Core Glossary
Core Glossary
translation_memory.json is the enforced glossary for every Phase 2 translation in this curriculum. This document summarizes its shape and the principles behind it; see the Glossary Risk Groups for the full per-term entries.
Composition
The glossary currently holds 47 terms spanning all four risk tiers, drawn from the doctrines identified in Doctrine Analysis and grounded in the cultural risks identified in Culture Analysis. Every term entry records:
- The approved Cantonese translation (Traditional characters) and Jyutping transliteration
- The doctrine risk tier (Critical/High/Medium/Low)
- Explicitly rejected alternatives, with reasons tied to the specific folk-practice, denomination, or historical source each rejected term is drawn from
- Notes explaining any non-obvious translation choice
Governing principles
- Established usage over invention — where Hong Kong Protestant church literature already has a settled rendering (神, 耶穌, 主, 基督), this glossary follows it rather than proposing an alternative.
- Explicit rejection, not silent avoidance — every Critical-risk term records why the tempting alternative is wrong and which practice or tradition it comes from (a specific temple, a specific folk custom, the Catholic tradition), so a translator or reviewer understands the reasoning rather than just following a rule.
- Version-controlled and append-only in Phase 2 — if a new term is discovered during document translation, it is added to translation memory and the version number incremented, never silently improvised per-document (see the AI Translation Requirements’ Translation Memory Load and Enforcement Instructions).
Relationship to the Doctrine Risk Registry
Every glossary term’s doctrine field links back to an entry in doctrine_risk_registry.json, so a term’s risk tier is always traceable to the specific doctrine it protects — the glossary enforces vocabulary, the doctrine registry explains why that vocabulary matters.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: 神
Transliteration: san4
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 天主, 上帝, 老天爺
CRITICAL: this Language Package standardizes on 神 for Protestant curriculum consistency. NEVER substitute 天主 (Tin1 Zyu2, ‘Lord of Heaven’) — the standard Catholic term in Chinese, reflecting Hong Kong and Macau’s historically significant Catholic population under Portuguese/British colonial influence; this package uses 神 not because 天主 is wrong but to keep terminology consistent with this Protestant-oriented curriculum, and reviewers should be aware Hong Kong readers may encounter 天主教 (Catholicism) materials using different vocabulary. Also avoid 上帝 for the same historical ‘Term Question’ reasons noted in the Mandarin package, and NEVER use 老天爺 (colloquial impersonal Heaven).
Grace
Approved rendering: 恩典
Transliteration: jan1 din2
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: 福氣, 有求必應式嘅恩典, 功德
CRITICAL: NEVER frame grace as 福氣 (fuk1 hei3, good fortune) obtained the way Hong Kong temple-goers seek it — most visibly at Wong Tai Sin Temple (黃大仙祠), famous for the saying 「有求必應」(‘whatever you ask, you shall receive’), a transactional vow-and-offering exchange with a deity. NEVER use 功德 (Buddhist earned merit). 恩典 is unearned favor given apart from any exchange, vow, or offering.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: 聖靈
Transliteration: sing3 ling4
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: 問米嘅靈, 祖先靈
CRITICAL: always use the compound 聖靈; NEVER use 靈 alone, which in Hong Kong folk usage covers ancestral spirits, temple spirits, and the spirits summoned in 問米 mediumship. 聖靈 is the personal third Person of the Trinity, not one spirit-being among the folk-religious spirit world Hong Kong culture actively engages through mediums and ancestral rites.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: 算為義
Transliteration: syun3 wai4 ji6
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: 修成正果嘅義, 自義
CRITICAL: righteousness credited by God, NOT earned through spiritual cultivation (修成正果) or self-righteousness (自義). Must retain the forensic ‘reckoned’ sense, resisting collapse into the loyalty-and-honor sense of 義 flagged under righteousness.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: 道成肉身
Transliteration: dou6 sing4 juk6 san1
Doctrine: Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: 化身, 顯靈
CRITICAL: shared established Chinese Christian phrase (echoing John 1:14). NEVER use 化身 (a deity or bodhisattva’s temporary, repeatable manifestation — Guanyin is popularly said to appear in 化身 form to help people) or 顯靈 (a deity ‘manifesting its power’ at a shrine, a common Hong Kong temple-culture phrase). The incarnation is a permanent, unique, once-for-all taking of human nature by the eternal Son.
