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Sil Lum Palm
06-26-2001, 07:02 PM
Okay here's the question I have for everyone : Why do some American schools spell Shaolin diferently? For example, the Kwoon I belong to is a memeber of the International Shao Lin Institute , so when you see it spelled out in English it is written Shao Lin , however I have noticed that most do not spell it this way. Is there a reason or is it just a matter of prefrence?

Furious Tiger
06-26-2001, 07:47 PM
Not really too sure Sil Lum Palm, but it could be that people have always seen it spelled that way in Movies, articles, etc. I just so happened to have gone out with a fantastic asian woman (and martial artist too) sometime ago who spoke most of the dialects from china as well as writing. i asked her one time and she told me in should be Shao lin. From that point on it has always been Shao lin, for me. I am wondering if it is also do to bad translation? Don't really know. :eek: I am still confused on the Beijing and Peking thing... :) I know now but I was really confused and sometimes still am. If I amd wrong then please corect me.

Furious Tiger

inpho
06-26-2001, 08:07 PM
Pretty sure it's either differences in the westernization (IE: Discrepencies between Yale, Wade Gyles, Pin Yin etc) or it's cantonese vs. manderin. I think it's Siu Lum in Cantonese and Shaolin in Manderin. I know in Manderin it's prounounced much more like Shaolin than Siu Lum so yeah...

northstar
06-27-2001, 01:06 PM
Furious Tiger is right, the difference is in the system of transcription used. With pinyin it's Shaolin (I'm sure), with WG Shao-lin or Shao Lin (I think), and Cantonese using the Yale system it's Siu Lam.

beiquan
06-27-2001, 06:14 PM
it doesn't have anything to do with the romanization, it's just a matter of style. chinese words that consist of two characters(compunds) are usually written as one word, especially proper nouns such as "Shaolin", "Beijing", "Henan", etc. however, in the name "Shaolin", the two characters (shao/lin) have separate meanings, so it's not incorrect to write it as "Shao Lin", but it's kind of weird, like writing "Bei Jing"...

shaolin_knight
07-05-2001, 04:59 AM
I prefer Shaolin, as it is the name of a place so it is one word to me, made up of two characters. Shao peak, in Song mountains, lin meaning forest, because there is a forest there. Shao lin, the name given to the temple there. So, Shaolin. Like Yellowstone here in Wyoming, yellow plus stone but it's one place, one name. Siu lum is the way they say the characters in cantonese. Siu meaning small, but the characters are different by a small stroke. It's all the same though.