Tag: Translation

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Culture Language Learning Theocratic

jiàodǎo

jiàodǎo (jiào·dǎo teaching · {guiding [→ [instructing]]} 教导 教導) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

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

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

Learning the Easy Way

One type of change that we should be aware of is that with the passage of time, the meanings of certain words change. This happens with Mandarin just as it does with English and other languages—some Chinese people like to think that Chinese people are exceptional or different, that Chinese culture has survived for thousands of years, etc., but as a Chinese person, I can confirm that Chinese people are human too! 🙋🏻‍♂️

One example of a Mandarin word that is now taken to mean something different compared to before is “jiàoxun (teaching → [reprimanding | knowledge gained from an error] 教训 教訓)”. This word literally just means “teaching”, but now, it has commonly come to particularly mean “reprimanding” or “knowledge gained from an error”, which reminds me of the English expression “to learn a lesson”.

Now, in the current Mandarin New World Translation Bible, when a scripture refers to a teaching or principle that is taught, and not to what “jiàoxun (teaching → [reprimanding | knowledge gained from an error] 教训 教訓)” has come to mean, “jiàodǎo (jiào·dǎo teaching · {guiding [→ [instructing]]} 教导 教導)”, this week’s MEotW, is used instead of “jiàoxun (teaching → [reprimanding | knowledge gained from an error] 教训 教訓)”. (Mǎkě (Mark 马可 馬可) Fúyīn (Fú·yīn Blessings · News 福音) 11:18)

[Verb]ing

One interesting thing to note about “jiàodǎo (jiào·dǎo teaching · {guiding [→ [instructing]]} 教导 教導)” (and about “jiàoxun (teaching → [reprimanding | knowledge gained from an error] 教训 教訓)”, for that matter) is that their component morphemes seem to basically be verbs. In certain contexts, however, they are used as nouns. An example of this being done in English is that “teach” and “teaching” are verbs (e.g. “Jesus was teaching the crowd.”), but in certain contexts, “teaching” is used as a noun (e.g. “The crowd was amazed at the teaching Jesus shared with them.”). When a word is used this way, it’s called a verbal noun, or a gerundial noun. Verbal nouns are quite common in Mandarin.

Categories
Culture Language Learning Theocratic

fǎlǜ

fǎlǜ (law 法律) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

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

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

Legal Reversals

One relatively simple type of change that we should be aware of is that the ordering of the morphemes in some of the words used in previous versions of the Mandarin NWT Bible has become reversed in more modern usage.

Morphemes are the smallest units of language sound with meaning. Morphemes sometimes are words on their own, but not always. For example, “cat” is both a morpheme and a word. However, while the “s” at the end of “cats” is a morpheme (meaning that we are now talking about more than one cat), it is not a word on its own.

Regarding Mandarin morphemes, the introductions of Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resources point out the following:

In Mandarin, morphemes usually correspond with syllables, but some syllables are sound-only (without meaning) and thus not morphemes, and some morphemes have more than one syllable.

One example of a word that has had its morpheme order reversed in the current revision of the Mandarin NWT Bible is “lǜfǎ (law 律法)”. Now, “fǎlǜ (law 法律)”, this week’s MEotW, is often used instead.—Chū’āijíjì (Chū’·āijí·jì {Going Out from} · Egypt · Record → [Exodus] 出埃及记 出埃及記) 12:49.

As used in both “lǜfǎ (law 律法)” and “fǎlǜ (law 法律)”, “fǎ (law | method; way; mode | standard; model | {magic arts} | {follow; model after} 法)” and “lǜ (law; statute; rule; regulation 律)” both mean “law”, and whichever one is put first, together they also mean “law”. (By the way, when it’s capitalized, “Fǎ (France | French 法)” can mean “France” or “French”. This particular Mandarin morpheme was undoubtedly chosen for this meaning because its pronunciation starts with the sound of an “f”, like “France” does.)

But, Why?

If “lǜfǎ (law 律法)” and “fǎlǜ (law 法律)” both mean basically the same thing, why did the world’s Mandarin-speaking population bother to switch the order of “lǜ (law; statute; rule; regulation 律)” and “fǎ (law | method; way; mode | standard; model | {magic arts} | {follow; model after} 法)” in popular usage? Who knows? Appendix A2 of the Mandarin NWT Bible, probably wisely, does not get into the why of it, just mentioning that “fǎlǜ (law 法律)” is now the more common usage. Even if it turns out that there was a reason, it may not be what most would consider a good reason. Sometimes people are just weird, and, speaking as a Chinese person myself, that includes Chinese people—just look at some of the arbitrary ways in which Chinese characters have been designed, that have turned trying to figure out the pronunciations and meanings of unfamiliar Chinese characters into a guessing game.

