Tag: Watchtower ONLINE LIBRARY

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mìmì

mìmì (mì·mì {[is] secret} · {[is] dense → [[is] intimate; close] → [[is] secret; confidential]} [(thing)] → [[is] secret; confidential; clandestine | secret [(thing)]] 秘密 秘/祕密) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

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).

Secrets

This week’s MEotW, “mìmì (mì·mì {[is] secret} · {[is] dense → [[is] intimate; close] → [[is] secret; confidential]} [(thing)] → [[is] secret; confidential; clandestine | secret [(thing)]] 秘密 秘/祕密)”, is used in verse 2 (WOL, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus) of 1 Corinthians 13:

Screenshot of “mìmì” in 1 Co. 13:2 (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.)

While the two morphemes in “mìmì (mì·mì {[is] secret} · {[is] dense → [[is] intimate; close] → [[is] secret; confidential]} [(thing)] → [[is] secret; confidential; clandestine | secret [(thing)]] 秘密 秘/祕密)” sound the same, they are different morphemes, with different meanings. The first one, “mì ({secret (n)} [→ [secretary (abbr.)]] | {[is] secret; mysterious; difficult to understand; obscure} [→ [[is] seldom seen; rare]] | {keep sth. secret; hold sth. back} [→ [block; obstruct]] 秘 秘/祕)”, here means “secret” (used as an adjective). Interestingly, this “mì ({secret (n)} [→ [secretary (abbr.)]] | {[is] secret; mysterious; difficult to understand; obscure} [→ [[is] seldom seen; rare]] | {keep sth. secret; hold sth. back} [→ [block; obstruct]] 秘 秘/祕)” also appears in “mìshū (mì·shū secret · documents (person) → [secretary] 秘书 秘書)”, which means “secretary”, and it can be used as an abbreviation for “secretary”. (Yes, in both English and Mandarin, the word for “secretary” is based on the word for “secret”. So, be nice to office secretaries, congregation secretaries, etc. everywhere, since they are literally keepers of secrets!)

The second morpheme in “mìmì (mì·mì {[is] secret} · {[is] dense → [[is] intimate; close] → [[is] secret; confidential]} [(thing)] → [[is] secret; confidential; clandestine | secret [(thing)]] 秘密 秘/祕密)”, “mì ({[is] dense; thick} [[→ [[is] intimate; close] [→ [[is] secret; confidential]]] | [→ [[is] fine; meticulous]]] 密)”, literally means “dense; thick”, and can effectively mean “intimate; close”. (Compare the English expression “thick as thieves”.) That meaning, in turn, can effectively mean “secret” (used as an adjective), which is how it is used in “mìmì (mì·mì {[is] secret} · {[is] dense → [[is] intimate; close] → [[is] secret; confidential]} [(thing)] → [[is] secret; confidential; clandestine | secret [(thing)]] 秘密 秘/祕密)”. Another expression in which it’s used that way is “mìmǎ (mì·mǎ {dense → [intimate] → [secret]} · {sth. indicating a number} → [cipher; code | password; PIN] 密码 密碼)”, which can mean “code”. For example, the Mandarin Was Life Created? brochure uses “yíchuán (yí·chuán {leaving behind} · {passing on} → [genetic] 遗传 遺傳) mìmǎ (mì·mǎ {dense → [intimate] → [secret]} · {sth. indicating a number} → [code] 密码 密碼)” to translate “genetic code”. (Compare: English WOL, CHS+Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) WOL, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus.)

Exotic East Syndrome

Speaking of secrets, some may be fascinated by the seemingly secret knowledge of the Chinese characters. However, 1 Corinthians 13:2 tells us that even understanding “all the sacred secrets and all knowledge” means nothing if one does not have love, and while Chinese characters may seem alluringly secret and mysterious to those looking on from outside the culture, they certainly are not sacred. Only things from God are sacred, and Chinese characters are the unnecessarily complex, haphazardly designed, highly imperfect products of mere imperfect humans.

And if I have the gift of prophecy and understand all the sacred secrets and all knowledge, and if I have all the faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
—1 Corinthians 13:2.

