Chuntian Academy International

Welcome to this new feature of Q and A with Master Plewes. Please feel free to contact us for any defense advice, information on training or the martial arts, or C.A.I..

Very impressive sight. I enjoy reading very much. You have a ton of information. My question is, how come you have so many faith services "souls" or people?

D.Langston
Florida
November 26 2010

Thanks for the question. Our faith services in Japan is a 3 point mission.

POINT 1 =
1-2% of Japanese are Christian, yet 75% of Japanese want Christian-style weddings. What we do different is we give them a Real Christian wedding and take time when all friends and family are gathered on a happy day, to give a message of love, peace and the teaching of Christ. "Witness" if you will. This is an effective tool vs. other missionaries or Churches sent from abroad are mostly uninformed about the "real" culture, look out of place and are weak at language skills and lack social contacts. Most do the "Street Ambush" or "The Home Visit", which in Japan is very ineffective as Japanese are very busy on the street rushing from point A to point B and their homes are a very private sanctuary that even friends don't even visit often.
I personally have done more than 20 weddings a month, witnessing to over 1500 people during a month. Having been in Japan a decade, I know the culture and the best way to deliver the word that is the most effective.

POINT 2 =
We have the only A.A. / N.A. in English is Shizuoka, as well as have a Chapel prayer and discussion service.

POINT 3 =
We Have a Childrens Mission in Indonesia in which we do in the name of faith and God.

So we reach a lot of people this way.

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I'm from a small town, a small safe close knit community. I just recently moved and started attending my first year of college in Miami. At first I thought beaches and fun, but recently I've witnessed a few fights and problems. My question is, can you give me some fast self-protection tips ? I really don't have time to attend martial arts classes and do my college studies both.

Kent J.

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Sure Kent, thanks for the question. First of all you must map out the safe areas and the safety concern areas of your new city (the police can help). Secondly, know that, IT can happen to you, so if you are grabbed or confronted, just realizing the danger in the first few seconds and run, gives you a statistical 66% chance of escape. And finally, always be aware of your surroundings and follow the tips listed below.
Here is a list of ten simple things that you can do immediately that will increase your safety:

1 - Most men get involved in physical trouble as a result of saying something rude, offensive, tactless, stupid or hurtful. Controlling what comes out of your mouth can keep it in good shape. Think before you speak.

2 - If a fight breaks out in a bar - leave immediately. Go before all the drunks and brawlers start swinging chairs, bottles, glasses and punches. A "free for all" usually starts with just two protagonists. Innocent bystanders often get hit. Those who leave all the fools to bash each other do not.

3 - NEVER attempt to mediate an argument between a man and a woman. Both will cease arguing or fighting with each other and turn on you - the common enemy. If you fear for the woman's safety, call the police.

4 - Understand that many people these days have a cocktail of drugs and booze in their veins. It makes them argumentative, aggressive and "Mike Tyson-esque." Avoid people who are "off the planet." Even a casual glance at them can set them off. Leave them with their own demons.

5 - Don't make the fatal mistake of thinking that ANYBODY fights "fair" any more. Those days are over - they have been since the John Wayne era! Expect multiple attackers, weapons, possibly both.

6 - The cemeteries are full of dead heroes. Don't add to their number. Run if you can. There is no shame in avoiding a fight. In fact, running away is smart.

7 - Recognize objects in every room of your home that could be used as makeshift weapons. Home invasion is a growing problem these days.

8 - THIS IS MORE OF A LEGAL WARNING: Understand that if you allow yourself to be placed in a "compromising" position with a woman, particularly one who is "under-age," then the woman's version of events will usually be believed over the man's version. Do not allow yourself to get into such situations.

9 - Negotiation is a far higher art form than physical confrontation. Do anything reasonable to avoid a fight. NOTHING good ever comes out of conflict. War is proof of that.

10 - When all else fails, your back is to the wall and there is absolutely no other alternative left remember... "it is better to be tried by twelve than carried by six."

Remember my opening words - "increasing personal safety ALWAYS commences with awareness." Increase your awareness, mind your manners, know your surroundings and you will certainly improve your safety.

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I see on your top menu button that your organization has a community club that teaches languages, why? Reading through your website I thought you were primarily a martial art school.

J.T.

Good question. I am primarily a martial artist, this is true. I've been involved in the art most of my life. However ever since I began my martial art training back in 1976 I was interested in the far east, I studied Japanese, Chinese, experimented with Asian food, had Asian friends even my first commercial school was named Chuntian Academy of Martial Arts and Oriental Studies.
In 2001 I moved to Japan and found a very international crowd of friends. In Japan most westerners teach English for their bread and butter as do I. To incorporate my teaching of English and American culture as well as study the culture, languages and of course Martial arts of Japan and Asia, I started a community Club to help in cross-cultural studies, research and understanding. Chuntian Academy is more than a martial arts school, we our an International inter-cultural organization to help develop good from an individual, community and international level one person at a time and hope it is contagious. This is done through martial arts, study of each others cultures and traveling to each others countries to home-stay and learn through direct experience.

