I think that's a good point, however in America or abroad there are a lot of Wing Chun practitioners that can understand the concepts of the techniques by the Chinese translation as handed down from there "Sifu"
So for those that understand the Chinese language it becomes a must to use the translation or for me personally I don't feel I could grasp the meaning without the proper characters.
For example I've heard "Wing hand" or slapping block or many other variations to me is more complicated because they are categorizing them based on how they look or function as opposed to the concept of what they are.
So for me its easier to understand 膀手 or 拍手 instead of the above examples. I think there should be a happy medium, because personally if I only know the Chinese terms than how can I translate it to the non-Chinese speaking students and then if they only speak Chinese how can I transmit properly to those students just the same.
Unfortunately I don't think there's an exact formula or answer for those problems I guess that's why its so challenging being a Sifu.[/quote]
I agree with you to a point, but in chinese, names of positions can offten be descriptions of them. 膀手 bang shou is wing hand and 拍手pai shou is slap hand. Close to the Chinese meanings. (Sorry but I only know Mandarin Chinese soI dont know how to pronounce it in Cantonese). But even for Chinese speakers it can be a problem. it can be hard for a HK sifu to teach in Beijing cause of dialects. And characters wont always work due to the traditional vs simplified problem.
Most spelling deferences are also just anglonizing of chinese and rough discriptions at best. Pepole do the best they can as far as making it sound as close to Chinese when you read it.
Sorry to everyone for geting off topic here