The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:
What understanding can help us Mandarin field language learners to move beyond “knowing just enough to be dangerous”?
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The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:
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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The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:
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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The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:
How do we respond to the voodooesque power of the Great Wall of characters?
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The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:
Who is Lǐ Huá? Why have so many Chinese people and American people been talking about Lǐ Huá on the Chinese social media app Xiǎohóngshū (RedNote)?
Learning Mandarin out of spite? You're not alone.
— Duolingo (@duolingo) January 15, 2025
We’ve seen a ~216% growth in new Chinese (Mandarin) learners in the US compared to this time last year. https://t.co/9hzwBxfTgD pic.twitter.com/qWM9f5oFYA
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The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:
How can we Mandarin field language learners make good use of our precious, limited available time in the Mandarin field?
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The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:
As Mandarin field language learners, why should we focus on Jehovah’s powerful gift of speech, rather than on the human invention of writing? How can we do so?
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The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:
Is Jehovah God impressed by one who boasts about having deep knowledge of Chinese characters?
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The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:
In the Mandarin field, should we be afraid of standing out because of using Pīnyīn?
In many workplaces, there are the Big Cheeses who focus on getting the glory, and there are the ones who are actually good at doing the work.
— Troubadour WW (@troubadourww) November 2, 2023
In the work of writing Mandarin, characters are like those Big Cheeses, & _Pīnyīn_ is like those who are actually good at doing the work. pic.twitter.com/98m5B7lEou
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Most of the Israelites of Jeremiah’s time stuck to their literal idolatry, and most of the Chinese world of our time will likely stick to the linguistic idolatry of prioritizing visible Chinese characters over invisible speech, which is actually the primary aspect of language.
— tiandi, Links News (@TiandiLinksNews) November 10, 2023
In spite of what most around him were doing, Jeremiah chose to reject idolatry and to stick to the invisible true God.
— tiandi, Links News (@TiandiLinksNews) November 10, 2023
Similarly, we can choose to reject the linguistic idolatry of prioritizing visible Chinese characters, and instead rightly focus on invisible Mandarin speech.
Jehovah deserves from us Mandarin field language learners the best Mandarin-speaking ability we can cultivate.—Mal. 1:6–8.
— tiandi, Links News (@TiandiLinksNews) March 16, 2023
To achieve this, avoid linguistic idolatry involving human-designed Chinese characters. Instead, use the abilities Jehovah built in to us to learn SPEECH. pic.twitter.com/JvyhCR6sms
Literal idolatry involves focusing on physical idols that are visible, instead of on the true God Jehovah, who is invisible.
— tiandi, Links News (@TiandiLinksNews) March 16, 2023
Linguistic idolatry with Chinese characters involves focusing on these characters that are visible, instead of on Mandarin speech, which is invisible.
