{"id":6326,"date":"2025-04-07T23:11:59","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T06:11:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/troubadourworks.com\/tiandi\/meotw\/?p=6326"},"modified":"2025-04-13T13:39:41","modified_gmt":"2025-04-13T20:39:41","slug":"mangwen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/troubadourworks.com\/tiandi\/meotw\/2025\/04\/07\/mangwen\/","title":{"rendered":"m\u00e1ngw\u00e9n"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\t\t\tm\u00e1ngw\u00e9n<\/span>\n\t\t\t(m\u00e1ng\u00b7w\u00e9n\n\t\t\tblind \u00b7 writing \u2192<\/span> [braille]<\/span>\n\t\t\t\u76f2\u6587)<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t \ud83d\udc48\ud83c\udffc Tap\/click to show\/hide the \u201cflashcard\u201d<\/span>\n<\/h3>\n\n

Recently, jw.org<\/a> featured the video \u201c\u2009\u2018Without It, I Would Feel Lost\u2019<\/a>\u2009\u201d, which, as its description says, is about \u201cthe experience of a blind man who has benefited from having the Bible in braille\u201d. Where the English description of this video uses the word \u201cbraille\u201d, the Mandarin<\/a> description uses this week\u2019s MEotW, \u201cm\u00e1ngw\u00e9n<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t(m\u00e1ng\u00b7w\u00e9n\n\t\t\tblind \u00b7 writing \u2192<\/span> [braille]<\/span>\n\t\t\t\u76f2\u6587)<\/span>\u201d.<\/i> And yes, as the existence of this Mandarin expression suggests, Chinese Braille (Zh\u014dnggu\u00f3<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t(Zh\u014dng\u00b7gu\u00f3\n\t\t\tCentral \u00b7 Nation \u2192<\/span> [Chinese]<\/span>\n\t\t\t\u4e2d\u56fd\n\t\t\t\u4e2d\u570b<\/span>)<\/span>\n\n\t\t\tM\u00e1ngw\u00e9n<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t(M\u00e1ng\u00b7w\u00e9n\n\t\t\tBlind \u00b7 Writing \u2192<\/span> [Braille]<\/span>\n\t\t\t\u76f2\u6587)<\/span>)<\/i> does indeed exist.<\/p>\n

Braille in the Land of Characters<\/h4>\n

But, one may ask, how does braille, with just a limited number of raised dots, work for Mandarin Chinese when thousands and thousands of Chinese characters are usually used to write this language? The post \u201cHow Chinese Braille works<\/a>\u201d, on the blog The Language Closet<\/a>, discusses this question:<\/p>\n

\nThere is one system that intrigues me. one that, [sic] seems a little too big for what braille is able to handle.<\/p>\n

You see\u2026, one braille cell contains 6 dots. Including the space, which consists of zero raised dots, there are only 64 possible combinations that can be formed per braille cell. But yet, it is this same system that could represent the entirety of the Mandarin Chinese language to provide accessibility to the blind users. How does it do that? After all, Chinese as we know it is written with thousands upon thousands of characters, each with their own meaning.<\/p>\n

To get around this problem of representing thousands of characters in braille, we would have to ditch the concept of the character, and to focus on the structure of the Chinese syllable. Chinese is fairly restricted in its syllable structure, with syllables having a (CG)V(X)T structure, where C is the initial consonant, G is the glide, V is the vowel, X is the coda, and T is one of the four tones, or a neutral tone for weak syllables. So in the hanyu pinyin,<\/i> the syllable zhu\u0101ng can be split into zh + u + a + ng + tone 1. After factoring in tone, there are around 1300 possible syllables, although Mandarin Chinese uses way less than that.<\/p>\n

In Mandarin Chinese, there are only 21 possible consonant initials, which are, in hanyu pinyin,<\/i><\/p>\n

b, p, m, f, d, t, n, l, g, j, k, q, h, x, zh, ch, sh, r, z, c, and s.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, with a limited number of final combinations, that is, combining glides, vowels, and codas, every single combination of Chinese initials and finals could be represented in braille.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, Chinese Braille does NOT work by trying to shoehorn a Chinese characters writing system into braille\u2014even the Simplified one just wouldn\u2019t fit. Instead, the approach taken was to \u201cditch the concept of the character, and to focus on the structure of the Chinese syllable\u201d, a basic unit of Mandarin speech.<\/em> Instead of being based on a Chinese characters writing system, with its thousands and thousands of inconsistent, haphazardly designed symbols, Chinese Braille is based on P\u012bny\u012bn<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t(P\u012bn\u00b7y\u012bn\n\t\t\t{Piecing Together of} \u00b7 Sounds \u2192<\/span> [Pinyin]<\/span>\n\t\t\t\u62fc\u97f3)<\/span>,<\/i> which consistently and elegantly represents any and all Modern Standard Mandarin speech with a reasonable number of symbols.<\/p>\n

As the article \u201cP\u012bny\u012bn<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t(P\u012bn\u00b7y\u012bn\n\t\t\t{Piecing Together of} \u00b7 Sounds \u2192<\/span> [Pinyin]<\/span>\n\t\t\t\u62fc\u97f3)<\/span> Is a Good, Workable Writing System on Its Own<\/a>\u201d says:<\/p>\n

\nBut, is P\u012bny\u012bn<\/i> even really a writing system? Interestingly, the Chinese national standard Zh\u014dnggu\u00f3 M\u00e1ngw\u00e9n<\/i> (\u4e2d\u56fd\u76f2\u6587\/\u4e2d\u570b\u76f2\u6587, Chinese Braille) is basically a transliteration or conversion of P\u012bny\u012bn<\/i> into braille letters.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From this fact, we can logically draw the following conclusion, as stated in the above-mentioned article:<\/p>\n

\nBraille is obviously a writing system, so P\u012bny\u012bn<\/span> must also be a writing system<\/a> (see p. 9), not just a pronunciation aid.<\/em><\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

\u282a\u2806
is the (Mainland) Chinese Braille representation of<\/p>\n

\u00e0i (love \u7231 \u611b)<\/p>\n

\u282a corresponds to \u201cai\u201d in _P\u012bny\u012bn_, and
\u2806 corresponds to 4th tone.<\/p>\n

Blind Mandarin-speaking people need to read and write about love too! https:\/\/t.co\/sXSVzycXre<\/a><\/p>\n

— Troubadour WW (@troubadourww) January 5, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n