Jesus
Approved rendering: 耶穌
Transliteration: je4 sou1
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Standard transliteration shared with Mandarin written form, pronounced in Cantonese (Jyutping je4 sou1).
Justification
Approved rendering: 稱義
Transliteration: cing1 ji6
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 修成正果, 還神還願
CRITICAL: forensic declaration (‘reckoned righteous’), not a process. NEVER use 修成正果 (attaining enlightenment/immortality through spiritual practice) or 還神還願 (waan4 san4 waan4 jyun6, fulfilling a vow made to a temple deity in exchange for a granted request) — both import an earned, transactional-exchange framework opposite to justification by faith.
Lord
Approved rendering: 主
Transliteration: zyu2
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 事頭, 老爺
Established term. Romans 10:9’s confession ‘Jesus is Lord’ = 耶穌是主. Avoid 事頭 (si6 tau4, Cantonese colloquial for ‘boss/proprietor’) and 老爺 (a feudal-era honorific for a master or official), which reduce exclusive divine Lordship to an employment or social-hierarchy relation.
Messiah
Approved rendering: 基督
Transliteration: gei1 duk1
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Rejected alternatives: 彌勒, 黃大仙式嘅救世主
CRITICAL: established transliteration of ‘Christos’. NEVER conflate with 彌勒 (Maitreya, the future Buddha) or with the popular-savior framing attached to a wish-granting folk deity such as Wong Tai Sin. Christ is the one Messiah who has already come, fulfilling specific Jewish covenant promises.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: 復活
Transliteration: fuk6 wut6
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 投胎轉世, 問米式嘅還魂
CRITICAL: NEVER use 投胎轉世 (rebirth into a new womb) or frame resurrection using the imagery of 問米 (man6 mai5, a Cantonese folk-spirit-medium practice of ‘calling down’ a deceased person’s spirit for consultation, still sought out in Hong Kong). Resurrection is bodily, historical, and once-for-all, not a spirit summoned to briefly speak, nor a rebirth into a new cycle.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: 義
Transliteration: ji6
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 道德, 善行
CRITICAL: 義 is a Confucian Five Constant Virtue — a social-loyalty-and-duty ethic still culturally reinforced in Cantonese popular media (loyalty-and-brotherhood themes, e.g. triad/gangster-film 義氣 ‘yi hei’, code of honor among associates). Biblical righteousness is right standing before God received through faith, not a code of loyal conduct earned and displayed among peers. Always flag with a distinguishing note in justification contexts.
Salvation
Approved rendering: 救恩
Transliteration: gau3 jan1
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 解脫, 超度, 大慈大悲救苦救難
CRITICAL: NEVER use 解脫 (Buddhist liberation from samsara) or 超度 (a monk’s ritual rite releasing the dead from suffering). Avoid quoting the popular Guanyin invocation 大慈大悲救苦救難 (‘greatly compassionate, saving from suffering and hardship’) as a synonym — Guanyin worship is extremely common in Hong Kong households and framing biblical salvation with her stock epithet invites direct syncretistic conflation. 救恩 = deliverance from sin’s guilt through Christ, received by faith in this life.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: 神嘅兒子
Transliteration: san4 ge3 ji4 zi2
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 天子, 神人
CRITICAL: NEVER use 天子 (‘Son of Heaven,’ the historic Chinese imperial title). Full phrase 神嘅兒子 required; never abbreviate to 神人 (‘divine man’), which suggests a deified human rather than the eternal Son.
High Risk Terms
Abba
Approved rendering: 阿爸
Transliteration: aa3 baa1
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Aramaic term of intimacy preserved in Romans 8:15. Keep the transliteration alongside 父 to convey filial closeness.
