In a press release by South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, they have announced that the Chinese translation of the word Kimchi (김치) would no longer be Pao Cai (泡菜).
Kimchi No Longer Called Pao Cai (泡菜)
Kimchi, when translated to Chinese is pao cai, which can also refer to a pickled vegetable dish that’s similar to kimchi but different from the way it’s made in Korea.
The similarities led to both countries claiming the dish for themselves and the war continues to grow between both countries.
On Jul 22nd 2021, South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism uploaded a press release on their webpage stating that Kimchi’s new Chinese name would be called xin qi (辛奇).
The word xin qi (辛奇) was decided after a study carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs analyzing nearly 4,000 relevant sounds and pronunciations in the Chinese language.
If you realize, the Chinese language doesn’t have any words sounding like kim (김) or ki (기) and xin qi is one of the closest you can get to kimchi.
The ministry mentioned that the new translation will not be forced upon the private sector but will be applied to government and local governments’ websites and promotional materials.
A quick search for kimchi on the translator on The National Institute of the Korean Language revealed that the Chinese word for kimchi has been changed to xin qi.
Other Translations For Korean Food
Sundae Gukbap from Kim’s Family Korean Food in Singapore
Apart from the Chinese translations for kimchi, the Ministry has also announced that the English translations for Sundae and Seonji will no longer be called Blood Sausage and Blood respectively.
This was decided as the translations might turn foreigners off at first glance, which is why they will be simply named Sundae and Seonji, which is similar to their Korean pronunciation.
What do you think of the new translations?
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