I just dont understand, people will put, Judo and Taekwondo as something better, to learn then Kungfu. I just wanna know why. I mean one dude said “Dont learn Kungfu learn Taekwondo its the same thing” , and many people seem to have that belief that all martial arts or the same, but if they are the same, WHY DO THEY PICK TKD, Judo, Karate, etc, over Kungfu.
I am not trolling, I just wanted to know it from there side of the story.
I’ve never heard that 
Haven’t heard that either.
I found that the arts that are commercialised(wrongly advertised) and about which is known alot tend to attract more people.
Now KF is still fairly new to the western MA scene and many people are confused with amount of styles and diversity within the CMA.
Cheers.
To stay along the lines,I´d like to point out my reasonable concern of martial arts preconciously translating into “asian martial arts”.
The general idea of “life long endeavour”, which is exactly what Kungfu is, does not appeal to a great deal of people in western society.
A lot of people look at other arts besides Kungfu, because many other arts have tangible goals to their training.
Kungfu always leaves room for more, and in aspect completely removed from martial arts.
Generally, there is not a lot of Kungfu available to be learned in North America anyway. There is quite a lot in certain areas (don’t get me wrong), but it is not something that is as generally available as TaeKwonDo or Karate.
cheers
To keep on topic without trolling, sport styles like muay thai, bjj, judo etc. tend to make you effective faster than styles like CMA. That’s not always the case, but in general, kung fu takes more time to become proficient in.
Re: Why is it people always prefer other martial arts over Kungfu.
Originally posted by dre_doggX
[B]I just dont understand, people will put, Judo and Taekwondo as something better, to learn then Kungfu. I just wanna know why. I mean one dude said “Dont learn Kungfu learn Taekwondo its the same thing” , and many people seem to have that belief that all martial arts or the same, but if they are the same, WHY DO THEY PICK TKD, Judo, Karate, etc, over Kungfu.
I am not trolling, I just wanted to know it from there side of the story. [/B]
Firstly, don’t forget that Judo and TKD are olympic sports.
Secondly, Japanese martial arts in particular has far longer history of exposure in West than Kung Fu.
Thirdly, most of main Japanese arts such as aikido, judo as well as tkd have far better organization.
Remeber that when you are talking about Japanese arts, you can talk about individual arts such as judo, aikido, karate, kempo, jijitu, kendo and so on. In Chinese martial arts, one have to use generig term Kung Fu.
I agree with Vapour on this too.
The sports factor is important too, but dont forget the uniforms - more specially the gis used on Judo, Karate and TKD, they look cool and kids dig it the most.
Hey SevenStar, thats an awesome choice for avatar.
Did you know it was Rurouni Kenshin tv series that first got me into martial arts? 
Watch the OVAs if you havent seen yet, its awsome stuff.
Originally posted by Xebsball
Hey SevenStar, thats an awesome choice for avatar.
Did you know it was Rurouni Kenshin tv series that first got me into martial arts?
Watch the OVAs if you havent seen yet, its awsome stuff.
sweet. I haven’t seen the OVA’s - I’ll check them out.
IME it’s usually ignorance that sees people go off to do Karate etc. rather than CMA. Here in Oz arts like Karate and TKD have better organisation, the associations and schools are bigger and hence better advertised so people tend to get drawn to those places. CMA schools tend to be small and because they are advertised as particular styles (rather than just KF) people struggle to identify what is being offered. Interestingly, i’ve noticed that most Karate and TKD schools have much more developed programs for kids, so maybe that’s another factor.
Basically, people will go with what they know, even if the idea is pre- conceived. To a large extent Karate and TKD are a known product so people do that instead of risking an unknown.
Originally posted by SevenStar
To keep on topic without trolling, sport styles like muay thai, bjj, judo etc. tend to make you effective faster than styles like CMA. That’s not always the case, but in general, kung fu takes more time to become proficient in.
To continue with what 7* said (nice Avatar by the way, I love Kenshin), its to do with mastery. In TKD you can become a black belt in what, 3 years, and have your own school? JuJutsu, 5 or 6 years and have your own school? All the schools Ive looked into on Japanese JJ said 5 years minimum.
Kung Fu takes a while to learn and not alot of people have that dedication to learn it and become a teacher. They stick with it a few months then drop it. At my school there are only THREE students who are passed level 1. All of us have tested 1 and 2, and I am one of those 3. There are other students who have tested (private students) and the rest are those who come for 3 months and quit when they realize it will take a while to learn. When you don’t have students who stay and learn, you don’t have students who become teachers and teach.
7*, Im with Xebsball on this. The OVAs are AWESOME. They are incredibly good. Betrayl and Trust tells the origins of how he became what he became. There is a new one out too (I gotta go buy) and a movie.
jet li, jackie chan, bruce lee vs. keanu reeves, van damme, chuck norris…
It is a good point. Movies often encourage people to join MAs, but it’s the main media for keeping MA even known so..