Adoption
Approved rendering: 兒子嘅名分
Transliteration: ji4 zi2 ge3 ming4 fan6
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: 過繼, 認契仔
過繼 (transferring an heir within a clan, historically common in Pearl River Delta single-surname villages to continue ancestor-worship obligations) is instrumental rather than relational. 認契仔 (recognizing a ‘godson’, a common Hong Kong folk-religious practice of dedicating a child to a temple deity for protection) is a different, unrelated custom and must not be conflated with biblical adoption into God’s family.
Called
Approved rendering: 蒙召嘅
Transliteration: mung4 siu6 ge3
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: 天生註定, 命中注定
NEVER use 命中注定 (destined by fate, a phrase drawn from Cantonese fortune-telling and astrology culture, e.g. 八字 birth-chart reading services still commonly consulted in Hong Kong). God’s call in Romans is a personal, relational summons, not a fixed fate read off a birth chart.
Calling
Approved rendering: 呼召
Transliteration: fu1 siu6
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: 命運, 緣分
NEVER use 命運 (impersonal fate) or 緣分 (jyun4 fan6, a predestined fortuitous connection, a very common concept in Cantonese popular romance/friendship idiom). Calling is a personal summons from a personal God, not an impersonal cosmic coincidence.
Covenant
Approved rendering: 約
Transliteration: joek3
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Rejected alternatives: 合約, 還神還願嘅承諾
Relational, divinely initiated covenant bond. Avoid 合約 (an ordinary commercial contract, a heavily used term in Hong Kong’s contract-driven business/property/employment culture) and avoid the temple vow-and-fulfillment framing (還神還願).
Election
Approved rendering: 揀選
Transliteration: gaan2 syun2
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Rejected alternatives: 命運, 八字注定
NEVER use 命運 (impersonal fate) or 八字注定 (baat3 zi6 zyu3 ding6, ‘fixed by one’s birth-chart’, referencing the still-common Cantonese practice of birth-time astrology). God’s election is a personal, gracious choice, not a fate calculable from a birth chart.
Faith
Approved rendering: 信心
Transliteration: seon3 sam1
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: 虔誠, 睇相算命式嘅相信
Personal trust placed in Christ specifically. Distinguish from generic 虔誠 (piety toward any deity) and from the confidence Hong Kong culture commonly places in fortune-telling/palm-reading (睇相算命, tai2 soeng3 syun3 meng6), a widely practiced folk-divination habit even among otherwise secular residents.
Father
Approved rendering: 父
Transliteration: fu6
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: 祖先, 老竇式嘅父
God as personal, caring Father. Distinguish from ancestor veneration (拜祖先), still actively practiced through village ancestral halls (祠堂) and the Ching Ming (清明) and Chung Yeung (重陽) grave-sweeping festivals central to Cantonese/Pearl River Delta family life — venerated ancestors are cared for by descendants, the reverse direction of the biblical Father who cares for his children.
Holy
Approved rendering: 聖潔
Transliteration: sing3 git3
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: 清淨, 戒口修行式嘅潔淨
聖潔 = set apart for God, morally pure. Avoid 清淨 (Daoist/Buddhist ritual or meditative purity) and avoid framing holiness as dietary/ritual abstinence (戒口修行, common in Cantonese Buddhist lay-practice, e.g. vegetarian vow days) rather than God-given moral purity.
Law
Approved rendering: 律法
Transliteration: leot6 faat3
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: 禮, 規矩, 法律
The Mosaic Law. NEVER equate with 禮 (Confucian ritual propriety) or reduce to generic 規矩 (guai1 geoi2, ‘rules/customs’, a very common Cantonese word for social/family convention). NEVER use 法律 (secular/civil law).
Obedience Of Faith
Approved rendering: 因信而生嘅順服
Transliteration: jan1 seon3 ji4 sang1 ge3 seon6 fuk6
Doctrine: Obedience of Faith
Rejected alternatives: 孝順, 還神還願式嘅順服
Romans 1:5 and 16:26. Distinguish from 孝順 (filial obedience, a Confucian family duty) and from vow-fulfilling obedience owed after a granted request (還神還願). Obedience of faith is a fruit of grace already given, not a debt discharged.
