Learn how to say, "I am a vegetarian"
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| Being a vegetarian in America is more and more common. So there are going to be lots of travelers who want to stick with their eating habits. So today, we are going to learn the word vegetarian. Now I had to tell you this but it’s going to be a very complicated issue. So after we learn the word, I will tell you exactly how this situation is going to be complicated. First the word vegetarian, 素食主义者(sùshí zhǔyì zhě). All right guys, let’s do the tones, 素(sù) fourth tone, falling tone, 素(sù). 食(shí) second tone, rising tone, 食(shí). 主(zhǔ) third tone, falling rising tone, 主(zhǔ). 义(yì) fourth tone, the falling tone, 义(yì). 者(zhě) third tone, falling rising tone, 者(zhě). 素食主义者(sùshí zhǔyì zhě). Let’s break it down by the different components, 素(sù) means vegetable, 食(shí) means food. So 素食(sù shí) means vegetable food. 素(sù) means element or component, 食(shí) means food and they have alternate version. 主义(zhǔyì) means doctrine or ism like communism or capitalism, hint, hint, hint, hint or in this case it’s vegetarianism. So together we have vegetable eat ism, vegetable eat doctrine, the belief of only eating vegetables or vegetarianism or vegetarian, alternate version. So together we have element eating ism, the belief of only eating elements. Somehow that means being a vegetarian and they have alternate version. So if you are in a restaurant and you want only vegetables. You don’t want to eat meat. You can say 我是素食主义者(Wǒ shì sùshí zhǔyì zhě.). 我(wǒ) is third tone, 是(shì) is fourth tone. Literally it means I am. So I am vegetarian, 我是素食主义者(Wǒ shì sùshí zhǔyì zhě.) After that, you can say 我不吃肉(Wǒ bù chī ròu.) The tones for this are 我(wǒ) third tone, falling rising tone, 不(bù) fourth tone, the falling tone, 吃(chī) first tone, the flat tone and then 肉(ròu) fourth tone, the falling tone. 我不吃肉(Wǒ bù chī ròu.) Component by component, this is 我(wǒ) I, third tone, 我(wǒ). 不(bù) no, fourth tone, the falling tone, 不(bù). 吃(chī) to eat, first tone, flat tone, 吃(chī). 肉(ròu) fourth tone, the falling tone, meat, 肉(ròu). 我不吃肉(Wǒ bù chī ròu.), I no eat meat, I don’t eat meat. So you say 我是素食主义者, 我不吃肉(Wǒ shì sùshí zhǔyì zhě, wǒ bù chī ròu.) I am a vegetarian, I don’t eat meat and no one will understand you. It’s fine Chinese but no one will understand you. They will say what, not even a little meat. Come on, what about this dish? It only has little meat. What about this? This is fish, vegetarians in China are extremely rare especially in normal Chinese society. The only vegetarians I have ever, ever met Buddhist monks living in monasteries. In normal Chinese society, almost no one is vegetarian. I have never met a person who was not a monk who was vegetarian. So most people, people working in restaurants do not understand this idea. Why would you be vegetarian? What’s the point in being vegetarian, do you just mean you don’t like meat? Well then that’s okay, we have stuff with a little bit of meat. How about you try this? It’s just fish. I have an Australian friend who was vegetarian. We were living together and he went out with some Chinese people and he told them he was vegetarian. He did not eat meat. He didn’t speak Chinese but he tried to explain this in English, I am vegetarian, I don’t eat meat and he asked them to order for him because of course the menu was only in Chinese. He thought they are playing a joke on him because when he got his dish, it consisted of five fish heads sitting in oil. Probably they weren’t playing a joke on him. They just didn’t understand. They thought yeah, okay you don’t like meat, so here Fish and in China, Fish heads are considered a delicacy. So possibly, the only sure way to make sure you don’t get any meat is to say, I am Buddhist, 我是佛教(Wǒ shì fójiào). The tones on this are 我(wǒ) third tone, 我(wǒ). 是(shì) fourth tone, 是(shì). 佛(fó) second tone, 佛(fó). 教(jiào) fourth tone, 教(jiào). 