Is that the same as the onadare? I never can get the English names straight.

Is that the same as the onadare?
I never can get the English names straight.

DrStraw, your avalanche knowledge must be substantial --
I'm a little perplexed where you find the confusion in the English names.

For you, where is the confusion in the English names ? I'm very curious.

I simply learned the Japanese names for all the joseki long before the English names, so they come naturally to me. The English names are like a foreign language. The only books available when I started to play used the Japanese names. I still think in terms of shimari and kakari instead of enclosure and approach.

I once read a book and it started saying things like "When black plays the ikken takabasami..." and it's just too dense to read like that constantly even if I can understand it.

I simply learned the Japanese names for all the joseki long before the English names, so they come naturally to me. The English names are like a foreign language. The only books available when I started to play used the Japanese names. I still think in terms of shimari and kakari instead of enclosure and approach.

However, during writing my books on Igo Hatsuyôron, I had to learn that "shimari", and "kakari", would suite native English eyes much better.

"Enclosure" and "Approach" feel more natural to me.

It has been said before that go terms are technical words with specific meanings that might be different from the everyday meanings. I am picking nits here but I think "enclosing move" is better than "enclosure" since after a shimari move the corner is often still vulnerable to invasion. I learned go in Japan almost 60 years ago. The first serious English go books I encountered were the first editions of the Ishi Press books like Basic Techniques, Strategic Concepts, and Sakata's Middle Game of Go, in which Japanese terms were heavily used. I knew all the terminology so, of course this usage didn't bother me. I have friends who did not know Japanese and used these books and they, too, had no trouble with the terminology. They just treated them as special terms that they had to learn, just as one might have to learn a specialized terminology in any subject. The advantage is that the meaning was learned from the practical usage, not from inaccurate definitions in a different language.

Most of my books are Japanese, so I am comfortable with all the terminology. When I teach, I try to use as much English as possible. It just feels easier to help people pick up the game and make it less strange.