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后来,他又拜叶问为师,学习咏春拳。

This sentence is translated by the author as:

Later, he learnt wing chun from a master of wing chun, Yip Man.

The middle part is interesting for me: 他又拜叶问为师. It is clear that 叶问 is a proper name, 为师 means "as master", "as teacher". But...

  • What is 又 doing here? Does it mean "again"? It doesn't make sense to me to put "again" here.
  • 拜 means "to worship", but in English translation there's no "worship". And it'd be strange to use it. Is 拜 + person + 为 + role pattern a fixed expression? When should I use it and when I shouldn't? It sounds extremely official to me, but maybe it's only my European feeling. Could someone explain this expression thoroughly?

The sentence appears here in 1:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-D91bQCinE . In case the context isn't clear.

1 Answer 1

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又 from collins

  1. (= 另外) another
    ⇒ 家里又买了一个书架。 (Jiā li yòu mǎile yī gè shūjià.) They bought another set of bookshelves for their home.
    ⇒ 老师又布置了几项作业。 (Lǎoshī yòu bùzhìle jǐ xiàng zuòyè.) The teacher set several more questions for homework.

又 is not "again" here.


拜师 is a set phrase, yabla gives its definition as: "to formally become an apprentice to a master".

You can put the Name of the name into the phrase, and it become 拜...为师.

The pattern you gave ("拜 + person + 为 + role") is mostly correct, but I currently cannot think of anything other than "师" that can take the "role" part. I think it is better to take the pattern as "拜 + person + 为师".

The activity of "拜师" is usually formal, and it usually involves some kind of ceremony. The phrase "拜师" is not that formal, it can be used casual speech.

Usually we don't have many chances to talk about it in everyday life. Nowadays, most people won't have a chance to be involved in such an activity during the whole life. Finding a teacher in school or finding a coach in a sport would not be called "拜师". In the areas of (Chinese traditional) art, martial art, etc, some people still "拜师", before the master (officially) teaches the apprentice.

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