我是佛教(Wǒ shì fójiào) And it means literally I am Buddhist. The problem with this is, Buddhists in addition to not eating meat often do not eat eggs. They are not allowed to eat anything that would heat up or excite the blood like Garlic, onions, hot peppers, just about anything fun. So if you say you are Buddhist, you may end up with some very, very bland dishes. In fact many of my vegetarian friends have actually just bitten the bullet when they came to China and had some meat. They tried not to eat too much meat but if it comes every once in a while, if they eat it mistakenly, they didn’t mean to and they will be good when they get back. One possible solution to this conundrum is to ask the waitress or the waiter, could you make this without meat, 可以不放肉吗(Kěyǐ bùfàng ròu ma?) The tones for this are 可(kě) third tone, 以(yǐ) third tone again. So 可以(ké yǐ) second tone and then third tone, rising tone, then the falling rising tone, 可以(ké yǐ). 不(bù) fourth tone but it comes before 放(fàng) which is also fourth tone, so it becomes second tone, the rising tone, 不放(bú fàng) second tone, then fourth tone, 不放(bú fàng). 肉(ròu) fourth tone, the falling tone, 肉(ròu) and 吗(ma) which has no tone. 可以不放肉吗(Kéyǐ búfàng ròu ma?) Literally broken down this is 可以(ké yǐ) means can or to be able to or may as in may I as in asking for permission, second tone, then third tone, 不(bù) no, 放(fàng) to put or to place, 放(fàng), 肉(ròu) meat and then 吗(ma) which makes a statement into a question like a question mark, ma, no tone, 可以不放肉吗(Kéyǐ búfàng ròu ma?) Can no put meat, question, can you make it without meat, may I have it without meat, 可以不放肉吗(Kéyǐ búfàng ròu ma?) But again they may just look at you strangely and say what. |
| All right, to close our today’s lesson, we’d like you to practice what we’ve just learned. I will provide you with the English equivalent of a phrase and you are responsible for shouting it out loud. You will have a few seconds before I give you the answer. So 加油(Jiā yóu!) I am vegetarian, 我是素食主义者(Wǒ shì sùshí zhǔyì zhě.) I don’t eat meat, 我不吃肉(Wǒ bù chī ròu.) I am Buddhist, 我是佛教(Wǒ shì fójiào) Can you make it without meat or may I have it without meat, 可以不放肉吗(Kéyǐ búfàng ròu ma?) |
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Comments
HideDo you think China has a good Vegetarian selection?
你好 robert groulx,
谢谢 for posting and studying with us. If you have any questions, please let us know.😄
Kind regards,
雷文特 (Levente)
Team ChineseClass101.com
thank you for the lesson transcript
favorite phrase is 我是素食主义者(Wǒ shì sùshí zhǔyì zhě.) I don’t eat meat,
robert
@蓝大卫
Absolutely yes! My surname and given name are really rare both as separate characters and a combination, nevertheless i found dozens of duplication in Google. There is one public servant, one teacher, one archeologist and...me.
Very few people have a one-and-only name. According to a highly authoritative research (carried out by me), only four of the people I know does. By that I mean there are only one or two pages of google results of their names and they are all about themselves. But they are not happy about that, feeling insecure and such.
If i were to name my kid, i would prefer a longer one like four characters, since seldom Chinese do that. That would be easier than picking a rare and most of the time weird character.
@LanZi.
:oops:My last message was a bit confusing. Wish there was an edit function like there is on the forum.
Do you often encounter people who have the same given and surnames as other people? It would seem that if there is a limited number of surnames and many of them are high frequency (张，马， 王， 黄）, that you'd run into duplication of names，especially if there is a two character limit.
Given that, I could see picking a really rare character to make the complete name more unique.
Last week, I was pinged on FaceBook by someone who thought I worked in the Air Force in the 1990s in Texas so it even happens to me on occasion,
and my surname in English isn't that common.
@Zhouli
一不小心漏掉了你的留言。多谢:smile:
@LanZi
I find two-character-names only popular in younger generations. For my parents and their peers all have three character names. Since there are only two characters, people have to find really complicated or rare character for their kids. I learnt new characters in many of my friends' names.:smile:
What is the complete name you are referring to?
@LanZi,
Yes, I noticed. I same with Chinese names from America....I'm a three character name. :smile: Is it very common to find people with the name
complete name? We run into it occasionally here in the States.
