"What in the world does that say?" you may be asking yourself. Well, I'm here to tell you. If you are a vegan, than you will be especially interested in this word, because after reading it, you will have just learned the word "vegan" in Chinese. Go you!
The first word, "chún" (pronounced with a rising tone, as indicated by the upward sloping tone mark atop the "u") roughly translated means "pure." Additional examples of its application includes words such as 纯金 chún jīn, or "pure/real gold".
"Sù shí" specifically refers to vegetables, literally translated as "vegetable food(s)," as apposed to 肉食 (ròu shí), literally translated as "meat food(s)." The final combination of characters is a phrase that describes one who is an "-ism-ist" essentially, where zhǔ yì means "-ism" and zhě means "-ist" or "-er" (a person who does/is something, one who is-). Thus, chún sùshí zhǔ yì zhě literally means "pure vegetable-ism-ist" or simply "vegan." It can also be shortened to 纯素食者 (chún sù shí zhě). In case you're wondering how to differentiate "vegetarian" from "vegan" in Chinese, simply drop the "chún" and you have it. (*^_^*)
To hear the character's pronunciations, click my video below :-)
I loved this post Simplify - very handy if I ever visit China! An unusual topic, and I am a linguist, so I am really interested in foreign languages anyway. I presume you are Chinese, or of Chinese extraction then? This definitely got my vote!
I'm very glad that you found this post helpful, Veganara! Hehe, actually, I'm not Chinese, not even a little bit :-). I've just been learning the language for a long time. I started learning it the summer right before high school, so let's see, that was maybe 10+ years ago, now. And I also lived in China for a year studying, oh, and my girlfriend is Chinese. So, yeah, that's pretty much how I came to learn the language.
So, which languages do you study?
I majored in Russian, I have also studied a few other European languages. I have always wanted to learn a radically different one, like Chinese! How long does it take to become at all proficient in it? A good few years, I imagine.
Oh ok. Actually, I've been learning a little Russian recently, myself.
Yeah, it can take a few years to become proficient in Chinese, depending on the person. Tones play a critical role in meaning, but context is always a big clue as to the meaning of certain words in a sentence. Two words may have the same pronunciation phonetically, just with different tones, so the means are different. For example, like in the article above, there is "shÃ" with a rising tone, meaning "food"; then there is "shÄ«" with a high level tone, which can mean either "master/teacher" or "wet". But it's not as hard as it sounds, due to context, so you will know, when someone says "shi" that they certainly wouldn't be talking about wetness when referring to a person being a teacher. And when it's written, you will know which word is meant, because the characters are different. (师 shÄ« "master", 湿 shÄ« "wet")
Simplify, vote # 3! Enjoyed the article!
Haha... Carolyn, you're always number 3! Is 3 your favorite number by any chance? hehe... Glad you enjoyed the article :-)
I loved this post Simplify - very handy if I ever visit China! An unusual topic, and I am a linguist, so I am really interested in foreign languages anyway. I presume you are Chinese, or of Chinese extraction then? This definitely got my vote!
