It is always dangerous to try to write an article about something in a language that the author knows nothing about. We at Commonplace Fun Facts laugh in the face of danger. At the very least, we laugh at a lot of different things, including languages we do not understand.
For that reason, we present you with the Chinese poem “Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den.” Written in Classical Chinese, the title is 施氏食狮史. Phonetically, it is “shī shì shí shī shǐ.”
The poem was composed by Chinese linguist Yuen Ren Chao in the 1930s. He wrote it as a linguistic demonstration of to show the challenges of translating the tones and homophones of Classical Chinese.
The Chinese languages are tonal. A change in pitch can change the meaning of a word. Just as in English, the pitch of the last word of a question is raised to indicate that the speaker is making a query, every syllable of Chinese has multiple pitches to show the meaning to be applied to that word.
When written, “Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den” is easier to understand, since each Chinese character has a distinct meaning. When spoken, however, it becomes nearly incomprehensible, since each syllable is “shi.” The skill of the speaker’s ability to properly intone the syllables makes all the difference.
For a similar example in English, look at this “Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo” article or this one about “James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher.”
Here is “Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den” in its original, phonetic, and English versions:
Traditional Chinese:
《施氏食獅史》
石室詩士施氏，嗜獅，誓食十獅。
氏時時適市視獅。
十時，適十獅適市。
是時，適施氏適市。
氏視是十獅，恃矢勢，使是十獅逝世。
氏拾是十獅屍，適石室。
石室濕，氏使侍拭石室。
石室拭，氏始試食是十獅。
食時，始識是十獅屍，實十石獅屍。
試釋是事。
Phonetic:
« Shī Shì shí shī shǐ »
Shíshì shīshì Shī Shì, shì shī, shì shí shí shī.
Shì shíshí shì shì shì shī.
Shí shí, shì shí shī shì shì.
Shì shí, shì Shī Shì shì shì.
Shì shì shì shí shī, shì shǐ shì, shǐ shì shí shī shìshì.
Shì shí shì shí shī shī, shì shíshì.
Shíshì shī, Shì shǐ shì shì shíshì.
Shíshì shì, Shì shǐ shì shí shì shí shī.
Shí shí, shǐ shí shì shí shī shī, shí shí shí shī shī.
Shì shì shì shì.
English:
« Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den »
In a stone den was a poet called Shi Shi, who was a lion addict, and had resolved to eat ten lions.
He often went to the market to look for lions.
At ten o’clock, ten lions had just arrived at the market.
At that time, Shi had just arrived at the market.
He saw those ten lions, and using his trusty arrows, caused the ten lions to die.
He brought the corpses of the ten lions to the stone den.
The stone den was damp. He asked his servants to wipe it.
After the stone den was wiped, he tried to eat those ten lions.
When he ate, he realized that these ten lions were in fact ten stone lion corpses.
Try to explain this matter.
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