Power Of God
Approved rendering: 神嘅大能
Transliteration: san4 ge3 daai6 nang4
Doctrine: Power of God for Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 法力, 風水嘅力量
NEVER use 法力 (a temple medium’s or practitioner’s ritual power) or attribute effect to feng shui arrangement (風水嘅力量), a very commercially prominent practice in Hong Kong business and property culture. 大能 is God’s specific saving power in Romans 1:16.
Providence
Approved rendering: 神嘅護理
Transliteration: san4 ge3 wu6 lei5
Doctrine: Providence
Rejected alternatives: 天意, 運程
NEVER use 天意 (impersonal ‘heaven’s intention’) or 運程 (wan6 cing4, one’s yearly fortune-forecast, a staple of Hong Kong New Year feng shui almanac culture). God’s providence is his personal, purposive governance for his people’s good (Romans 8:28), not an annual fortune cycle.
Saints
Approved rendering: 聖徒
Transliteration: sing3 tou4
Doctrine: Sainthood
Rejected alternatives: 神仙, 得道高人
NEVER use 神仙 (san4 sin1, a Daoist immortal/transcendent being) or 得道高人 (‘an accomplished master who has attained the Way’) — both name a rare, elevated spiritual-achiever class. 聖徒 applies corporately to all ordinary believers (Romans 1:7).
Sanctification
Approved rendering: 成聖
Transliteration: sing4 sing3
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: 修煉, 戒除惡習
Shares the Confucian self-cultivation-into-sagehood resonance found across the Chinese-character sphere, but Hong Kong’s more religiously plural, less classically-Confucian-schooled general population makes the collision somewhat less acute than in Mandarin contexts; still requires a clarifying note distinguishing Spirit-wrought sanctification from self-directed moral discipline (修煉, associated with qigong/martial-arts training regimens) or simple habit-reform (戒除惡習).
Seed Of David
Approved rendering: 大衛嘅後裔
Transliteration: daai6 wai6 ge3 hau6 jeoi6
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Romans 1:3; conveys physical lineage and OT covenant fulfillment.
Sin
Approved rendering: 罪
Transliteration: zeoi6
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: 報應, 唔衰得
罪 also carries criminal-guilt sense and, in folk usage, connects to 報應 (karmic retribution affecting fortune). Distinguish from a face/reputation framing (唔衰得, ‘mustn’t be seen to fail/lose face’, a strong Cantonese social-shame idiom) — sin is a moral offense against a personal God, not primarily a social embarrassment or bad-luck trigger.
Medium Risk Terms
Church
Approved rendering: 教會
Transliteration: gaau3 wui2
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: 廟, 祠堂
Established term. NEVER use 廟 (folk/Daoist/Buddhist temple, e.g. Wong Tai Sin, Man Mo Temple) or 祠堂 (a clan ancestral hall, central to Pearl River Delta village life). 教會 is specific enough but must be clearly introduced for readers whose only religious-gathering-place vocabulary is temple- or clan-hall-based.
David
Approved rendering: 大衛
Transliteration: daai6 wai6
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Standard Cantonese Bible proper name form.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: 外邦人
Transliteration: ngoi6 bong1 jan4
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: 外江佬, 鄉下人
Avoid colloquial Cantonese insider/outsider terms like 外江佬 (a dated, mildly derogatory term for non-Cantonese/non-local Chinese) or clan-outsider framing (鄉下人 used dismissively) — using either would import a local ethnic/clan hierarchy into a term meant to erase, not reinforce, insider/outsider distinctions.
Glory
Approved rendering: 榮耀
Transliteration: wing4 jiu6
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 面子, 威水
Avoid 面子 (‘face’/reputation) and 威水 (wai1 seoi2, Cantonese colloquial for ‘impressive/flashy success’) — both reduce God’s radiant divine glory to human social status or showy achievement, concepts with strong currency in Hong Kong’s status-conscious commercial culture.
