Tag: Video Transcripts

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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.

Categories
Culture Language Learning Technology Theocratic

áizhèng

áizhèng (ái·zhèng cancer · disease → [cancer] 癌症 癌症/癥) ← 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.]

The new format of the Enjoy Life Forever! book incorporates the post-paper technology of video, which enables real-life experiences to be related in an especially vivid way. For example, the video for Lesson 09, point 6 of the Enjoy Life Forever! book, entitled Prayer Helps Us to Cope, enables us to see and hear Br. Matteo Dalla-Longa and his mother relate their experiences of how prayer helped them to cope with his cancer. (A Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus transcript for the Mandarin version of this video is available here.)

The Mandarin version of this video begins with Br. Dalla-Longa saying this:

📖 📄 📘 Wǒ (I 我) zài (at 在) bā (eight 八) suì ({years (of age)} 岁 歲/嵗) de (’s 的) shíhou (shí·hou {(particular) time} · season 时候 時候) déle (dé·le got · [indicates a change] 得了) yì (one 一) zhǒng ({type of} 种 種/种) hǎnjiàn (hǎn·jiàn rarely · seen 罕见 罕見) de (’s 的) áizhèng (ái·zhèng cancer · disease → [cancer] 癌症 癌症/癥).

The expression that he concludes with above, “áizhèng (ái·zhèng cancer · disease → [cancer] 癌症 癌症/癥)”, means “cancer”, and it is this week’s MEotW.

The New, Improved Mandarin Word for “Cancer”

Interestingly, the Mandarin word for “cancer” wasn’t always “áizhèng (ái·zhèng cancer · disease → [cancer] 癌症 癌症/癥)”. Before, unfortunately, the Mandarin word for “cancer” sounded exactly like the Mandarin word for “inflammation”. One can just imagine the potentially fatal misunderstandings that could arise from this situation! This is an especially potentially harmful example of what some call Mandarin’s Homophone Problem, the unfortunate reality that modern Mandarin has many homophones, or different words that sound the same.

Many people have gotten into the cultural habit of dealing with this problem by referring to how the same-sounding words are written with different Chinese characters. However, the way that this problem involving the old Mandarin word for “cancer” was actually solved shows up the common approach of relying on characters to disambiguate (clarify) Mandarin homophones to be the crutch and band-aid solution that it really is. As explained in the article “Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Was Plan A”:

Perhaps Chinese became so full of homophones because people came to rely more and more on the characters to distinguish homophones from each other, rather than finding other ways to alleviate the problem. Those other ways could include:

  • …
  • Reducing the number of homophones by
    • …
    • Changing the pronunciations of existing syllables within homophones
      • Some examples are cited here by Zhōu Yǒuguāng (周有光, Zhou Youguang), who led the team that created Pīnyīn:
        • Changing the pronunciations while keeping the same expressions
          • “For example, ‘cancer’ (癌症) and ‘inflammation’ (炎症) were both pronounced as ‘yánzhèng’ in the past. Now in hospitals, ‘cancer’ is pronounced as ‘áizhèng’ and has the same meaning as when it was pronounced ‘yánzhèng’ in the past, but it has acquired a different pronunciation and is, thus, differentiated from ‘inflammation’ (yánzhèng).”

Better than Chinese Character Band-Aids

Yes, as the above-mentioned article goes on to explain:

So, rather than just being seen as a solution to the problem of homophones in Mandarin, perhaps (over?)reliance on characters should also be seen as part of the cause of that problem in the first place, and as a big factor in perpetuating that problem when people should really be developing other, more appropriate solutions! As Einstein said, “Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.”

In this respect of seeming to offer a way to solve a problem that they helped to cause in the first place, Hànzì remind me of mobsters who demand compensation for their “protection”, which people wouldn’t need in the first place if the mobsters weren’t around!

Regarding the real root of the homophone problem, Zhōu Yǒuguāng with great insight pointed out,

Homophones are a problem of language, not “script.” The root of this problem lies in the pronunciation of the language (yǔyīn), not in the different ways of spelling the words (cíxíng).

Yes, relying on characters to differentiate Chinese homophones is at best a band-aid solution that actually makes the problem worse rather than getting at the real root of it: the pronunciations of the affected words. Yes, the best way to deal with homophones is to eliminate them by changing their pronunciations so that they are no longer homophones, just like you can eliminate your enemies by turning them into your friends, rather than continuing to pay “protection money” to certain characters who are actually helping your enemies to keep on being your enemies. While it may seem radical to thus get at the root of the problem by changing the language itself in ways such as those mentioned above, the truth is that languages are naturally changing in such ways all the time, as shown by the actual examples mentioned above. We who use a language can and should change it as necessary by using it differently. People are doing it all the time with English, and they are doing it with Chinese too.

