{"id":7689,"date":"2026-05-03T23:38:46","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T06:38:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/troubadourworks.com\/tiandi\/meotw\/?p=7689"},"modified":"2026-05-03T23:38:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T06:38:55","slug":"buyi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/troubadourworks.com\/tiandi\/meotw\/2026\/05\/03\/buyi\/","title":{"rendered":"b\u00fay\u00ec"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\t\t\tb\u00fay\u00ec<\/span>\n\t\t\t(b\u00fa\u00b7y\u00ec\n\t\t\tun\u00b7righteous[ness]<\/span>\n\t\t\t\u4e0d\u4e49\n\t\t\t\u4e0d\u7fa9<\/span>)<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t \ud83d\udc48\ud83c\udffc Tap\/click to show\/hide the \u201cflashcard\u201d<\/span>\n<\/h3>\n\n

[Notes:<\/strong> Tap\/click on a 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> expression to reveal its <\/span>\u201cflashcard\u201d<\/span>; tap\/click on a <\/span>\u201cflashcard\u201d<\/span> or its 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> 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

I have long especially liked 1 Corinthians 13<\/a>. It contains counsel on what really does and doesn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> in the current version of the Mandarin New World Translation<\/i> Bible (nwtsty).<\/p>\n

\u201cUnrighteousness\u201d<\/h4>\n

This week\u2019s MEotW, \u201cb\u00fay\u00ec<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t(b\u00fa\u00b7y\u00ec\n\t\t\tun\u00b7righteous[ness]<\/span>\n\t\t\t\u4e0d\u4e49\n\t\t\t\u4e0d\u7fa9<\/span>)<\/span>\u201d,<\/i> is used in verse 6 (WOL<\/a>) of 1 Corinthians 13:<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

(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<\/a> Safari extension. Other web browsers may also have extensions with similar functionality.)<\/p>\n

For comparison, here are the current English and 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> Plus renderings of 1 Corinthians 13:6:<\/p>\n

English<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\nIt does not rejoice over unrighteousness,<\/strong> but rejoices with the truth.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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> Plus<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n\n\t\t\t\ud83d\udcd6<\/span> \ud83d\udcc4<\/span> \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tb\u00f9<\/span>\n\t\t\t(not<\/span>\n\t\t\t\u4e0d)<\/span>\n\n\t\t\ty\u012bn<\/span>\n\t\t\t({because of}<\/span>\n\t\t\t\u56e0)<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tb\u00fay\u00ec<\/span>\n\t\t\t(b\u00fa\u00b7y\u00ec\n\t\t\tun\u00b7righteousness<\/span>\n\t\t\t\u4e0d\u4e49\n\t\t\t\u4e0d\u7fa9<\/span>)<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/strong>\n\n\t\t\t\u00e9r<\/span>\n\t\t\t(thus<\/span>\n\t\t\t\u800c)<\/span>\n\n\t\t\thu\u0101nx\u01d0<\/span>\n\t\t\t(hu\u0101n\u00b7x\u01d0\n\t\t\t{does be joyful} \u00b7 {does be happy}<\/span>\n\t\t\t\u6b22\u559c\n\t\t\t\u6b61\u559c<\/span>)<\/span>,\n\n\t\t\tzh\u01d0<\/span>\n\t\t\t(only<\/span>\n\t\t\t\u53ea\n\t\t\t\u53ea\/\u79d6\/\u8879\/\u7947<\/span>)<\/span>\n\n\t\t\ty\u012bn<\/span>\n\t\t\t({because of}<\/span>\n\t\t\t\u56e0)<\/span>\n\n\t\t\tzh\u0113nl\u01d0<\/span>\n\t\t\t(zh\u0113n\u00b7l\u01d0\n\t\t\ttrue \u00b7 reasoning \u2192<\/span> [the truth]<\/span>\n\t\t\t\u771f\u7406)<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\u00e9r<\/span>\n\t\t\t(thus<\/span>\n\t\t\t\u800c)<\/span>\n\n\t\t\tg\u0101ox\u00ecng<\/span>\n\t\t\t(g\u0101o\u00b7x\u00ecng\n\t\t\t(is with) high \u00b7 enthusiasm \u2192<\/span> [is glad]<\/span>\n\t\t\t\u9ad8\u5174\n\t\t\t\u9ad8\u8208<\/span>)<\/span>.\n\t\t\t<\/span>\n\n\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the above examples, \u201cb\u00fay\u00ec<\/i><\/span>\n\t\t\t(b\u00fa\u00b7y\u00ec\n\t\t\tun\u00b7righteous[ness]<\/span>\n\t\t\t\u4e0d\u4e49\n\t\t\t\u4e0d\u7fa9<\/span>)<\/span>\u201d<\/i> corresponds to \u201cunrighteousness\u201d, and it does so pretty straightforwardly, right down to the literal meanings of its morphemes<\/a>. Regarding righteousness, the Insight<\/i> book\u2019s entry on \u201cRighteousness\u201d says<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\nthe original-language terms are at times translated \u201cjustice\u201d\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, \u201cunrighteous\u201d can mean \u201cunjust\u201d or \u201cunfair\u201d.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Be Unfair<\/h4>\n

While a certain amount of knowledge about Chinese characters is obviously of some practical benefit in this world in which characters are \u201ceverywhere\u201d, remember that ultimately, Chinese characters are only \u201ceverywhere\u201d because of human tradition<\/em>\u2014linguistically speaking, there is actually no technical need for any of the Chinese languages to be written using Chinese characters. With regard to the Mandarin field specifically, this is exemplified by the fact that 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> works well as a full writing system<\/a> for Modern Standard Mandarin, meaning that anything that can be said in Modern Standard Mandarin, from the simpest expressions to the deepest, most advanced expressions, can be written with 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> (In fact, Plan A<\/a> for modern China was for 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> to eventually replace Chinese characters, but unfortunately, the B players<\/a> have gotten their way in China so far.)<\/p>\n

With that in mind, and also remembering the scriptural counsel at 1 Corinthians 14:8\u201311<\/a>, it follows then that just following the crowd and focusing in our Mandarin field language learning on the traditionally imposed but extraordinarily complex Chinese characters, and thus allowing them to distract from, hinder, and impede our efforts to learn to understand Mandarin speech<\/em> and to use understandable Mandarin speech<\/em> to praise Jehovah and help people spiritually, would be unfair in the following ways:<\/p>\n