Hello, does anyone know of the chinese characters for the wing chun terminologies?
the terminology im looking for are like ‘bong sao’, ‘tan sao’ etc
There are wing chun songs or sayings too. Does anyone know where i could find them?
Thanks,
Duck
I asked a similar question when I first posted here last year! :rolleyes:
Probably, the resources that you may find helpful are already online. I wont name any as I’m sure others will soon let you know.
Why are you interested in the ‘characters’ and writings of Wing Chun?
[QUOTE=LoneTiger108;844550]I asked a similar question when I first posted here last year! :rolleyes:
Probably, the resources that you may find helpful are already online. I wont name any as I’m sure others will soon let you know.
Why are you interested in the ‘characters’ and writings of Wing Chun?[/QUOTE]
It could help in understanding the energy used in a movement. Tan sao is sometimes
translated as ‘palm up’ when it actually translates as ‘disperse’ or ‘spread’. Palm up doesn’t explain how the movement should be used. Dispersing/spreading does. That’s one of the reasons I studied Cantonese in college.
[QUOTE=Phil Redmond;844575]It could help in understanding the energy used in a movement.[/QUOTE]
This is very true, sometimes. Although I think that Duck is asking about the characters themselves, not our ‘coded’ translations which are so varied sometimes from family to family.
Personally, I have used the characters to study and teach. The majority of the time a numbering sytem is just simpler for the students but if you want to teach, study is mandatory.
Here’s just one example of a part of our Foundation Curriculum at The Yum Yeurn Academy: http://www.theyumyeurngacademy.co.uk/Curriculum/foundation/foundation.html
If anyone has any interpretations of literature like this I would appreciate any comments. Fook and Bong characters are in this piece somewhere. BTW, these are NOT Kuen Kuit. 
Terminology
Sifu Randy Williams boooks have all the terminology, characters and translations in the back of his books. Volumes 1,2 and 3. They can be ordered from INside KungFu magazine.
Don
You can find the Wing Chun terminology in “The Complete Wing Chun” in both Mandarin and Cantonese.
Studying Chinese
Just curious,
I have always wanted to study Chinese to understand our art better but since our art is usual associated w/ Cantonese and Mandarin is usually the only thing taught (around here), would it be a waste of time to learn mandarin. And Phil how long did you study and can you converse? looking fwd to feedback
Don
[QUOTE=donbdc;844603]Just curious,
I have always wanted to study Chinese to understand our art better but since our art is usual associated w/ Cantonese and Mandarin is usually the only thing taught (around here), would it be a waste of time to learn mandarin. And Phil how long did you study and can you converse? looking fwd to feedback
Don[/QUOTE]
When I studied at CCNY it was the only CUNY (City University of New York), college that had Cantonese. Since I was doing martial arts I took the Cantonese course for three years but I think I learned more hanging out in Chinatown with the Hung Ching (Hung Mung) guys. Yes I can converse but I’m I can’t read well. The course at CCNY was more focused on conversation and not reading. Right now I’m learning Mandarin with a Chinese professor that comes to our school to teach twice weekly. He requires that we read characters. Though our art uses Cantonese terms I do think that it’s essential to study Mandarin. You can communicate with more people that way. When I was in NY my Cantonese came in handy. But when I moved to Detroit many people there spoke Fujianese and we couldn’t understand each other well. Had I spoked Mandarin I wouldn’t have had that problem.
Envious
Wow, Thats great. It seems that w/ any language taking courses is one thing but you have a population you can talk w/. Besides adding 1 more activity to my list (which were surely get me killed by wife) I just wonder if its possibe to do w/ a computer program like Rosetta stone?
Take care
Don
Anything to stop you butchering the language any further donnie!
[QUOTE=duckabolo;844543]Hello, does anyone know of the chinese characters for the wing chun terminologies?
the terminology im looking for are like ‘bong sao’, ‘tan sao’ etc
There are wing chun songs or sayings too. Does anyone know where i could find them?
