{"id":3904,"date":"2023-09-11T22:06:46","date_gmt":"2023-09-12T05:06:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/troubadourworks.com\/tiandi\/meotw\/?p=3904"},"modified":"2023-12-03T14:17:30","modified_gmt":"2023-12-03T22:17:30","slug":"aizheng","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/troubadourworks.com\/tiandi\/meotw\/2023\/09\/11\/aizheng\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00e1izh\u00e8ng"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\t\t\t\u00e1izh\u00e8ng<\/span>\n(\u00e1i\u00b7zh\u00e8ng\ncancer \u00b7 disease \u2192<\/span> [cancer]<\/span>\n\u764c\u75c7\n\u764c\u75c7\/\u7665<\/span>)<\/span>\n\n \u2190 Tap\/click to show\/hide the \u201cflashcard\u201d<\/span><\/h3>\n\n

[Notes:<\/strong> Tap\/click on a P\u012bny\u012bn<\/i><\/span>\n(P\u012bn\u00b7y\u012bn\n{Piecing Together of} \u00b7 Sounds \u2192<\/span> [Pinyin]<\/span>\n\u62fc\u97f3)<\/span> expression to reveal its <\/span>\u201cflashcard\u201d<\/span>; tap\/click on a <\/span>\u201cflashcard\u201d<\/span> or its P\u012bny\u012bn<\/i><\/span>\n(P\u012bn\u00b7y\u012bn\n{Piecing Together of} \u00b7 Sounds \u2192<\/span> [Pinyin]<\/span>\n\u62fc\u97f3)<\/span> expression to hide the<\/span> \u201cflashcard\u201d<\/span>. \ud83d\udcd6<\/span> \ud83d\udcc4<\/span> \ud83d\udcd8 icons mean \ud83d\udcd6<\/span> Reveal All<\/strong>, \ud83d\udcc4<\/span> Reveal Advanced<\/strong>, and \ud83d\udcd8 Reveal None<\/strong> re all the \u201cflashcards\u201d<\/span> in the heading, paragraph, etc. that they are placed at the beginning of.]<\/p>\n

The new format of the Enjoy Life Forever!<\/i> 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<\/a> for Lesson 09, point 6 of the Enjoy Life Forever!<\/i> book, entitled Prayer Helps Us to Cope<\/i>, 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 P\u012bny\u012bn<\/i><\/span>\n(P\u012bn\u00b7y\u012bn\n{Piecing Together of} \u00b7 Sounds \u2192<\/span> [Pinyin]<\/span>\n\u62fc\u97f3)<\/span> Plus<\/a> transcript for the Mandarin version of this video is available here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The Mandarin version of this video begins with Br. Dalla-Longa saying this:<\/p>\n

\n\n\ud83d\udcd6<\/span> \ud83d\udcc4<\/span> \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>\n\nW\u01d2<\/span>\n(I<\/span>\n\u6211)<\/span>\n\nz\u00e0i<\/span>\n(at<\/span>\n\u5728)<\/span>\n\nb\u0101<\/span>\n(eight<\/span>\n\u516b)<\/span>\n\nsu\u00ec<\/span>\n({years (of age)}<\/span>\n\u5c81\n\u6b72\/\u5d57<\/span>)<\/span>\n\nde<\/span>\n(\u2019s<\/span>\n\u7684)<\/span>\n\nsh\u00edhou<\/span>\n(sh\u00ed\u00b7hou\n{(particular) time} \u00b7 season<\/span>\n\u65f6\u5019\n\u6642\u5019<\/span>)<\/span>\n\nd\u00e9le<\/span>\n(d\u00e9\u00b7le\ngot \u00b7 [indicates a change<\/i>]<\/span>\n\u5f97\u4e86)<\/span>\n\ny\u00ec<\/span>\n(one<\/span>\n\u4e00)<\/span>\n\nzh\u01d2ng<\/span>\n({type of}<\/span>\n\u79cd\n\u7a2e\/\u79cd<\/span>)<\/span>\n\nh\u01cenji\u00e0n<\/span>\n(h\u01cen\u00b7ji\u00e0n\nrarely \u00b7 seen<\/span>\n\u7f55\u89c1\n\u7f55\u898b<\/span>)<\/span>\n\nde<\/span>\n(\u2019s<\/span>\n\u7684)<\/span>\n\n\u00e1izh\u00e8ng<\/span>\n(\u00e1i\u00b7zh\u00e8ng\ncancer \u00b7 disease \u2192<\/span> [cancer]<\/span>\n\u764c\u75c7\n\u764c\u75c7\/\u7665<\/span>)<\/span>.<\/strong>\n\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The expression that he concludes with above, \u201c\u00e1izh\u00e8ng<\/i><\/span>\n(\u00e1i\u00b7zh\u00e8ng\ncancer \u00b7 disease \u2192<\/span> [cancer]<\/span>\n\u764c\u75c7\n\u764c\u75c7\/\u7665<\/span>)<\/span>\u201d<\/i>, means \u201ccancer\u201d, and it is this week\u2019s MEotW.<\/p>\n

The New, Improved Mandarin Word for \u201cCancer\u201d<\/h4>\n

Interestingly, the Mandarin word for \u201ccancer\u201d wasn\u2019t always \u201c\u00e1izh\u00e8ng<\/i><\/span>\n(\u00e1i\u00b7zh\u00e8ng\ncancer \u00b7 disease \u2192<\/span> [cancer]<\/span>\n\u764c\u75c7\n\u764c\u75c7\/\u7665<\/span>)<\/span>\u201d<\/i>. Before, unfortunately, the Mandarin word for \u201ccancer\u201d sounded exactly like the Mandarin word for \u201cinflammation\u201d. 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\u2019s Homophone<\/a> Problem, the unfortunate reality that modern Mandarin has many homophones, or different words that sound the same.<\/p>\n

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 \u201ccancer\u201d was actually<\/em> 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 \u201cP\u012bny\u012bn<\/i><\/span>\n(P\u012bn\u00b7y\u012bn\n{Piecing Together of} \u00b7 Sounds \u2192<\/span> [Pinyin]<\/span>\n\u62fc\u97f3)<\/span> Was Plan A<\/a>\u201d:<\/p>\n

\nPerhaps Chinese became<\/em> 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:<\/p>\n