No two languages are identical. There is always a danger of distorting the original meaning when translating technical terms. That’s why when one learns arts in other cultures like Judo, Karate, or even Buddhism, one often has those terms left as transliterations. After all, even for learners of Chinese martial arts who are Chinese, they may not and need not realise the literal meanings of the technical terms during their practice.
The great translator Abbot Xuanzang (玄奘; fl. 602 – 664) set “five types of terms that are not to be translated” (五不翻) when he and his team translated a great amount of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Chinese. Among them are those for which a Chinese equivalent cannot be found (此無) and those who already been widely used, paying respect to previous translator (順古). Some terms have dual meanings, or even multiple meanings. An example is 子午, which may mean direction, hour in the clock, or even year, month and day. As such, we will leave the “twelve key words” (勾、摟、採、掛、刁-進、刁-打、粘、黏、貼、靠) in their transliterations (gōu, lǒu, cǎi, guà, diāo-jìn, diāo-dǎ, zhān, nián, tiē, kào). The same applies to locations and names, with the following two clarifications:
Master Lo (羅光玉): though the Putonghua Pinyin is Luo Guang-yu, we follow Brother Hon-Chiu Wong’s practice of using Lo Kuang-yü,
Master Wong (黃漢勛): Wong Hon Fan is used since this was what appeared in his Hong Kong Identity Card.
In addition, we would like to standardise the name of our school as (Northern) Praying Mantis School of Chinese martial arts.
Having said all that, to make it easy for non-Chinese speakers, we have compiled here a list of key terms with an aim for standardisation.
| 步法 | Stances |
| 騎馬 | Horse-riding stance |
| 登山 | Mountain-climbing stance |
| 跨虎 | Straddling tiger stance |
| 入環 | Half-kneeling stance |
| 七星 | Seven star stance |
| 撲腿 | Low stance |
| 中式 | Neutral stance |
| 吞塌 | Reverse mountain-climbing stance |
| 坐盤 | Sitting twisted legs stance |
| 偷步 | Twisted legs stance |
| 掌法 | Palm techniques |
| 插掌 | Forward palm |
| 屯掌 | Impulsive palm |
| 挑掌 | Upswing palm |
| 齊掌 | Sideways palm |
| 滾掌（滾手） | Outward slapping palm |
| 漏掌（漏手） | Inward slapping palm |
| 反掌 | Downward slapping palm |
| 腰斬 | Waist chopping palm |
| 捶法 | Fist techniques |
| 補捶 | Supplemented fist |
| 統捶 | Forward fist |
| 圈捶 | Circular fist |
| 崩捶 | Downward fist |
| 挫捶 | Upward fist |
| 截捶 | Sideways arm-strike |
| 劈捶 | Chopping arm-strike |
| 窩肚捶 | Forward belly-pointing fist |
| 指法 | Finger techniques |
| 刁手 | Mantis claw |
| 封手 | Lock claw |
| 鎖喉 | Throat choke |
| 取眼 | Eye poke |
| 勾摟採手 | Claw-fist triple set |
| 纏絲手 | Twisting grip |
| 肘法 | Elbow techniques |
| 撞肘 | Direct elbow-strike |
| 疊肘 | Sideways elbow-strike |
| 腿法 | Leg techniques |
| 軋腿 | Lateral sole-strike |
| 蹬腿 | Straight sole-strike |
| 踢腿 | Direct kick |
| 揪腿 | Upward sole-strike |
| 閉門腿 | Kick and exit |
| 掃膛腿 | Low ankle-swipe |
| 擺蓮 | Full leg-swing |
| 旋風腿 | Leaping leg-swing |
| 兵器 | Weapons |
| 單刀 | Sabre |
| 雙刀 | Double sabre |
| 春秋大刀 | Kwan sabre |
| 槍 | Spear |
| 劍 | Sword |
| 棍 | Staff |
| 三節棍 | Three-section Cudgel |
| 套路 | Sets |
| 崩步拳 | Squashing Steps |
| 十八叟拳 | Eighteen Elders |
| 躲剛拳 | Evading Rigidity |
| 插捶拳 | Stabbing Fist |
| 白猿出洞拳 | White Monkey leaving Cave |
| 白猿偷桃拳 | White Monkey Stealing Peach |
| 梅花拳 | Plum Blossom Set |
| 梅花落拳 | Plum Blossom Falling |
| 梅花手拳 | Plum Blossom Hands |
| 螳螂出洞拳 | Praying Mantis leaving Cave |
| 螳螂偷桃拳 | Praying Mantis Stealing Peach |
| 大架式拳 | Large Posture |
| 小架式拳 | Small Posture |
| 大番車拳 | Large Cartwheel |
| 小番車拳 | Small Cartwheel |
| 摘要 | Highlights |
| 醉羅漢 | Drunken Luohan |
| 攔截拳 | Interception |
| 連環錦套拳 | Interlocking Treasures |
| 柔靈拳 | Gentle and Agile |
| 四路奔打拳 | Charging in Four Directions |
| 左右連環扣 | Bilateral Interlocks |
| 領拳 | Interactive sets |
| 兵器套路 | Weapon sets |
| 八卦刀 | Bagua Sabre set |
| 燕青單刀 | Yanqin Sabre set |
| 六合雙刀 | Six-way Combination Double Sabre set |
| 春秋大刀 | Kwan sabre set |
| 梅花槍 | Plum Blossom Spear set |
| 八仙劍 | Eight Fairies Sword set |
| 子午劍 | Ziwu Sword set |
| 五郎棍 | Brother Five Staff set |
| 六合棍 | Six-way Combination Staff set |
| 虎尾三節棍 | Tiger Tail Three-section Cudgel set |
| 單刀對槍 | Sabre against Spear |
| 雙刀對槍 | Double Sabre against Spear |
| 雙匕對槍 | Double Dagger against Spear |
| 空手破單刀 | Overcoming Sabre with Empty Hands |
| 空手破雙匕 | Overcoming Double Dagger with Empty Hands |
| 三節棍對槍 | Three-section Cudgel against Spear |
| 其他 | Others |
| 羅漢功 | Luohan Exercises |
| 散手 | Combat skills Training set |