MEotW: jī‐tóng‐yā‐jiǎng

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• jī‐tóng‐yā‐jiǎng

What are some factors affecting whether or not Mandarin field language learners know certain basic truths about the Chinese languages?

Allowing various untruths to continue to divert and bog down the language-learning efforts of those who come to help in the worldwide Mandarin field can have incalculable overall negative effects on the preaching work in this enormous field.

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MEotW: Pīnyīn

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• Pīnyīn

What are some common myths and misconceptions about Pīnyīn?

If a Mandarin expression can only be understood when it’s written in characters, then it will lead to a failure to communicate when it’s spoken.

If a Mandarin expression can be understood when it’s spoken, then it can be understood when it’s written in _Pīnyīn_. — Troubadour WW (@troubadourww) October 24, 2020

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MEotW: Zhùyīn

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• Zhùyīn

For Mandarin field language learners, how does Zhùyīn compare with Pīnyīn?

Zhùyīn, or Bopomofo, in regular, handwritten regular, and cursive formats

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MEotW: hélí

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• hélí

How can the beaver’s impressive industriousness and construction ability help us to reach the hearts of people in the Mandarin field?

A screenshot of the article “The Beaver’s Construction Ability” on jw.org

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MEotW: chénggōng

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• chénggōng

Is “just” learning Chinese characters “the hard way” the key to success in the Mandarin field?

“To Jehovah, for whom ‘a thousand years is as one day’, Chinese civilization has only been around for a few days.… “…we should boast in Jehovah, not in needlessly and self-indulgently complex knowledge relating to a mere worldly human culture” troubadourworks.com/tiandi/meotw... #MEotW #PīnyīnPlus

[image or embed]

— tiandi, Links News (@tiandilinksnews.bsky.social) Dec 2, 2024 at 3:40 PM

Does Jehovah see Chinese characters as a successful writing system? Or does he see characters as a Great Wall obstructing his vital preaching and teaching work in the worldwide Mandarin field?

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MEotW: bìyào

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• bìyào

Are Chinese characters really indispensable? Is it really true that the Chinese languages cannot be written alphabetically?

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MEotW: pútao

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• pútao

Does each Chinese character really represent a one-syllable word?

 Michael Pardo [source]

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MEotW: fǎngxiào

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• fǎngxiào

Would it be good for other writing systems to emulate Chinese characters when it comes to (supposedly) representing meaning directly, without depending on speech sounds?

Should children be taught to read English, etc. words as if they were ideograms, like Chinese characters are supposed to be?

The Library tab in the JW Library app

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MEotW: gòngtōng

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• gòngtōng

Are Chinese characters really more universal than alphabetic writing systems are?

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MEotW: Hāmǐjíduōdùn

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• Hāmǐjíduōdùn

Do Chinese characters really directly represent meaning visually, without dependence on language sound?

Table from p. 129 of the book The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy

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MEotW: shénhuà

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• shénhuà

What are some common myths about Chinese characters?

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MEotW: jiǎntǐ‐zì

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• jiǎntǐ‐zì

While they are simpler than traditional Chinese characters, why are the official simplified characters at best a compromise?

“爱” is the Simplified Chinese character for “love”. It’s simpler, but omits the “heart” radical (“心”), and has been “friend” (“友”)-zoned. 💔

— Troubadour WW (@troubadourww) February 20, 2017

“Ài” is how Pīnyīn represents “love”. It doesn’t play the games the characters play—it helps you actually say “I love you” (“Wǒ ài nǐ”). ❤️

— Troubadour WW (@troubadourww) February 20, 2017

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MEotW: fántǐ‐zì

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• fántǐ‐zì

As beloved as they are by many, why have there been serious, concerted efforts to simplify and replace traditional Chinese characters?

“愛” is the Traditional Chinese character for “love”. It appropriately has the “heart” radical (“心”) in it, but it’s quite…complicated. 😓

— Troubadour WW (@troubadourww) February 20, 2017

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MEotW: Hànzì

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• Hànzì

In the big picture, how should we Mandarin field language learners view Chinese characters?

(The above picture is from near the beginning of the book The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy, by John DeFrancis.)

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MEotW: yǔxì

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• yǔxì

What is Mandarin’s place in its language family tree? Are Mandarin, Cantonese, etc. just dialects of “Chinese”?

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MEotW: zìmǎn

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• zìmǎn

How can pondering the Needham Question help us in the Mandarin field?

“Never, never, never in this office say, ‘But we’ve always done it that way.’”
—Admiral Grace Hopper, computer programming pioneer

Re writing Mandarin with Chinese characters, many say, “But we’ve always done it that way.”

However, as _Lǔ Xùn_ asked, does that make it right? pic.twitter.com/eFCN6fPYtY

— Troubadour WW (@troubadourww) September 10, 2024

Chinese characters are the punched cards of writing systems. Punched cards were not totally impossible to use, but there are now much better and easier-to-use ways to control computers.
 BinaryApe

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MEotW: chǎojià

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• chǎojià

How can we talk in Mandarin about arguing? Should we use the same language to describe how Jesus spoke with the Pharisees, etc.?

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MEotW: jiǎ xiāoxi

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• jiǎ xiāoxi

What myths and misinformation about Chinese characters should Mandarin field language learners be wary of?

Screenshots from the English and Mandarin versions of the video “Protect Yourself From Misinformation”

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MEotW: shìwēi kàngyì

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• shìwēi kàngyì

What connection is there between the Mandarin expressions for “demonstrating (as a protest)” and “Revelation”?

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MEotW: yì‐nián‐yí‐dù

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• yì‐nián‐yí‐dù

Are Chinese characters the ultimate clarifiers of meaning in Mandarin?

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