@蓝大卫
Thanks. Have you noticed names in mainland China and Taiwan or Hong Kong are different in terms of the number of characters. Mainland China tends to name in two characters like Zhou Li, Lan Wei, Yao Wei. While outside mainland they are using three characters most of the time, like Lin Chi-ling, Hou Pei-cen.
Both "Nicole" and 蓝蔚 are nice names. I believe the 蔚蓝 translates as "azure blue". Hope you can find some 酱牛肉春饼 in Beijing!!
@LanZi,
别伤心呀，lanzi就很好呀。抱抱:neutral:
@蓝大卫
台北果然很多小吃！酱牛肉春饼我没吃过，有空找来吃吃。不行，你的avatar太诱人，一看就流口水。
Landis! 蓝大卫，很合适，nice name！可惜我的名字找不到这么搭的女生的英文名:sad:
我的avatar 不是点心，是酱牛肉春饼（jiàng niúròu chūn bǐng）。看起来个中国burrito, 有很多牛肉。非常好吃。:smile: 在台湾台北我吃了酱牛肉春饼。饭店叫穆記。在台北穆記很流行. 在这儿，个饭店也有酱牛肉春饼，但是蔬菜太多，牛肉太少。 :sad:
对， 以前我说了，但是我告诉你，我的姓氏是Landis.
Echo 告诉了我她喜欢我的中文名字。:smile:
@蓝大卫
老实说，我也看不懂:smile: 对，中国姓氏都是很有历史的。是啊我贴了照片，很高兴认识你，dim sum... 你的照片呢？你的英语姓氏是什么？可以说吗？
哎，我的中文还差得远哪。:smile: 我看不懂。看起来个中国姓氏database, 对吗？
看起来你posted 你的照片。谢谢。 很高兴认识你！
我用“蓝” 因为听起来我的英语姓氏.
@蓝大卫
Definitely! :smile:
The surname 蓝 is from 秦子, named after the place 蓝田, according to this:
http://www.qingyunju.com/name/qiyuan/nian.htm
@LanZi/Nicole.
Hmmm..... do you think we might be related??? :razz:
@蓝大卫
Wow I didn't know that page.:shock: Seems everyone has an impressive resume. Afraid I need some time to get on that. By that time I would quote "i love animal. They are tasty":lol:
Yes! We share the same surname 蓝. What's more exciting, we share the same first name "wei". Mine is 蔚 as in 蔚蓝（wei4lan2,blue）. So practically my name is blue blue...
Thank you for your help!
To update your avatar, simply click on that silhouette and it will take you to
http://en.gravatar.com/, however, I was referring to your photo being posted here with the others:
https://www.chineseclass101.com/about-us/member-introduction/
What sort of "Lan" are you? Do we share the same surname??? :smile:
谢谢你帮我！
@蓝大卫
“可以不放肉吗”and“可以不加肉吗” are the two ways I hear people say it. "omit" in 广东 we say "走"(zou3,go). Probably not in Beijing. For example, “走蔥”(zou3cong1)means “omit the green onion”. But i never say "走肉"... "走葱" is a set phrase then.
@蓝大卫
Yes, I am Nicole! Will upload a photo soon after i figure out how...:neutral: Or do you mean a photo of people in the office together? Pity we haven't got anything like that yet. Perhaps will do soon.
Your father-in-law was from 广东广西 area? 我也是! People there do eat cats, not pet cat though. Mostly wild ones. My father has been a hunter for more than 20 years. But I said 'no' to his 战利品 most of the time. Not that it's about animals' lives or anything. It's just they are not that tasted. I prefer chicken, pork and beef. I think my father and his generation love eating wild animals because they believed it's good for health. Plus it feels like conquering the nature maybe. They cook those animals in all kinds of way and name them supercool-ly(?), like 龙虎凤(dragon tiger and phoenix), which is actually 蛇、山猫、山鸡or鸟类. They put them in jars to make 补酒 too!
@Echo
Now you know more about me and my family.:wink:
Instead of saying 可以不放肉吗？could one say 可以不加肉吗？or
可以不用肉吗？
The first sentence literally says "can you not place/release meat?" which is an interesting insight as to how Chinese would say this. We'd say don't "add" or
"use”。 Another possible way we'd say it is "would you omit the meat?"
How could that be stated in Chinese?
多谢！