language!

[Shaolin101]

Can anyone tell me what dialects each of these are as i am thinking of learning chinese but not sure which

quan
kuen
chuan

i use kuen in my style and ma bo, not bu.

Many thanks
Shaolin101

[Fu-Pow]

Quan =pinyin romanization of Mandarin
Chu'an=Wade-Giles romanization of Mandarin

Kuen=? romanization of Cantonese

Bu=pinyin Mandarin
Bo=cantonese

[Shaolin101]

cheers,

still not sure what to learn but this may clinch it - can anyone translate this as it is probably what i will need to know

ee-poh duai-ta

and agian, what dialect

[Brad]

Whom are you trying to talk to?

[IronFist]

^ Correct usage of "whom," but you shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition (altho that was a question). "To whom are you trying to talk?"

Anyway, as for Mandarin vs. Cantonese, I've never studied either but I hear that Mandarin is a lot easier than Cantonese. Part of this reason is that Mandarin has only 4 tones while Cantonese has a lot more, like 8(?) or something.

I heard that it's generally not a good idea to learn Cantonese, even if you have Cantonese friends, because it's so hard and because even Cantonese people are trying to learn Mandarin now. I don't know how true that is, tho.

Good luck. Languages can be fun.

[Mr Punch]

Actually as any student of shaolin knows, its origins are in the Nile Basin, and the language you should study to achieve a deeper knowledge of your martial art is Ancient Egyptian.

[GeneChing]

Can you get the Chinese characters? That doesn't map on any standard system of romanization.

[gfx]

ee-poh duai-ta

sounds like

er-bu-duan-da ( 二步短打 ) in Mandarin to me.
which means "second step short strike(s)".

Name of one of your forms?

the name you provided sounds Cantonese.

My Cantonese is pretty poor though, it could very well be
er-lu-duan-da ( 二路短打 )
or "second line of short strike(s)"

edit:

the more I look at duai-ta, the more it sounds like
dui-da ( 对打 ) to me. Which means "to fight against each other". A good english translation escapes me for the moment".

I'm guessing it's the name of a form. So if it's a two-person set, go with "dui-da", other-wise "duan-da" is probably correct.

I'm a native Mandarin speaker, so my Cantonese is ****ty.
Any native Cantonese speakers here?

[SPJ]

IPPON is knockout in Judo.

Duai Ta may be Dei Dau which means to fall.

[David Jamieson]

it means:

"tie this to your balls and stand in a horse stance on two 9 foot poles"

or, it may as well mean that.

[Shaolin101]

i am not sure of the chinese names of my forms. I study Hung Kuen Shaolin 5 Animals - traditional forms in the UK under Master Ang Kee Kong, taught by Grand Master Cheong Wing Kwang (if you had heard of him)

still

[Brad]

^ Correct usage of "whom," but you shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition (altho that was a question). "To whom are you trying to talk?"

That'll teach me to try and use proper English... I should just stick to American In my defence though, I did only graduate highschool with a 1.6 GPA... so all things considered, I'm not doing too bad

[Shaolin Dude]

I'm fluent in cantonese. what gfx said was on the right track. it looks more like 2 step fighting set

[IronFist]

How does learning a language help you understand the art? Does it help you fight better? Or do you just mean helps you understand the culture of your art or something?

[Shaolin101]

i like languages and want to benefit from learning a new one.

There are many chinese martial art terminologies that i do not understand and do not know of people that can translate them so would like to myself.