Regarding this tendency of some to exoticize Chinese characters and other aspects of Chinese culture, the MEotW post on “jī‐tóng‐yā‐jiǎng ((jī chicken 鸡 雞/鷄)‐(tóng {together with} 同 同/仝)‐(yā duck 鸭 鴨)‐(jiǎng speaking 讲 講) → [people not understanding each other because of speaking different languages (from Cantonese)])” pointed out:

Western-educated publishers learning a Chinese language may unwittingly go along with the Western worldly tendency to exoticize things related to China. (John DeFrancis, in his book The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy (p. 37), calls this “Exotic East Syndrome”.) They may be content with—or even enjoy—the alluring veil of mystery and mystique surrounding certain things related to China and Chinese culture. Thus, they don’t seek to learn about and understand deeper truths about such things, that may pierce through this obscuring veil, and burst this bubble.—Compare 2 Corinthians 3:14, including the margin note.

Secrets and Identities

It is of course possible for one to have a balanced approach to Chinese characters, in which love moves one to seek to acquire whatever knowledge of characters is needed to serve effectively in the Chinese field that one is in. Many take the approach of using a system like Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) when they can, and learning to use characters when they have to. However, regarding how personally and emotionally important to them their knowledge of the secrets of Chinese characters has become to some people, the article “Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Was Plan A” said:

In addition to those who feel that phasing out the Hànzì would be a regrettable cultural loss, I have also noticed that there are some for whom knowledge of Hànzì is a matter of pride and self-identity. They are proud of knowing the Hànzì as they do, and they view their knowledge of the Hànzì as part of what makes them who they are, as something that distinguishes them from those who don’t know the Hànzì. Such ones may defend the Hànzì to the point of irrationality in the face of a more accessible alternative that would make them and their hard-earned knowledge of Hànzì less “special”, that would threaten to render worthless all of the blood, sweat, and tears they have invested into grappling with these “Chinese puzzles”. It’s as if they are saying, “That’s not fair! If I had to go through all this bitter hard work to learn characters before I could read and write Chinese, then everyone else has to too!”

…

…during the 2014 Stanford Commencement address, Bill Gates said:

If we have optimism, but we don’t have empathy, then it doesn’t matter how much we master the secrets of science, we’re not really solving problems—we’re just working on puzzles.

Mr. Gates’ above observation applies to the subject at hand in that while many enjoy trying to solve the puzzles presented by Chinese characters, and while many also enjoy being known for being good at solving these puzzles, empathy should move us to recognize that there are much bigger issues involved than just our personal enjoyment or glorification.

Yes, when even some worldly people can recognize the above points, we Christians should recognize even more the need to show love and empathy rather than being proud, self-glorifying, self-justifying, and self-serving. Also, we should be actively and determinedly following the course of true Christian love and empathy rather than just going along with others who are proud, self-glorifying, self-justifying, and self-serving. We should especially do so when we have scriptures such as this to guide us:

Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.—1 Corinthians 8:1.

Love and AI

As touched on in the MEotW post on “réngōng (rén·gōng human · work → [artificial] 人工) zhìnéng (zhì·néng intelligence · ability → [intelligence] 智能)”, lately there has been much discussion in the media about the recent developments in AI (artificial intelligence). AI systems can now be given access to lots and lots of human knowledge, but I don’t think anyone can reasonably claim that modern AI systems have been taught to have love the way the Bible says we need to have love. And so, many continue to worry about AIs falling out of alignment with humans and maybe even harming humans, maybe even to the point of extinction. Yes, as God’s Word pointed out long ago in 1 Corinthians 13:2, if one has much knowledge, even of secrets, but does not have love (Greek: a·gaʹpe), it is ultimately of no benefit. Indeed, without love to guide its use, that knowledge could actually be used to bring great harm!

Categories
Language Learning Technology Theocratic

qǐshì

qǐshì (qǐ·shì {opening → [enlightening]} · showing → [inspiring; revealing] 启示 啟示) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

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).

