Japanese terminology: is it necessary? harmful? Silly?

[JustLuke]

When I studied Shotokan, we used Japanese terminology for everything. My Shorin-Ryu teacher, however, uses English terminology for many things and only uses Okinawan/Japanese terminology sparingly - primarily retaining the Kata names and titles such as Sensei.

Using Okinawan/Japanese terminology certainly adds flavour to training, but is it useful? Does it provide a necessary link to the past? Could it actually be detrimental to learning Karate in some way? Is it just plain silly?

Thoughts, opinions... All are welcome.

[tallgeese]

I personally don't care one way or the other.

I prefer English for most situations just because most of us, myself included, don't really get the other language right and don't get the implication behind what we're saying.

I can see keeping it for hardcore traditional arts that are focused on preserving the past.

For modern combatives, I'd just as soon use English. It's a different goal and getting everyone up to speed on other terminology seems to be a waste of time. The other instance I don't really like it used is in BJJ, and that's just me because of the schools I've come thru always use English for technique names. I get irritated when people start calling them by the Judo (in Japanese) equivalents.

I have no real reason for that last particular bias, it's just me

[Dobie1979]

I speak English so I'd perfer them terms in English. In my school we use the japenese names for kicks thats about it..

[Shizentai]

I think it should all come down to this: Who do you learn from and who do you want to learn from?

If your instructor speaks only English and all of the people who you would like to learn from for the rest of your life speak only English, then I say don't bother with the Japanese/Okinawan terms. However, if you would like to learn from anyone else in the world, I highly recommend learning the traditional Okinawan/Japanese terms. Don't forget, in karate that is the international language, not English.

By just taking a little time to learn the names of some basic techniques, you multiply ten-fold what you can gain from instructors the world over, be they someone you train with on vacation in France, or even someone who might be a Japanese guest instructor here in the US.

[Ueshirokarate]

It is totally uneccessary. Saying chudan zuki perfectly will not help you deliver a punch in any way. Many people have learned the art without any speaking at all.

[Wastelander]

Is it necessary? No, it is absolutely not necessary to name anything in any language, but I assure you that humans will continue to name things and use names for things until the end of time . The fact that karate comes from Okinawa and Japan will mean that the Westerners who learned it originally learned it entirely in Japanese, and so they taught it the way that they were taught, and so on. Persisting with this adds some feeling of authenticity and tradition to training, and in some cases (like the word "uke") it can be beneficial as there is not a good English translation, but that's about it.

I will note that my dojo has a well-respected psychologist that attends some of our classes and helps us with our childrens' programs, and he has studies showing that children who learn things in multiple languages develop better (mentally) than children who learn everything in one language. That would indicate that teaching children martial arts using Japanese terminology could be beneficial to them over time. I doubt that there is much benefit in that field for adults, however.

[shinobitribe]

I guess it mainly depends on the location and people. We speak English at the dojo as it is the commonly spoken language at our dojo (people of many nationalities train as our dojo is near a university). However, we still use Japanese terminology. The main advantage according to our Sensei is that if someone wanted to train in Japan or if one of the senior instructors from Japan came down for a seminar we would still be able to follow what is going on. Our Sensei has trained in Japan multiple times and even though he hardly knows any Japanese, he was still able to follow due to his knowledge of Japanese terminology. Personally, I think it is good to have a mixture of both. English or the local language is good for understanding properly and Japanese ,as you learn bits of a new language and its a way of honouring our roots and traditions.

[Shizentai]

All I know is, everyone in my dojo says the same thing as most of you guys until an instructor comes from Japan to teach a seminar, then they all come knocking down my door wanting me to translate for them. If it weren't important, then why do they need my help?

Call it "unnecessary" if you want, but I have been able to travel the world training thanks to basic karate-related language. Think of it as a passport. Is it necessary? Maybe not for everyone. But does that mean that it is useless? Definitely not!

I guess it mainly depends on the location and people. We speak English at the dojo as it is the commonly spoken language at our dojo (people of many nationalities train as our dojo is near a university). However, we still use Japanese terminology. The main advantage according to our Sensei is that if someone wanted to train in Japan or if one of the senior instructors from Japan came down for a seminar we would still be able to follow what is going on. Our Sensei has trained in Japan multiple times and even though he hardly knows any Japanese, he was still able to follow due to his knowledge of Japanese terminology. Personally, I think it is good to have a mixture of both. English or the local language is good for understanding properly and Japanese ,as you learn bits of a new language and its a way of honouring our roots and traditions.

Agreed

[Dobbersky]

i teach in English and Japanese, sometimes Korean as some of the techniques/Kata/Hyungs are Korean.

I agree with everyone here, it is necesary IF you are looking at attending seminars, competeting etc. But if you just wanna do the training within your school then its whatever language the Teacher/Sensei speaks.

Japanese Arts speak in Japanese because they are Japanese

Korean Arts speak in Korean because theyh are Korean

Chinese Arts speak Chinese because they are Chinese

Thai Arts speak Thai because they are Thai.

Therefore by default European Arts SHOULD speakEuropean because they are European.

[DoctorQui]

My personal preference is for Japanese terminology to be used in the Dojo. I think it adds something to the training and give an air of authenticity. Also, having spent time to learn it, I want to use it

My current club uses a mixture but always counts in English which I find quite odd. I try and teach students Japanese but they will never use it sadly!