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| Pronunciation | ||
| Written by Rachel | ||
classes taijiquan self defence qigong tai chi for health about us reviews a-z
Dialects &
accents
The Chinese written language is pronounced differently by
different people within China. e.g. my background is Hakka/Hokien whereas Hong
Kong Chinese tend to be Cantonese.
This is akin to a Geordi accent relative to a Scouser?
Different alphabet
With Chinese certain problems occur when attempting to make it accessible to the
West. The brushstrokes for taijiquan are rendered like this:
They are not written
using the Western alphabet.
Romanised Chinese
There is a Romanised version of Chinese created by Wade-Giles. Then there is
the official Chinese version called Pinyin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wade%E2%80%93Giles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinyin
Tai chi?
The Wade-Giles spelling of taijiquan is rendered as t'ai chi ch'üan. Often
simplified to tai chi.
This is inaccurate on 2 counts:
The 'chi' component is pronounced jee, not chee (and certainly not qi energy, also spelled 'chi' by Wade-Giles)
Tai chi refers to the yin/yang diagram not a martial art
Confusion
Chi being jee (not chee) is confusing?
Well, how is it any different from equivalent examples in English?
e.g. Wind. Are you refering to the weather or to winding something?
The vowel sound is different but the spelling is the same.
English has thousands of such examples. Cough. Bough. Though. Rough. 4
different ways of pronouncing ough...
Then there's bough and bow. Different spelling, but pronounced the same and
means something totally different.
Dementia?
An unwillingness to change is akin to placing a foundation stone for
dementia. Stubbornness, rigidity,
fixity are
all bad for your mental health.
Embrace change. It is a major aspect of the
taijiquan syllabus and how the art itself functions.
School name
So, why do we call ourselves Newcastle Tai Chi?
Simple. It is the most common
spelling/usage in the UK. It's a business decision/name. It isn't accurate
or desirable but it is recognisable.
Respect
If you scour the internet, you'll find VERY FEW examples of taijiquan being
taught as you are being taught. In the modern era it is a rarity indeed,
even in Asia.
On Wednesday night I heard a teaching assistant
at the workshop calling Sifu Waller's art "tai
chi"... chee. This is very disrespectful.
As it says on our website, most people associate 'tie chee' with senior
citizens tooling around in an Age UK class. Surely, that isn't how you
see Sifu Waller's art?
Pride
We are being taught the real deal. The
instructor sets this apart from the health students and other schools by
insisting that we call it taijiquan. Not "tie chee".
Respect for your instructor, his skill, his teaching approach and the very
art your body is acquiring should compel you to want to get the name
right...
Take pride in what you are learning. Set it apart from what most people are
learning in the UK. Be true to the art. To your instructor. To yourself.
Earnest?
If you want Sifu Waller to take you seriously as a martial artist, begin by
getting the name of the art
right...
Page
created 13 February 2020
Last updated
01 October 2020
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