Tag: Usage Examples

Categories
Theocratic

shénshèng lìliang

shénshèng lìliang ((shén·shèng godly · holy 神圣 神聖) (lì·liang force · quantity 力量) → [holy spirit]) ← 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 (nwtsty) 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.

A Force, Not a Person

For a long time, going back to when we only had the old Héhé Běn ((Hé·hé Harmonious · {Closed → [United]} 和合) (Běn {Root or Stem} → [Edition] 本) → [Union Version (Chinese Bible)]) Chinese Bible to use (the Mandarin New World Translation began to be available starting in about 1995), we in the Mandarin field had been using “shènglíng (shèng·líng holy · spirit 圣灵 聖靈)” or perhaps “Shàngdì (Shàng·dì Above’s · God → [God] 上帝) de (’s 的) líng (spirit 灵 靈/霛)” to refer to the holy spirit. However, when the nwt version of the Mandarin New World Translation Bible came out recently, it was soon noticed that it instead uses this week’s MEotW, “shénshèng lìliang ((shén·shèng godly · holy 神圣 神聖) (lì·liang force · quantity 力量) → [holy spirit])”, to refer to the holy spirit.

Why was this change made? Appendix A2 of the current Mandarin version of the New World Translation Bible (nwtsty) explains that in Mandarin, when the word “líng (spirit 灵 靈/霛)” is used as a noun, it generally means a spirit person. Of course, we know that the holy spirit is actually the invisible active force that God uses to accomplish his will. However, since a “xiélíng (xié·líng evil; wicked · spirit [→ [demon]] 邪灵 邪靈)” is a wicked spirit person, new readers may then erroneously assume that “shènglíng (shèng·líng holy · spirit 圣灵 聖靈)” correspondingly refers to a holy spirit person, or to a person in the so-called Holy Trinity. So, to avoid such potential misunderstandings, the current version of the Mandarin NWT Bible uses “shénshèng lìliang ((shén·shèng godly · holy 神圣 神聖) (lì·liang force · quantity 力量) → [holy spirit])” instead of “shènglíng (shèng·líng holy · spirit 圣灵 聖靈)” or “Shàngdì (Shàng·dì Above’s · God → [God] 上帝) de (’s 的) líng (spirit 灵 靈/霛)”, etc. to refer to the holy spirit.—Chū’āijíjì (Chū’·āijí·jì {Going Out from} · Egypt · Record → [Exodus] 出埃及记 出埃及記) 31:3; Shǐtú Xíngzhuàn ((Shǐ·tú Sent · Disciples’ → [Apostles’] 使徒) (Xíng·zhuàn Doings · Biography 行传 行傳) → [Acts]) 2:17.

Exodus 31:3 (WOL CHS+Pinyin Parallel Translations)

Categories
Culture Theocratic

réncí

réncí (rén·cí {[is] benevolent; kind; humane; compassionate; sensitive} · {[is] compassionate; kind; loving} [→ [[is] kind | kindness]] 仁慈) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

The fifth part of the fruitage of the spirit listed is kindness.— Jiālātàishū (Jiālātài·shū Galatia · Book → [Galatians] 加拉太书 加拉太書) 5:22, 23.

Galatians 5:22, 23 (WOL nwtsty-CHS)

The English word “kindness” is translated into Mandarin in the above scripture as “réncí ({being kind} → [kindness] 仁慈)”, this week’s MEotW.

Note that the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus information for “réncí ({being kind} → [kindness] 仁慈)” (← tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”), as used in the above context, shows that in the above context it literally means “being kind”, which in turn effectively means “kindness”. The Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus information renders the literal meaning this way because in this case “réncí ({being kind} → [kindness] 仁慈)” is a stative verb.

Stative Verbs

The ABC Chinese-English Dictionary, edited by John DeFrancis and Victor H. Mair, among others, tells us the following about the entries in it that are marked as stative verbs:

S.V. (Stative Verb, Xíngróngcí 形容词).

