reply on: Learn Chinese with Sensei #2: 自由人 \ stacker news ~ideasfromtheedge

0 sats \ 8 replies \ @Lux 6 Aug \ parent \ on: Learn Chinese with Sensei #2: 自由人 ideasfromtheedge

thanks how about - living man

I'm reaching my limited depth here, but here's we go..

Life, as we know it, is characterized of written in Chinese language (simplified) like:

生活 shenghuo (it's pretty 1 to 1 with 'life' in all its senses in English. As a noun or can be used as an adjective. So, we can make 生人 or 活人 which I believe is interchangeable.

Now, for the purpose of designating a living man, (in the sense of a legal living person) often there is the use of 人身 (living body of a human being; person)

My dictionary cites an example:

人身 renshen - living man 不可 buke - cannot 侵犯 qinfan - violate, infringe (upon) invade..

人身不可侵犯 - inviolability of the person.

also, searching out that sense we have:

人身安全 - renshen anquan - personal safety 人身保护令 - renshen baohuling - habeas corpus 人身权 - renshenquan - right (as in personal, or human rights) 人身自由 - renshen ziyou - personal freedom (or liberty); freedom of person

110 sats \ 1 reply \ @cryotosensei OP 6 Aug

Thanks for researching so deeply!

I doubt that we say 生人 because 陌生人 (stranger) has the character 生.

Let me teach you an idiom: 人山人海 (literal: person mountain person sea). It refers to a crowded place

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @zx 6 Aug

You might be right there, 生人 and 陌生人 are both unfamiliar person / stranger. I was just browsing. I suppose that the literary (or literal) meaning can be somewhat meaningless in the vernacular.

I mean, if you think of the default of not-knowing a person before becoming familiar with them, they are a stranger, or, a living person. Just that we don't say, 'hi living person!'

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @zx 6 Aug

Mobile dictionary: pleco

10 sats \ 3 replies \ @gnilma 7 Aug

You don't say 生人 in Mandarin, you might in other dialects. 活人 is the correct term for living person in Mandarin. If it's specifically a man, then it's 活男人.

21 sats \ 2 replies \ @zx 7 Aug

https://www.zdic.net/hans/%E7%94%9F%E4%BA%BA

27 sats \ 1 reply \ @gnilma 7 Aug

It has the meaning of living person, and is also grammatically correct, but with dialects, you just say things a certain way. 生人 might be correct in written form, but we do not say that when speaking the language, at least not when speaking Madarin or Cantonese. I'm fluent in both dialects, so I know. But different dialects say things differently, so there might be a dialect that call "living person" 生人; however, I only know Mandarin and Cantonese, so I don't know which dialect would say that.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @zx 7 Aug

Sure, I also said that too. I have never heard it said but when asked 'how to say x' or 'do you speak x' this often also implies the knowledge of the diction. I.e, the word or character used to communicate. I have no doubt that peopldo not say this in modern China, colloquially.