When Jet li kicks the crap out of the guys in the KARATE gi’s in Kiss of the Dragon, does the observer recognize Jet li’s Kung fu? no they recognize the bad guys’ karate, cuz of the gi’s… jet looks like some dude who waltzed in and beat up karate guys (oh ok jet’s karate is better than their’s, lol)
KARATE kid… JUDO chop… kung, uh… pow…
“I know kung fu” for the last time, no you don’t! haha
(and when neo does fight morpheus, they are wearing Gi’s again…)
which is all associated with japan. add the rise of anime to the mix, and certainly the organization is a factor… i grew up (i’m 20) idolizing chuck norris and sean claude van damme and Bruce lee.. (which everyone in Enter the Dragon was in a Gi yet again) so i thought it was all karate and muay thai, honestly.. kung fu always seemed so exotic..
plus the style it’s self… kung fu has this block flowing into that block, with this kind of punch to counter that yadayadayada…
karate has HIYAAAA!!! PUNCH!
so which is the layperson gonna recognize? (kung fu doesn’t break boards either really…)
love and unity
mnatt
lofl
thats some funny sh!t…
another thing that drives me ape sh!t is the use of the word “karate” for description of ANY martial art… seems to be the case down here all the time. People usually dont even bother to use TKD, judo, bjj, ect… just say karate. so… if many of these people ever decide to take a martial art, what word or style is already predominantly in their head?
hmmm? 
It seems there are several reasons. One reason is that far more sport oriented research has been done in the Korean and Japanese modern martial arts area. Therefore, they are often articulated to the public in a language that is more digestible. Another reason is that these martial arts have well organized larger bodies to which the smaller clubs belong, adding credibility to the art and mobility to the practitioner (I can move from texas to new york and still find a good, certified TKD instructor…). Another reason is the early, rapid introduction of these arts by military veterans that were stationed in Korea and Japan. Also, there are large formal competions for these style that are more accessible to the general public (again having to do with the large, formal organizations). And I think there is a cultural gap as well. After all, China is the last great bastion of communism, it is denounced by the media as having a poor human rights record, inadequate medicine, and excessive control over self expression by the public.
And in a TKD class, you actually learn what you see in the movies.
Another thing I should add is that there are huge difference between being able to do martial arts and being able to teach martial arts.
I studied few arts but my judo instructor is without any doubt the best martial arts “instructor”. He often criticise state of martial instruction. For example, according to him, if you become assistance instructor, not only you have to be able to do break fall, you have to know all the wrong break falls beginner would do, then being able to name every possible injuries which could result from incorrect performance. Basically, to be an instructor, not only you have to be able to do techniques, you have to have ability to theoretically explain why something is being taught in that way.
He pretty much think that you have to have knowledge equivelant to PE teacher specifically designed to judo to become a full judo instructor. He know how to do bone setting so he can treat any injury on spot. He also know how to do shiatu. But nowaday, all you need to open a new class are Child protection, First Aid, Ref certificate and your dan grade.
Then once you become senior instructor or head of school, you are a headmaster of a small school. And you really need to have expertise required as a head master. My judo school has committee with secretary, treasurey, publicity and so on in which few mature member of our dojo perticipate, in which some of them more than a decade of history in our school. My instructor reguraly meet with them to discuss the running of schoo. It is a very well organized school and it is his belief that any martial arts organization should have structure to teach their instructor how to do all these things.
Question is how many kung fu organization has educational structure to teach their senior grade how to instruct or run a school specifically designed for their arts. I don’t think that many.
I dont see TKD in the movies.
Jackie Chan
Jet Li
Bruce Lee.
Sammo
Chuck Norris
Van Damm
Non TKD
It’s the same reason why McDonalds has been so successful. Sure Mickey D’s doesn’t make the best hamburger in the world. It is however the best at marketing their product, and acquiring prime locations to deliver that product.
The average soccer mom isn’t too concerned about 8 year old Johnny being the most deadly kid on the block.
When I am in the market for a new car, I tend to stay away from the small car lots in favor of the larger, more familiar dealerships with a name and product I’m familiar with.
People are just impressed with Trophies. Especially when they shine, and are accented with good lighting.
Norris was/is a TKD master and Sammo both studied some TKD as far as I know and also starred in a movie “When TKD strikes” or related,again this reflects my own understanding.
“I dont see TKD in the movies.
Jackie Chan
Jet Li
Bruce Lee.
Sammo
Chuck Norris
Van Damm”
You don’t. But Joe public does.
martial choosing
As a student of both japanesse and chinese martial art’s I believe it is in the ignorance of the practitioner to classify one MA over another. I love my KUNG FU training but I also have studied a very priimative form of ninjitsu which I find to suit me very well. But i will never say one is better then the other one