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: fāngyán

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• fāngyán

What does the Mandarin word often mistranslated as “dialect” actually mean?

“Many of these so-called Chinese ‘dialects’ are in fact, different languages.”
—David Moser (@david__moser), in his book _A Billion Voices: China’s Search for a Common Language_ https://t.co/Ld20t2JQ2W

— Troubadour WW (@troubadourww) November 4, 2020

List of different Chinese languages in which publications are available on jw.org as of 2025-06-02

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MEotW: róngyào

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• róngyào

In the Mandarin field, what kinds of glory should we be mindful of?

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MEotW: yǔzú

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• yǔzú

How closely—or distantly—related are Mandarin and Cantonese? Are Mandarin, Cantonese, etc. just dialects of “Chinese”?

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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: Yuèyǔ

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• Yuèyǔ

Is Cantonese just a dialect of “Chinese”? Is Cantonese just a spoken language?

Publications are now available on jw.org that are written in these Chinese varieties.

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MEotW: xuānchuán

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• xuānchuán

What worldly propaganda about the Chinese languages should we Mandarin field language learners beware of?

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MEotW: cì’ěr

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• cì’ěr

How can we avoid being a “clashing cymbal” in the Mandarin field?

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“Worship with…Truth”

Today’s daily text reminds us that Jehovah’s true worshippers worship with TRUTH. Us Chinese fields language learners need to keep in mind that many people have been led to believe things about the Chinese languages, Chinese characters, etc. that are actually not true. Beware!

— tiandi, Links News (@TiandiLinksNews) March 17, 2023

Some untrue things about Chinese languages, characters, etc.:

“Mandarin, Cantonese, etc. are just dialects.”
(Actually, they are separate languages.)

“Characters are primary.”
(SPEECH is primary.)

“_Pīnyīn_ is just a pronunciation aid.”
(_Pīnyīn_ is a full writing system.)

…

— tiandi, Links News (@TiandiLinksNews) March 17, 2023

Why do so many people believe, and even promote, so many untruths about Chinese languages, characters, etc.? There are several generally bad reasons:

* Tradition/inertia/apathy
* Pride
* Valuing political, social, etc. power, prestige, etc. over truth
* Sunk cost fallacy
* …

— tiandi, Links News (@TiandiLinksNews) March 17, 2023

MEotW: chá

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• chá

Why do the words “tea” and “chai” both exist when they basically refer to the same thing?

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MEotW: jī‐tóng‐yā‐jiǎng

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• jī‐tóng‐yā‐jiǎng

What can help us to avoid ‘feeling like an idiot’ in the Chinese fields? 🐓 🦆

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MEotW: yǔzú

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• 
• yǔzú

Is a language family divided first into groups or branches? Are Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese, etc. just dialects of “Chinese”?

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MEotW: yǔxì

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• 
• yǔxì

What is Mandarin’s place in its language family tree? It’s a simple question—or is it?

The Pinwheel Galaxy, another kind of xì

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MEotW: Xībānyá Yǔ

The Mandarin Expression of the Week is:

• 
• Xībānyá Yǔ

How many people speak Spanish, compared to how many people speak other languages? What is Spanish’s place in its language family tree?

es is the ISO 639-1 code and the IETF language tag for Spanish.

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