These entries are frequently translated into English as adjectives, even though they actually behave in Chinese as verbs. That is, the sense of ‘to be’ is already incorporated into these verbs, e.g. Zhèige hěn hǎo ‘This is quite good.’ In fact, it is simply ungrammatical to place the verb shì, ‘to be’, directly in front of a stative verb.

Because stative verbs are actually verbs, they are directly negated by bù, e.g. bù hǎo ‘not good’, and can be further modified by adverbs of degree such as hěn ‘quite’, fēicháng ‘extremely’ and shífēn ‘very; utterly’. One common function of stative verbs is that they may serve as adverbs to other actions, e.g. mànmàn in mànmàn chī ‘Take your time (eating)’ and rènzhēn in rènzhēn de xiě ‘write carefully’.

Sometimes a Verbal Noun

One might wonder, though, why “réncí ({being kind} → [kindness] 仁慈)” is used in the above scripture to translate “kindness”, a noun, if “réncí ({being kind} → [kindness] 仁慈)” is a stative verb there. This seems to be a case of “réncí ({being kind} → [kindness] 仁慈)” acting as a verbal noun, or gerundial noun. Verbal/gerundial nouns were discussed in the MEotW post on “jiàodǎo (jiào·dǎo teaching · {guiding [→ [instructing]]} 教导 教導)”:

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.

Multifaceted

“Réncí (Rén·cí {[is] benevolent; kind; humane; compassionate; sensitive} · {[is] compassionate; kind; loving} [→ [[is] kind | kindness]] 仁慈)”, then, like many Mandarin words, is multifaceted. Sometimes it acts as an adjective, sometimes it’s a stative verb that seems like an adjective, and other times it functions as a noun. Here are examples of it being used in these different ways:

Used as an adjective:
📖 📄 📘 Tā (he 他) shì (is 是) ge ([mw] 个 個/个) hěn (very 很) réncí (kind 仁慈) de (’s 的) rén (person 人).

Used as a stative verb that seems like an adjective:
📖 📄 📘 Tā (he 他) hěn ({very much} 很) réncí ({is kind} 仁慈).

Used as a verbal noun:
📖 📄 📘 Tā (he 他) hěn ({very much} 很) yǒu (has 有) réncí ({being kind} → [kindness] 仁慈).

Categories
Culture Theocratic

nàixīn

nàixīn (nài·xīn {[is (of)] enduring} · heart → [[is] patient | patience; endurance] 耐心) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

The fourth part of the fruitage of the spirit listed is patience.— Jiālātàishū (Jiālātài·shū Galatia · Book → [Galatians] 加拉太书 加拉太書) 5:22, 23.

Galatians 5:22, 23 (WOL nwtsty-CHS)

As shown above, the current Mandarin version of the New World Translation Bible (nwtsty) translates the English word “patience” using this week’s MEotW, “nàixīn (nài·xīn {[is (of)] enduring} · heart → [[is] patient | patience; endurance] 耐心)”.

As with “àixīn (ài·xīn loving · heart → [love] 爱心 愛心)”, a past MEotW, “nàixīn (nài·xīn {[is (of)] enduring} · heart → [[is] patient | patience; endurance] 耐心)” includes “xīn (heart 心)”, meaning “heart”, as one of its morphemes. Why is this especially fitting when discussing the fruitage of the spirit?

The Mandarin culture and language correctly recognize that the heart is deeply involved in spirituality. In fact, as mentioned in Appendix A2 of the current Mandarin version of the New World Translation Bible (nwtsty), one of the expressions that the current version of the Mandarin NWT Bible uses to translate the English word “spiritual” is “xīnlíng (xīn·líng heart · spirit [→ [spiritual]] 心灵 心靈)”, which is a planned future MEotW. This expression literally means “heart spirit”.

So, it is especially fitting that the Mandarin expression chosen to translate the English word “patience” in reference to the fruitage of the spirit connects both to patience and to the heart.