating it! (Well, computer programmers do say that the best code is the code that you don’t have to write.)

“Bǐyù (Bǐ·yù comparing · {explaining → [analogy]} → [illustration] 比喻) xìng (nature 性) de (’s 的) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [warfare] 战争 戰爭)”, this week’s MEotW, is a correct translation, as far as it goes, and close to being a direct translation, but since “bǐyù (bǐ·yù comparing · {explaining → [analogy; metaphor; simile]} [→ [illustration]] | compare · {explain → [draw an analogy]} [→ [illustrate]] 比喻)” means “analogy” or “metaphor”, and since an analogy or a metaphor compares two things, something is still missing—the Bible uses physical warfare as an analogy or metaphor for x warfare, and sometimes it might be nice to be able to directly refer to that x.

Do We Need to Be Direct?

For now, it seems correct to say that “shǔlíng (shǔ·líng {(in the) category (of)} · spirit → [spiritual (nwtsty-CHS Appx. A2 notes change from “shǔlíng” to “xīnlíng”, etc.)] 属灵 屬靈) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war; warfare] 战争 戰爭)” is the most recent official direct translation for “spiritual war/warfare/…” that can be found, for what that’s worth. Besides the May 2018 Watchtower example that I found, I have also found examples in the Mandarin Insight book, e.g. here, and this WOL page tells us that that publication is currently dated 2022.

Should we expect, though, that the Insight book is too big to keep completely updated with all the latest translation preferences? In a follow-up email, the reader mentioned above provided an example showing that even though revised printings of official publications do contain relatively minor revisions, they may leave in relatively major passages that really should also be corrected. This is undoubtedly because of time/manpower/etc. constraints. From my own efforts producing this blog, other Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resources, etc., I can certainly understand that even the official production teams may often be faced with simply not being able to do all the work that they wish they could do.

At the least, when the Mandarin NWT’s Appendix A2 explains why the revised Mandarin NWT doesn’t use “shǔlíng (shǔ·líng {(in the) category (of)} · spirit → [spiritual (nwtsty-CHS Appx. A2 notes change from “shǔlíng” to “xīnlíng”, etc.)] 属灵 屬靈)” anymore, it says that “shǔlíng (shǔ·líng {(in the) category (of)} · spirit → [spiritual (nwtsty-CHS Appx. A2 notes change from “shǔlíng” to “xīnlíng”, etc.)] 属灵 屬靈)” is hard to understand for many people, not that it is actually wrong or misleading like some other expressions are.

Of course, even if my analyses above are completely correct, it could also be that the organization will continue to be satisfied that indirectly translating “spiritual war” is good enough, or maybe even better, for native Mandarin speakers, and that it is not necessary to contort common Mandarin usage to come up with a new direct Mandarin translation for “spiritual war”. Again, time will tell, but this seems to be the approach that the organization’s Mandarin translators have been taking since about 2018.

As is probably becoming obvious, translating is hard, and doing it as well as possible is an ongoing process, as is monitoring and documenting some of the organization’s Mandarin translations, as this blog, the other Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resources, the Referenced Theo. Expressions (RTE) resource, etc. try to do.

Categories
Culture Current Events Language Learning Theocratic

shǔlíng zhànzhēng

shǔlíng (shǔ·líng {(in the) category (of)} · spirit → [spiritual (nwtsty-CHS Appx. A2 notes change from “shǔlíng” to “xīnlíng”, etc.)] 属灵 屬靈)
zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war; warfare] 战争 戰爭) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

Lately, the organzation has often been using “xīnlíng (xīn·líng heart · spirit [→ [spiritual]] 心灵 心靈)” (MEotW post) where it used to use “shǔlíng (shǔ·líng {(in the) category (of)} · spirit → [spiritual (nwtsty-CHS Appx. A2 notes change from “shǔlíng” to “xīnlíng”, etc.)] 属灵 屬靈)”. I noticed that in at least one of the videos presented during this year’s Mandarin convention, for example. However, a recent search on the Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY for “心灵战争” (“xīnlíng (xīn·líng heart · spirit → [spiritual] 心灵 心靈) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war] 战争 戰爭)”, a possible translation for “spiritual war”) returns no results at all. Searching for “心灵 战争”, with a space between the two words, returns some results, but not for the complete expression “xīnlíng (xīn·líng heart · spirit → [spiritual] 心灵 心靈) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war; warfare] 战争 戰爭)”. So, it seems like for now at least, “xīnlíng (xīn·líng heart · spirit → [spiritual] 心灵 心靈) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war; warfare] 战争 戰爭)” is not an officially used thing. However, a search on the WOL for this week’s MEotW, “shǔlíng (shǔ·líng {(in the) category (of)} · spirit → [spiritual (nwtsty-CHS Appx. A2 notes change from “shǔlíng” to “xīnlíng”, etc.)] 属灵 屬靈) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war; warfare] 战争 戰爭)”, did return some fairly recent results, including one from the May 2018 Watchtower.