Inspiration

This week’s MEotW, “qǐshì (qǐ·shì {opening → [enlightening]} · showing → [inspiring; revealing] 启示 啟示)”, is used in verse 2 (WOL, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus) of 1 Corinthians 13:

Screenshot of “_qǐshì_” in 1 Co. 13:2 (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.)

“Qǐshì (Qǐ·shì {opening → [enlightening]} · showing → [inspiring; revealing] 启示 啟示)” can be used to mean “to inspire” or “to reveal”, and as you may be suspecting, this is indeed the same “qǐshì (qǐ·shì {opening → [enlightening]} · showing → [inspiring; revealing] 启示 啟示)” that is used in “Qǐshìlù (Qǐ·shì·lù {Opening → [Enlightening]} · Showing · Record → [Revelation] 启示录 啟示錄)”, the Mandarin translation for the name of the Bible book of Revelation. (A revelation is basically something that is revealed.)

The “qǐ (open [→ [enlighten; awaken; explain; expound | state; inform | start; initiate]] 启 啟)” in “qǐshì (qǐ·shì {opening → [enlightening]} · showing → [inspiring; revealing] 启示 啟示)” basically means “to open”, and in “qǐshì (qǐ·shì {opening → [enlightening]} · showing → [inspiring; revealing] 启示 啟示)”, it effectively means “to enlighten”. The “shì (show; indicate; notify; instructing; reveal; manifest; demonstrate 示)” in “qǐshì (qǐ·shì {opening → [enlightening]} · showing → [inspiring; revealing] 启示 啟示)” means “to show”, and it also appears in expressions like “biǎoshì (biǎo·shì indicate; express · show 表示)” and “shìfàn (shì·fàn {showing; demonstrating [of]} · pattern; model; example → [demonstrating; setting an example | demonstration] 示范 示範/范)”.

The above-mentioned morphemes in “qǐshì (qǐ·shì {opening → [enlightening]} · showing → [inspiring; revealing] 启示 啟示)” are both basically verbs, and “qǐshì (qǐ·shì {opening → [enlightening]} · showing → [inspiring; revealing] 启示 啟示)” itself is also basically a verb. However, it’s also used as a noun, making it a verbal noun, or a gerundial noun, in those cases.

A Really Big Deal, But…

And if I have the gift of prophecy and understand all the sacred secrets and all knowledge, and if I have all the faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
—1 Corinthians 13:2.

The expression “the gift of prophecy” appears in the English New World Translation Bible’s rendering of 1 Corinthians 13:2, quoted above, and for any human servant of Jehovah God, having what this expression represents would be A REALLY BIG DEAL. The corresponding Mandarin expression “néng ({am able} 能) zài (at 在) Shàngdì (Shàng·dì Above’s · {Emperor’s → [God’s]} → [God’s] 上帝) qǐshì (qǐ·shì {opening → [enlightening]} · showing → [inspiring] 启示 啟示) xià (under 下) fāyán (fā·yán {to issue forth} · speech → [to speak] 发言 發言)” more literally means something like “am able to speak under God’s inspiration”, and the organization has also used “qǐshì (qǐ·shì {opening → [enlightening]} · showing → [inspiring; revealing] 启示 啟示)” in relation to how the Bible writers were inspired to write what they did in the Bible. (E.g., compare this English paragraph in the Bearing Witness (bt) book to the corresponding Mandarin paragraph (February 2023 Printing).) Today, even the slave class does not claim to be inspired, like the prophets of old and the Bible writers were.—Matthew 24:45–47.

However, 1 Corinthians 13:2 tells us that even if we somehow did have the gift of prophecy, or of inspiration from God, we would still be nothing if we do not have love. Indeed, the one whom God used to write this part of the Bible, the apostle Paul, actually was an inspired Bible writer, so he was speaking under inspiration and from some personal experience when he effectively said in this verse that even such a rarefied status would mean nothing if he did not have love.

So, no, for God’s people, having love is not a mere secondary, touchy-feely “soft” skill that women are especially good at, as the human corporate world might think of it. On the contrary, having love as our foundational motivation is, in fact, a hard requirement—even more of a hard requirement than the gift of prophecy or inspiration would be—for all of God’s people, including us Mandarin field language learners.

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.