Meanwhile, the ultimate clarifier in modern Mandarin, even with all its existing homophones, is context, not characters. Characters themselves can have multiple possible meanings and multiple possible pronunciations, so one often has to, yes, check the context of something written in characters before the meaning and/or pronunciation of certain words in it can be determined with certainty. For example, should “恶(惡)” be pronounced as “ě”, “è”, “wū”, or “wù”, with their different associated meanings? It ultimately depends on the context—the character on its own is still ambiguous, not enough to clarify things.

So, that there are so many different words in modern Mandarin that sound the same is not a good reason not to use Pīnyīn, any more than it is a good reason not to speak Mandarin. Ironically, it is actually a good long-term reason not to use characters!

For convenience:

The direct link for the current generation 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.

Categories
Culture Current Events History Technology Theocratic

shèjiāo wǎngzhàn

shèjiāo wǎngzhàn ((shè·jiāo {god of the land → [society] → [social]} · {meeting → [associating]} → [social contact/interaction] 社交) (wǎng·zhàn {net → [web]} · {stand → [station]} → [website] 网站 網站) → [social networking website; social network]) ← 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.]

At the time of this writing, jw.org had recently featured a video that was introduced with the following words, which included this week’s MEotW, “shèjiāo wǎngzhàn ((shè·jiāo {god of the land → [society] → [social]} · {meeting → [associating]} → [social contact/interaction] 社交) (wǎng·zhàn {net → [web]} · {stand → [station]} → [website] 网站 網站) → [social networking website; social network])”, in the Mandarin text:

English:

Be Social-Network Smart

Learn how to avoid the pitfalls of social networking.

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Zài (On 在) Shèjiāo Wǎngzhàn ((Shè·jiāo {God of the Land → [Society] → [Social]} · {Meeting → [Associating]} → [Social Contact/Interaction] 社交) (Wǎng·zhàn {Net → [Web]} · {Stands → [Stations]} → [Websites] 网站 網站) → [Social Networks]) Zuò (Be 做) ge ([mw] 个 個/个) Cōngming (Cōng·ming Intelligent · {Bright → [Understanding]} 聪明 聰明) Rén (Person 人)

📖 📄 📘 Lái (come 来 來) kànkan (kàn·kan see · see 看看) zěnyàng (zěn·yàng what · {pattern → [way]} → [how] 怎样 怎樣) cái ({only then} 才 才/纔) néng ({to be able} 能) bìmiǎn ({to avoid} 避免) diàojìn (diào·jìn falling · {to go into} 掉进 掉進) shèjiāo wǎngzhàn ((shè·jiāo {god of the land → [society] → [social]} · {meeting → [associating]} → [social contact/interaction] 社交) (wǎng·zhàn {net → [web]} · {stands → [stations]} → [websites] 网站 網站) → [social networks]) de (’ 的) xiànjǐng (xiàn·jǐng {to be fallen into} · pitfalls 陷阱).

In the above excerpts from jw.org, “shèjiāo wǎngzhàn ((shè·jiāo {god of the land → [society] → [social]} · {meeting → [associating]} → [social contact/interaction] 社交) (wǎng·zhàn {net → [web]} · {stand → [station]} → [website] 网站 網站) → [social networking website; social network])” means “social networks”. A quick search on the Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY reveals that the organization has been using “shèjiāo wǎngzhàn ((shè·jiāo {god of the land → [society] → [social]} · {meeting → [associating]} → [social contact/interaction] 社交) (wǎng·zhàn {net → [web]} · {stand → [station]} → [website] 网站 網站) → [social networking website; social network])” to translate “social networking sites”, “social networking”, etc. since at least about 2007, not long after the launch in 2004 of the huge, well-known social network Facebook.

Websites and Native Apps

While on one level of literalness “shèjiāo wǎngzhàn ((shè·jiāo {god of the land → [society] → [social]} · {meeting → [associating]} → [social contact/interaction] 社交) (wǎng·zhàn {net → [web]} · {stand → [station]} → [website] 网站 網站) → [social networking website; social network])” means “social website” or “social networking website”, and while technically social networks can often also be accessed using native apps, social networks often start out using websites, and these websites generally continue to be major ways to access these social networks after native apps for them become available. The important thing is that undoubtedly people who know Mandarin will generally understand that you are referring to a social network when you use “shèjiāo wǎngzhàn ((shè·jiāo {god of the land → [society] → [social]} · {meeting → [associating]} → [social contact/interaction] 社交) (wǎng·zhàn {net → [web]} · {stand → [station]} → [website] 网站 網站) → [social networking website; social network])”.

Websites on the World Wide Web can be accessed using web browsers, in which these websites basically work the same on different computing devices like Windows, Mac, and Linux desktop and laptop computers, iPhones and iPads, Android devices, etc. (In this old world’s technological Babel, it’s not always quite that simple, as an example discussed below illustrates, but perhaps amazingly, this is true now to a large extent.) Thus, a website can often be a single development target that provides at least the same basic functionality on many different computing platforms.