It may just be that the English expression “spiritual war” has not come up in the organization’s production pipeline for translation into Mandarin for a while. I suppose time will tell if “xīnlíng (xīn·líng heart · spirit → [spiritual] 心灵 心靈) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war; warfare] 战争 戰爭)” eventually becomes a replacement translation for “shǔlíng (shǔ·líng {(in the) category (of)} · spirit → [spiritual (nwtsty-CHS Appx. A2 notes change from “shǔlíng” to “xīnlíng”, etc.)] 属灵 屬靈) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war; warfare] 战争 戰爭)”. For now at least, it seems that “shǔlíng (shǔ·líng {(in the) category (of)} · spirit → [spiritual (nwtsty-CHS Appx. A2 notes change from “shǔlíng” to “xīnlíng”, etc.)] 属灵 屬靈) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war; warfare] 战争 戰爭)” is still a relatively currently used official translation of “spiritual war”.—Ephesians 6:11, 12; 2 Corinthians 10:4, 5.

[Note, 2023-07-26: While searching the WOL for “spiritual war” returned limited post-2018 results, a more advanced search suggested by a reader turned up some more recent results, with some interesting Mandarin translations that are different from “shǔlíng (shǔ·líng {(in the) category (of)} · spirit → [spiritual (nwtsty-CHS Appx. A2 notes change from “shǔlíng” to “xīnlíng”, etc.)] 属灵 屬靈) zhànzhēng (zhàn·zhēng war · contending → [war; warfare] 战争 戰爭)”. For more information, see the next MEotW post.]

Know the Enemy

Speaking of war, many would agree that there is wisdom in this quote from Sūn Zǐ ((Sūn {Grandson (surname)} 孙 孫) (Zǐ Son’s; Child’s; Offspring’s 子) → [Sun Tzu’s]) Bīngfǎ (Bīng·fǎ Soldier’s · Way → [Art of War] 兵法) (孫子兵法, The Art of War):

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

With that in mind, let us consider a hypothetical scene from the command centre of Satan and the demons for their spiritual war against Jehovah and against the truth, taking place some time in the early part of the 21st century:

***

The Other Side of the Mandarin Front

Satan: Our hated Enemy Jehovah is raising up more workers for the Mandarin field. What is the state of our defences in this largest language field of all?

Demon: There is a useful government in place in China, where about 95% of all the earth’s Chinese people live. This government is intent on and efficient at suppressing all conceivable threats to its power, including religions like that of Jehovah’s people, that refuse to obey it rather than their God. This government even has a project underway to rewrite the Bible so that it serves their interests, those cheeky darlings!

Culturally, many proud, long-standing, personally inhibiting traditions are in place, making it difficult for many Mandarin-speakers to accept the truth, or to progress spiritually or otherwise as individuals if they do. (The well-known English expression “save face” was, after all, derived from a Chinese expression.)

Speaking of defences, one outstanding set of proud Chinese cultural traditions that serves as a highly effective fortification blocking the way to potential Mandarin-speaking sheep is the Great Wall of Chinese characters. This inhumanly complex system imposes extraordinary costs in the time and effort required for the simple, everyday tasks of reading and writing Chinese languages like Mandarin.

The Great Wall of China

Chinese characters even put unnecessarily heavy mental loads on native speakers, causing even them to sometimes be unable to remember how to read or write even certain common characters. Unsurprisingly, then, this delightful ball and chain made of human tradition is especially highly effective at making things difficult for any whom Jehovah raises up from other language fields to work in the Mandarin field, poor unfortunate souls who have not already been learning characters all their lives.

We have observed that only about one in ten of such ones is able to cope well with the unnecessary difficulties imposed by characters. The rest struggle along at greatly reduced spiritual combat effectiveness, and the Great Wall of characters even ends up completely filtering out many who try to serve in the Mandarin field, causing them to eventually leave it and become Mandarin field casualties, as viewed by Jehovah’s side.

Satan: How about these efforts by some in Jehovah’s organization to get through and around the Great Wall of characters by making and using Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) resources? It seems that Jehovah’s organization now uses Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) more than any other organization on earth.

Demon: That may be so, but overall, the Great Wall of characters is holding. The traditions around Chinese characters are among the most deeply entrenched human cultural traditions in existence. So, Chinese characters remain the entrenched default writing system for Mandarin-speakers worldwide, and, as you know, the vast majority of humans simply accept the default systems that are presented to them, and don’t bother to think about how it could be worthwhile to find better ways of doing things. This works out great for us when people just unthinkingly adopt the religion of their parents or the morals of their peers, and it works great for us when it comes to the Great Wall of characters too.

As a result, even though Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) works fine as a simple and easy-to-use full writing system for Mandarin, and even though some in Jehovah’s organization have made extraordinary progress in making advantageous use of Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) remains a cultural outlier, and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) users continue to be ridiculed and pressured by the great majority whom we have successfully brainwashed regarding characters. Pride, tradition, and peer pressure continue to be highly effective spiritual weapons of mass destruction for us in the Mandarin field, as they are in other fronts of the spiritual war.

Satan: Excellent. There will always be pesky upstarts among Jehovah’s people who challenge the human traditions that serve us so gloriously well, and Jehovah may even help them, but it deeply satisfies my great unholy anger to see that we are keeping them suppressed so effectively. Carry on.

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Don’t like seeing Satan’s spiritual war plans working out in the Mandarin field? Then fight back with spirit and truth and reject obstructive human traditions that make it much harder than necessary to serve God in the Mandarin field, “so that we may not be overreached by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his designs.”—John 4:23, 24; 2 Corinthians 2:11.