Speaking of what’s commonplace or popular and why, I am reminded of this quote from William Goldman, who wrote the screenplay for The Princess Bride as well as the screenplays for several other successful, well-known movies:

Nobody knows anything…Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what’s going to work. Every time out it’s a guess

Speaking of The Princess Bride, that movie is a treasure trove of quotable quotes, including this one that serves as a precautionary admonition to us Mandarin language-learners:

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Categories
Names Theocratic

Xiǎo Mò

Xiǎo (Little 小) Mò (Desert → [Indifferent] 漠) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

I highly, highly enjoyed the character-driven dramatizations in the Saturday sessions of this year’s convention that featured Neeta the Neat Freak and Jade the Jaded Young Person. (They start at about the 19:46 mark of the video for the first Saturday session.) I found them especially well-written, well-acted, etc., resulting in them being very believable, insightful, funny, and moving.

In the corresponding Mandarin videos, Jade is named “Xiǎo (Little 小) Mò (Desert → [Indifferent] 漠)”. (You can hear this starting at about the 21:40 mark of this video.)

Jade tells Neeta her name (with Mandarin subtitle)
“Xiǎo (Little 小) Mò (Desert → [Indifferent] 漠)”

“Xiǎo (Little 小) Mò (Desert → [Indifferent] 漠)” obviously does not sound like “Jade”, so as with “Ānnà (Anna 安娜)” (a previous MEotW) for “Neeta”, “Xiǎo (Little 小) Mò (Desert → [Indifferent] 漠)” was instead chosen for the meaning it suggests in Mandarin, similarly to how in English, “Neeta” suggests “neat” and “Jade” suggests “jaded”.

The “Xiǎo (small; little; petty; minor [→ [young | concubine | I; my; our]] 小)” in “Xiǎo (Little 小) Mò (Desert → [Indifferent] 漠)” means “Little”, and is often used in Mandarin nicknames or pet names. A pet name is defined as “a name that is used instead of someone’s usual first name to express fondness or familiarity”, but sometimes in Mandarin “Xiǎo (small; little; petty; minor [→ [young | concubine | I; my; our]] 小)” is placed in front of someone’s real first name to form a nickname or pet name, kind of like how “John” was the real first name of Robin Hood’s friend Little John. (Well, it was at least as real a first name as a legendary figure can have 😄. Speaking of which, in the Mandarin convention dramatizations, Xiǎo (Little 小) Mò (Desert → [Indifferent] 漠) only seems to have been called “Xiǎo (Little 小) Mò (Desert → [Indifferent] 漠)”, so it’s hard to say if “Mò (Desert → [Indifferent] 漠)” was a “real” name of that character, or if it was a made-up nickname.)

One difference between “Xiǎo (Little 小) Mò (Desert → [Indifferent] 漠)” and “Little John” though is that while “Little John” was an ironic nickname for a man who was supposedly actually unusually tall, “Xiǎo (Little 小) Mò (Desert → [Indifferent] 漠)” is used to refer to someone who actually is relatively little—Eastern cultures overall seem less into irony than some Western cultures are. Interestingly, speaking of littleness, the English word “diminutive”, which usually means “unusually small”, can also have a meaning similar to “nickname” or “pet name”.

The “Mò (Desert → [Indifferent] 漠)” in “Xiǎo (Little 小) Mò (Desert → [Indifferent] 漠)” has a basic meaning of “desert”—it’s the “mò (desert [→ [[is] aloof; cold; indifferent; unconcerned; detached]] 漠)” in “shāmò (shā·mò sand · desert → [desert] 沙漠)”. As Xiǎo (Little 小) Mò (Desert → [Indifferent] 漠) herself explains, it’s also the “mò (desert [→ [[is] aloof; cold; indifferent; unconcerned; detached]] 漠)” in “lěngmò (lěng·mò {[is] cold} · {[is a] desert → [[is] aloof; cold; indifferent; unconcerned; detached]} 冷漠)”.

Jade explains her name (with Mandarin subtitles)
“Lěngmò (Lěng·mò {[is] cold} · {[is a] desert → [[is] aloof; cold; indifferent; unconcerned; detached]} 冷漠) de (’s 的) ‘mò (desert [→ [[is] aloof; cold; indifferent; unconcerned; detached]] 漠)’ ”

Why would “lěngmò (lěng·mò {[is] cold} · {[is a] desert → [[is] aloof; cold; indifferent; unconcerned; detached]} 冷漠)” associate “cold” with “desert”? Deserts actually don’t have to be hot, like the Sahara Desert is. Deserts can also be cold overall, as is the Gobi Desert that covers parts of northern China. What makes a desert a desert is that it is very dry.

With “desert” as its basic meaning, “mò (desert [→ [[is] aloof; cold; indifferent; unconcerned; detached]] 漠)” can also mean “aloof; cold; indifferent; unconcerned; detached”. Interestingly, in harmony with deserts being dry, Xiǎo (Little 小) Mò (Desert → [Indifferent] 漠) exhibits what Westerners would call a dry sense of humour.

In several meaningful ways then, “Xiǎo (Little 小) Mò (Desert → [Indifferent] 漠)” is a very fitting Mandarin name for Jade the Jaded Young Person. The team that translated these dramatizations into Mandarin certainly did a good, thoughtful job!