An app that is native to Windows/Mac/iPhone/Android/etc. can take advantage of the full performance of, as well as specific features of, the specific platform it is native to, and thus can be noticeably faster, nicer, etc. than a website designed for the lowest common denominator middleman that is the web environment. However, for a social network, developing a native app for each of several computing platforms is generally comparatively difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. Thus, social networks often start out by providing a website for people to use, and then they may or may not go on to develop native apps for particular computing platforms like the iPhone, Android, etc.

Alternate and Related Expressions

An alternate Mandarin term used to translate “social network”, which more literally matches its meaning, is “shèjiāo wǎngluò ((shè·jiāo {god of the land → [society] → [social]} · {meeting → [associating]} → [social contact/interaction] 社交) (wǎng·luò net · enmeshing → [network (computing, transport, etc.) (PRC)] 网络 網絡) → [(online) social network])”. A search on the Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY shows that the organization has also been using this term since at least 2007. Note that the organization has sometimes preceded this term with “zàixiàn (zài·xiàn on·line 在线 在線)”, which means “online”. This distinguishes online social networks from the more abstract social networks (which may or may not be online) studied in the social and behavioural sciences. (By the way, “wǎngluò (wǎng·luò net · enmeshing → [network (computing, transport, etc.) (PRC)] 网络 網絡)” is a PRC (People’s Republic of China) term. The corresponding term used in Taiwan is “wǎnglù (wǎng·lù net · road; path; way; route → [network (computing, transport, etc.) (Tw)] 网路 網路)”.)

An expression that is related to “shèjiāo wǎngzhàn ((shè·jiāo {god of the land → [society] → [social]} · {meeting → [associating]} → [social contact/interaction] 社交) (wǎng·zhàn {net → [web]} · {stand → [station]} → [website] 网站 網站) → [social networking website; social network])” and “shèjiāo wǎngluò ((shè·jiāo {god of the land → [society] → [social]} · {meeting → [associating]} → [social contact/interaction] 社交) (wǎng·luò net · enmeshing → [network (computing, transport, etc.) (PRC)] 网络 網絡) → [(online) social network])”, and that some may use as an abbreviation for one or both of them, is “shèjiāo wǎng ((shè·jiāo {god of the land → [society] → [social]} · {meeting → [associating]} → [social contact/interaction] 社交) (wǎng net → [network] → [Web; Internet] 网 網) → [social media; abbr. for shèjiāo wǎngluò/wǎngzhàn (social networks/social networking websites)])”.

“Shèhuì wǎngluò ((Shè·huì {god of the land → [society] → [social]} · {gathering → [society] → [social]} → [social] 社会 社會) (wǎng·luò net · enmeshing → [network (computing, transport, etc.) (PRC)] 网络 網絡) → [social network (abstract concept)])” is an expression that evidently refers to the more conceptual social networks mentioned above, that are studied in the social and behavioural sciences. A similar expression is “guānxi wǎng ((guān·xi {closing [with] → [involving]} · {tying → [relating]} → [relationship] 使徒) (wǎng net → [network] 网 網/网) → [Internet and/or real-life social network, relationship network, network of friends/connections])”.

Browser Babel and Subtitles

As a side note, while researching this post, I discovered that the Referenced Theo. Expressions (RTE)’s bookmarklet (tap/click on the “Show bookmarklets” link) for adding unproofread, computer-generated Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) to a web page with Chinese characters will also add such Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) to the subtitles of the Mandarin videos on jw.org (the ones I was able to try, at least), if one is using one of the following web browsers on a Mac, or presumably, on a PC or an Android device:

  • Firefox
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Presumably, other browsers that, like MS Edge, use the Blink browser engine, such as Google Chrome, Opera, etc.

Screenshot of a Mandarin video on jw.org, in Firefox, after processing by the RTE _Pīnyīn_ bookmarklet, with an arrow pointing out the _Pīnyīn_ added to the subtitles

Unfortunately, at this time, this does not work on Safari browsers, whether on a Mac or on an iPad or iPhone. In those web browsers, the Chinese characters of the video subtitles remain unadorned by added Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) when the bookmarklet does its thing. While this is a case of Apple’s Safari web browsers allowing for less functionality compared to other browsers, the underlying reason for this may be related to Apple’s relatively high prioritization of user privacy and security, which benefits users in other ways.

Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus video transcripts can potentially provide more and better-proofread information (and are usable in all major modern browsers, including Safari), but when such material is not available for a particular Mandarin video, for many the above option is much better than having to deal with raw characters. Also, there may be some benefit in seeing even unproofread Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) displayed right in the video picture as one is watching a Mandarin video.