" I like your idea of multiple levels of learning for a time master -- that makes perfect sense for the culture. Laoshi -- is that three syllables? These are Chinese words, yes? That is your specialty, isn't it?"
Laoshi is two syllables (in Chinese, all characters are one syllable) and yeah, Chinese. It's my strongest language, anyway - I'm off doing a doctorate in neurobiology, so it mostly gets used in the martial arts and chan parts of my life, though I sometimes talk to academic students as well.
"Part of what he is currently using is Aikido, which of course is very young, because it's one he can use without killing people."
Mm. So Aikido is hardly the only art that teaches non lethal and defensive techniques. There are some that are pretty heavily weighted towards lethality, but many more that aren't - Aikido may not teach offensive techniques, but other than that it's not nearly as unique as it sometimes bills itself. (Which is not to say that it's can't be a damn fine art.) The Shaolin Gongfu I study amuses me in part because it has a lot of different levels of harm - and one of the versions of "mild" is explicitly for people you want to be able to interact with socially later on. Y'know, when Uncle Harry has had a few too many on Thanksgiving... (Chen Taijiquan - my primary art - has a terribly peaceful reputation, though there's a lot of room for lethality under that hood.) If he's trained in other martial arts, while he might find good people and interesting philosophy in Aikido, I doubt he'd find new material as such.
" "Bu Long" also might suggest that he's learning to be a dragon, which in a weird sense is true. He's going to have the unnerving experience of being a full-fledged magic user while learning how to fly. Not amusing."
It's not going to be a direct meaning, but I could see him thinking that to himself.
My understanding is that "Oriental" carries pretty unfortunate whiffs of imperialism and cultural weirdness with it, and is generally best not used. (Though some people will argue for its use regarding rugs.) You will run into people discussing whether there really is an "Asian" community, as opposed to a Chinese community, a Vietnamese community, etc - but there does seem to be an emergent pan-Asian identity.
As to things he might be called... I'd be tempted to say 龙士 (longshi). (Bah - I do like the fantizi character for dragon a lot better.) Shi is rather understated, but an absolutely ancient word - it means scholar (though it can also mean gentleman, or even warrior - kind of in that "officer and a gentleman" sort of sense). Part of the appeal to me is that "dragon" is a word that already carries so much weight, and is often used in titles of rank. Think, perhaps, of how "lion" in English has a sense of bravery and royalty about it - so "Sir Lion" (not to imply that this shi is equivalent to Sir) carries a lot more weight than the Sir by itself would imply. But it's more than that, because, well, Dragon.
(By the way, everything I'm spelling "shi" - I use pinyin by default - should be pronounced with a short i. "Shih" rather than "shee". Xi is pronounced "shee".)
no subject
Laoshi is two syllables (in Chinese, all characters are one syllable) and yeah, Chinese. It's my strongest language, anyway - I'm off doing a doctorate in neurobiology, so it mostly gets used in the martial arts and chan parts of my life, though I sometimes talk to academic students as well.
"Part of what he is currently using is Aikido, which of course is very young, because it's one he can use without killing people."
Mm. So Aikido is hardly the only art that teaches non lethal and defensive techniques. There are some that are pretty heavily weighted towards lethality, but many more that aren't - Aikido may not teach offensive techniques, but other than that it's not nearly as unique as it sometimes bills itself. (Which is not to say that it's can't be a damn fine art.) The Shaolin Gongfu I study amuses me in part because it has a lot of different levels of harm - and one of the versions of "mild" is explicitly for people you want to be able to interact with socially later on. Y'know, when Uncle Harry has had a few too many on Thanksgiving... (Chen Taijiquan - my primary art - has a terribly peaceful reputation, though there's a lot of room for lethality under that hood.) If he's trained in other martial arts, while he might find good people and interesting philosophy in Aikido, I doubt he'd find new material as such.
" "Bu Long" also might suggest that he's learning to be a dragon, which in a weird sense is true. He's going to have the unnerving experience of being a full-fledged magic user while learning how to fly. Not amusing."
It's not going to be a direct meaning, but I could see him thinking that to himself.
My understanding is that "Oriental" carries pretty unfortunate whiffs of imperialism and cultural weirdness with it, and is generally best not used. (Though some people will argue for its use regarding rugs.) You will run into people discussing whether there really is an "Asian" community, as opposed to a Chinese community, a Vietnamese community, etc - but there does seem to be an emergent pan-Asian identity.
As to things he might be called... I'd be tempted to say 龙士 (longshi). (Bah - I do like the fantizi character for dragon a lot better.) Shi is rather understated, but an absolutely ancient word - it means scholar (though it can also mean gentleman, or even warrior - kind of in that "officer and a gentleman" sort of sense). Part of the appeal to me is that "dragon" is a word that already carries so much weight, and is often used in titles of rank. Think, perhaps, of how "lion" in English has a sense of bravery and royalty about it - so "Sir Lion" (not to imply that this shi is equivalent to Sir) carries a lot more weight than the Sir by itself would imply. But it's more than that, because, well, Dragon.
(By the way, everything I'm spelling "shi" - I use pinyin by default - should be pronounced with a short i. "Shih" rather than "shee". Xi is pronounced "shee".)