Need a little help . . .

[PAMantis]

My sifu just lent me a WHF manual on Baag Yune Tou Toe, I am very excited. There is just two problems. The first problem is that the manual is in chineese. the second problem is that I can not read chineese. The pictures are helpful, but does anyone know where I can find a translation, or when sifu Cottrell's will be finished and where it will be available (I'm not too familiar with this project, is he/are you publishing them seperately, or in one whole volume?)? I would love to be able to absorb all of the information, not just the pictures, as I understand that some of them are not on the right pages, or are from obscure angles.

Thank you all for the help in advance!

Andrew

[MantisifuFW]

PA Mantis

The first workbook on reading the WHF Chinese will be out in December 03 if all goes as planned. I am beginning to send out some partial rough drafts for sifu to look at and see if the format is usable. I am sorry for the delay but getting the Mantis Quarterly out and distribution organized has proven to be more time consuming than I had originally thought. (Price of success I guess).

The organization of the reading Chinese workbooks will be to introduce a well known basic set, with the Kune Po and movement sections as the topic of translation/ instruction. The workbooks will include drawings of the movements described similar to, but not the same as, the WHF books.

The workbook proceeds through the set, movement by movement using the vocabulary encountered in that movement and the gramatical instruction necessary for understanding the text as that section's lesson material. The student literally learns to read Chinese one movement at a time, making the information in the book immediately useful to the practitioner.

This procedure will be repeated for a number of the WHF books until sufficiently strong vocabulary (knowledge of the names of the movements in Chinese, directional and discriptive terms) and sophisticated grammar skills are gained to enable the reader to understand all sixteen of the currently in print books. The books use the same names for movements and discriptive terms consistantly throughout the sixteen volumes. It will not take many workbooks to give a student the ability to get through the books, I expect.

The books are workbooks and can be used alone or by a work group. They include flashcards the size of business cards so that one can carry them around and learn to translate about a movement a day if one is dilligent.

I could, at one time, read or speak seven languages which included two Asian languages, two Middle Eastern languages and three European languages. As such, I have learned how to learn a language. There are, no doubt better Chinese linguists than I but I can learn and teach languages with a fairly high degree of success.

I wish I could offer more right now but it should be only a few months away.

I am very happy that so many practitioners are beginning to be interested in learning Chinese. It will add a great deal to your practice of Tanglang.

Steve Cottrell

[PAMantis]

Sifu Cottrell. I'm sure that nobody else would complain (and I certainly am not) that you have many commitments that you must divide your time among. I am just grateful that you are able to help the kung fu community by providing us with your knowledge, of kung fu, and of the chineese language.

I look forward to the publication, and hope to be able to purchase one as soon as they are available. My sifu spoke of your endevour to translate and teach the language used in the handbooks in my last class. In fact he told me briefly of some time spent in Ohio with you. I hope that your success with languages will help me with learning chineese enough to read the handbooks in the original language.

Thank you,

Andrew

[MantisifuFW]

PAMantis,

The workbooks will be something a student should write in, with exercises and blanks in place where one WORKS on the language. Writing something is twenty one times more effective than simply looking at it. So one will write in the book.

Additionally, the teaching portions of the book, the pictures, the flashcards, the written drills are all in one ring bound notebook. It will make the martial artists task of learning the language as concise and concentrated as possible, effort wise.

Because it is a physical movement being described in language, the student will connect the movement to the language, helping them to memorize and relate to the language in a physical way, the same way we relate to our own native language. Physical movement is an even better learning tool than writing in that it ties even more areas of the brain to the learning task. It is actually a better way of understanding the feeling of a language than simply learning to ask "where is the bookstore" in Chinese. (At last, that education degree comes in handy, LOL).

Finally, that the subject of study relates directly to movements of sets that the student is working on, movement by movement, it provides easy checking to see if one is getting the idea of the language and not just the words. Immediate feedback, precise feedback and it is repeated as we practice as well as when we study.

In other words, I believe that any martial artist who wishes to learn to read Chinese and is willing to work, can do it. They will not be able to converse at all but they will have the tools needed for the beginnings of becoming a practitioner /scholar who can do research.

Can you tell I am excited by this project?

Thanks for your encouragement. Makes me want to finish it faster!

Steve Cottrell