Thanks,
Duck[/QUOTE]
this is a great English Chinese dictionary:D
[URL=“http://www.xuezhongwen.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict”]xuezhongwen.net
Ashamed of all of YOu
Hello,
I am ashamed that no one pointed you in the direction of Renes’ site. You can look up the terms, sayings and get both English Translations as well as Chineese Characters.
Here is the link:
http://www.wingchunkuen.com/modules.php?name=Encyclopedia&op=list_content&eid=3
[QUOTE=Sihing73;844671]Hello,
I am ashamed that no one pointed you in the direction of Renes’ site. You can look up the terms, sayings and get both English Translations as well as Chineese Characters.
Here is the link:
http://www.wingchunkuen.com/modules.php?name=Encyclopedia&op=list_content&eid=3[/QUOTE]
I did mention The Complete Wing Chun book.
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Wing-Chun-Definitive-Traditions/dp/0804831416
It has Cantonese, Mandarin, and the Chinese characters. I couldn’t find Tan Sao on the link you sent.
[QUOTE=Phil Redmond;844575]It could help in understanding the energy used in a movement. Tan sao is sometimes
translated as ‘palm up’ when it actually translates as ‘disperse’ or ‘spread’. Palm up doesn’t explain how the movement should be used. Dispersing/spreading does. That’s one of the reasons I studied Cantonese in college.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, im chinese so i’d be interested in learning the chinese words of the art and it kind of makes sense easier for me than the romanized english. Sometimes when the words are translated to english, the meaning becomes a bit weird.
Ta,
Duck
[QUOTE=Sihing73;844671]Hello,
I am ashamed that no one pointed you in the direction of Renes’ site. You can look up the terms, sayings and get both English Translations as well as Chineese Characters.
Here is the link:
http://www.wingchunkuen.com/modules.php?name=Encyclopedia&op=list_content&eid=3[/QUOTE]
Thanks sihing, i’ll have a look at that
[QUOTE=Phil Redmond;844674]I did mention The Complete Wing Chun book.
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Wing-Chun-Definitive-Traditions/dp/0804831416
It has Cantonese, Mandarin, and the Chinese characters. I couldn’t find Tan Sao on the link you sent. ;)[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the lead Phil
Duck
Cantonese
Someone told me that it is difficult to learn to read Cantonese because there is no romanization to help translate. Has anyone found this to be true? Do Mandarin and Cantonese use the same charcters? I know rosetta stone software does not offer Cantonese, but they are always offering new languages. I have been trying to find books for young children.
[QUOTE=muaddib09;844719]Someone told me that it is difficult to learn to read Cantonese because there is no romanization to help translate. Has anyone found this to be true? Do Mandarin and Cantonese use the same charcters? I know rosetta stone software does not offer Cantonese, but they are always offering new languages. I have been trying to find books for young children.[/QUOTE]
Cantonese is definitely harder to learn than mandarin. Cantonese speaks differently to the way it is written in the sense that they use lots of slangs and informal words. mandarin resembles much closer to the way they speak and write and more polite. I don’t think there’s pinyin for Cantonese. I use a software called NJwin just to type chinese and view chinese characters on the internet. Mandarin and cantonese both use the same words.
The mainland chinese uses simplified chinese words, whereas taiwan and hk uses tradition chinese words. simplified chinese has less strokes for the same character and usually resembles the traditional.
Duck
There is formalized pingyum (pinyin) schemes for Cantonese, e.g. Yale, Lau, Jyutping. The only problem is that it doesn’t have the government of the PRC promoting it and teaching it from day 1 in school.
[QUOTE=CFT;844739]There is formalized pingyum (pinyin) schemes for Cantonese, e.g. Yale, Lau, Jyutping. The only problem is that it doesn’t have the government of the PRC promoting it and teaching it from day 1 in school.[/QUOTE]
Hi CFT, do you know how i can learn this Yale, Lau ping yum? when u used the njwin software i use the lau but only spelled it the way i would translate from english.
eg, typing ‘lo’ would bring a list of words which has that sound. i don’t know how to add the extra to make it lower or higher etc.
Sorry if this is going off the topic
Thanks,
Duck