Gospel
Approved rendering: 福音
Transliteration: fuk1 jam1
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: 好消息, 喜訊
Shared written form with Mandarin 福音, but heard through Hong Kong/Guangdong commercial-luck culture, where 福 (fuk1, fortune) is the anchor of the New Year greeting 恭喜發財 (gong1 hei2 faat3 coi4, ‘wishing you prosperity’). Teaching must be explicit the gospel announces salvation through Christ, not a forecast of prosperity.
Intercession
Approved rendering: 代求
Transliteration: doi6 kau4
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession
Rejected alternatives: 求籤代辦, 問米
Prayer on behalf of others addressed directly to God. Distinguish from 求籤 fortune-stick requests made on someone else’s behalf, and from 問米 (consulting a spirit-medium).
Israel
Approved rendering: 以色列
Transliteration: ji5 sik1 lit6
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Proper name; established form shared across Chinese-character Bible traditions.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: 神嘅國
Transliteration: san4 ge3 gwok3
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
Rejected alternatives: 天下, 王朝
Avoid 天下 (‘all under heaven’, the classical unified-earthly-realm concept) and 王朝 (‘dynasty’). Given Hong Kong’s distinct political history and present sensitivities around sovereignty and political loyalty language, teaching materials should keep ‘kingdom of God’ clearly framed as God’s spiritual reign, not an earthly political program, to avoid unintended political readings in either direction.
Mission
Approved rendering: 宣教
Transliteration: syun1 gaau3
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations
Rejected alternatives: 洋教傳播
Hong Kong’s mission history runs through British colonial-era Anglican and Catholic institutions as well as Protestant missions, giving ‘mission’ a different historical texture than in mainland Mandarin contexts (less 洋教/’foreign religion’ stigma given the churches’ long institutional presence in local education and healthcare), but public evangelism still requires sensitivity in the current political and social climate. Use 宣教 as the standard modern Cantonese Christian term.
Peace
Approved rendering: 平安
Transliteration: ping4 on1
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: 平安符式嘅平安, 老黃曆話嘅好日子
Everyday greeting/blessing word, reinforced in Hong Kong by common protective-charm culture (平安符) and lucky-day almanac consultation (老黃曆) before major decisions. In Romans 5:1, clarify this is relational peace with God secured through justification, not general protection from misfortune.
Prophecy
Approved rendering: 預言
Transliteration: jyu6 jin4
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: 求籤, 睇風水擇日
God-inspired declaration; distinguish from 求籤 (kau4 chim1, drawing a temple fortune-stick, extremely common at Hong Kong temples including Wong Tai Sin) and from date-selection by feng shui/almanac (睇風水擇日).
Spiritual Gifts
Approved rendering: 屬靈恩賜
Transliteration: suk6 ling4 jan1 ci3
Doctrine: Spiritual Gifts
Rejected alternatives: 法力, 神通
Always use the compound 屬靈恩賜, never 恩賜 alone. NEVER use 神通 (supernatural powers from spiritual cultivation) or 法力 (a folk-religion practitioner’s or 問米 medium’s ritual power).
Low Risk Terms
Apostle
Approved rendering: 使徒
Transliteration: si2 tou4
Doctrine: Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: 風水師, 大師
Established term; no significant collision. Avoid 大師 (grandmaster/guru), a title also used for feng shui consultants prominent in Hong Kong business culture.
Exhort
Approved rendering: 勸勉
Transliteration: hyun3 min5
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Standard term for encouraging fellow believers. No significant risk.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: 團契
Transliteration: tyun4 kai3
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: 同鄉會, 結拜
團契 is the established Hong Kong Christian coinage. Avoid 同鄉會 (a clan/native-place association, historically important in Cantonese emigrant communities) and 結拜 (a sworn-brotherhood ritual pact), both of which describe a social bond distinct from Spirit-given union in Christ.
Prophet
Approved rendering: 先知
Transliteration: sin1 zi1
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Rejected alternatives: 風水師, 算命佬
God’s spokesperson; distinguish from 算命佬 (a fortune-teller) or a feng shui consultant (風水師), both common consulted professions in Hong Kong.
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: 感恩
Transliteration: gam2 jan1
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Standard term. No significant risk.
Referenced passages