"Avatar" in Chinese^?

The Chinese interface on the forum refers to it as 头像 which translates to "headshot".

Hi casie, How do you say “photo sticker”, or PURIKURA in Japanese, in Chinese? I can’t explain the word well in English, so let me quote a passage from an article of Wikipedia. I believe you also have some of those small photos, perhaps put on the back of your cell-phone……..? Photo sticker booths (Wikipedia) Photo sticker booths or photo sticker machines are a special type of photo booth that produce photo stickers. Still maintaining huge popularity where they were created in Japan they have spread throughout East Asia to Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, China and Thailand. Some have also begun appearing in the United States and Canada although they failed to make any impression in Europe when introduced in the mid 1990s. ps It could possibly be "大头贴" or "大头照" you already mentioned above.

化身 hua1 shen1 seems to be used in this sense.

“avatar” 不是化身的意思吗？ 我昨天看到一句话 ”在圣经中，蛇是邪恶和魔鬼的化身“。我还以为可以用这个单词呢。到底能不能用啊？

Hi sophie20461, Would you please help us, pity 老外？How do you young Chinese people usually say “avatar”, of course not religious one but one just like my chubby dog, in Chinese? Do you say “化身” or “头像”？Or, is there any transliteration like “阿凡达” or something like that? p.s. I like your avatar very much!

hi guys, In chinese, we say“头像”touxiang,such as QQ头像,MSN头像,论坛头像etc...

so "avatar" and "headshot", which is more common use in English?

changye 呵呵我今天才知道原来头像的英语表达是”avatar“ 呵呵所以 我还在探索”化身“ 到底该用哪个单词。呵呵 p.s. 谢谢你的最后一句话哈哈，让我的虚荣心得到很大的满足啊！

Cassie, avatar is used in a computer context. "Headshot" is usually used to description a large portrait photo of your head and shoulders. It's the kind of term an actor or a model would use: "I need to get a new headshot done."

Sorry, 'description' should be 'describe'.

I also found 具体化 ju4 ti1 hua1 - embodiment or reification or take shape. Since an avatar is a symbolic "you" I think this works.

head shot implies a picture of you (face only) which is often used as an avatar but the actual meaning of avatar is an image that represents you. It can be a drawn character with characteristics that represent your personality. For this reason I think head shot is a poor translation. In the game Zon for example, everyone has an avatar or character that is "you" in the game. You can choose male or female and some minor characteristics but in more advanced games you can go into great detail when building an avatar to represent yourself.

Here is the definition from wikipedia: An avatar (abbreviations include av ,and avi) is computer user's representation of himself or herself, whether in the form of a three-dimensional model used in computer games,[1] a two-dimensional icon (picture) used on Internet forums and other communities,[2][3] or a text construct found on early systems such as MUDs. It is an “object” representing the embodiment of the user. The term "avatar" can also refer to the personality connected with the screen name, or handle, of an Internet user. For this reason I think 化身 is a good choice and iit s found in some chinese dictionaries this way.

RJ and Bazza, Thank you for the detail expression about "avatar" and "headshot". I get it now! changye, 您太客气了! Btw, I know how to pronounce “アバター”.^_^

oh， here comes another question. What is this kind of photo in English? We call it大头贴da4tou2tie1/大头照da4tou2zhao4 in Chinese. Here is the link. http://image.baidu.com/i?ct=503316480&z=0&tn=baiduimagedetail&word=%B4%F3%CD%B7%CC%F9&in=1449&cl=2&cm=1&sc=0&lm=-1&pn=13&rn=1&di=1746703780&ln=2000

Cassie, I would say 'collage' for that.

I am again impressed by the community here. You hand in a small little vocab question in the morning and come back for harvest in the evening. Which gets you analyses of usage, word origin, connotations and related vocab. Thanks to all of you. Esp. to Cas(s)ie once agaion. :)

bazza, Thank you!^_^ Is 大头贴/大头照famous there? It is very famous here even in the whole Asia. henning, You are always welcome! Yes, this community is amazing. There are many knowledgeble poddie here and you will get harvest from them. That is one reason that why I love this community so much.^_^

Cassie, I dont know what you would call this style in english. Its kind of like putting a portrait in an existing template of pictures or a pattern that creates a theme. I dont think its very popular in the US. Maybe sometimes for childrens pictures. Maybe Calkins would know - he is a photographer.

Hi casie, Thanks for your advice. 我无条件向你投降(tou2 xiang2)！Now, please let me post an off-the-mark answer. In Japan, we just say “アバター”, which is the transliteration of “avatar”. So I couldn’t get the meaning at all when I heard the word for the first time. Hi sophie20461, 我们俩一起向casie敬个礼，表示敬意吧！