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Where is Shizuoka ?

J.H.

Shizuoka is located in central Japan on the east coast, about 3 hours or so south of Tokyo by car, but most people travel by Japans famous bullet train which takes about an hour. Click here for Shizuoka from space Google map view.

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Is Death Touch Real ?

Dave

Known in Cantonese as dim mak and in Japanese as kyusho jitsu, the touch of death is said to be something like acupuncture's evil twin. The idea is that chi, or energy, flows through the body along lines called meridians. A specific well trained blow or squeeze applied to certain pressure points on these lines will put the whammy on the victim's chi, leading to incapacitation or death, medical journals describe many incidents in which a seemingly mild trauma results in disproportionately serious injury, and the sites of some such traumas correlate with dim mak pressure points.

A western explanation for those who are unfamiliar with qi, chi and Chinese physiology below:

Cases include:

Commotio cordis,

also known as cardiac concussion. This is a syndrome in which a nonpenetrating impact to the chest causes heart failure but little or no structural damage. The classic victim is a kid or young adult who takes a baseball, hockey puck, or other hard object in the chest, but a 44-year-old teacher died when she caught an elbow while breaking up a fight at school. About half the time the victim collapses immediately, and in the balance of cases within a minute or two. Death is thought to result from ventricular fibrillation, a state in which the lower heart chambers start fluttering and stop pumping blood. One study of 128 cases found that 84 percent of the victims died, and nearly all the survivors received prompt defibrillation. Relatively little force is required for the killing blow--one researcher estimates that the blunt instrument need be moving at only 30 mph.

Trauma to the carotid artery.

Located in the side of the neck, the carotid artery provides blood to the head. Pressure on the carotid sinus, an especially sensitive area where the artery divides into two branches, can damage the blood vessel walls, leading to stroke followed by partial paralysis, other neurological problems, and, once in a while, death. The precipitating event can be surprisingly trivial--a karate chop has been known to do it.

Miscellaneous unexplained injuries.

A 13-year-old girl fell in gym class, struck her head on the crossbar of a hurdle, and died. Finding little obvious trauma and stumped for a cause of death, doctors blamed "transmission of a concussive force through the reticular activating system." This explanation for those of us privy to the studies of Dim Mak can claim that the hurdle hit the girl on the "bladder-10" pressure point at the base of the skull, "one of the most lethal dim mak points."

At Chuntian Academy we teach health based acupressure and the "negative" acupressure attacks at the highest levels of our training and only used in the extreme circumstances of no escape and life and death.

For more information read on, I included a general summary of how we explain Dim Mak here at Chuntian Academy;

Dim mak (death touch)

is an ancient martial art that consists of striking certain points on the body to cause illness or death. The points are usually called dim mak points, but they are also referred to as vital points and pressure points. The majority of these points correspond to the same locations as acupuncture points. Dim mak is an extremely dangerous martial art, which can cause a great deal of damage to the human body. The effects of attacking the dim mak points include knockout, death, and a delayed death. Many have seen videotapes and seminars where a subject looses consciousness after being struck on certain points. Although this is a very dramatic demonstration method, it could have dangerous consequences.
Many believe that dim mak was created centuries ago by the same man who is believed to have developed the original tai chi form. Some have postulated that this form contained the founder's methods of attacking the most dangerous dim mak points. According to legend, this knowledge spread rapidly and influenced the development of many Chinese martial arts. These martial arts then influenced the ancient Okinawan martial art called karate. It is believed by many that the traditional katas of the Okinawan martial arts also contain the secrets of striking the dim mak points. This is interesting because Okinawan karate has had a major impact on the martial arts of Korea and Japan. Thus, it is conceivable that the traditional katas of these other martial arts could also contain the secrets of dim mak.
In the past, this knowledge was only taught to the most advanced and trusted students. As the martial arts spread around the world, the knowledge of dim mak (pressure point fighting) remained in seclusion. Thus, the true nature of many martial arts remained shrouded in secrecy. Recently this tradition of secrecy has been broken and there are martial arts masters who teach the methods of attacking the points to the public. This information is now available at seminars, in books, and on videotapes. Although this has had a positive effect on the martial arts, it does raise the issue of safety.
In most instances, dim mak is explained and taught using ancient theories based on acupuncture. Although this has been the tradition for many years, it has led to a great deal of skepticism and confusion. Because of this, many have disregarded the warnings about dim mak and started to experiment with the points. This practice could have tragic consequences. If the dangerous effects of dim mak could be explained scientifically, the warnings about the points might have more credibility. There is a definite need for a reference on dim mak that is based on modern medical science.
Ancient Dim Mak Theories

According to the ancient theories of acupuncture, the body has a circulating life force (chi or ki) that travels through invisible channels called meridians. According to this theory, all diseases are the result of disruptions in the flow of one's life force or chi. Acupuncture points are located on the meridians and represent areas where the flow of energy can be altered. There are multiple methods of manipulating the acupuncture points including finger pressure, burning herbs, and inserting needles. The acupuncturist inserts needles into different points depending on the illness or complaint. Dim mak evolved from this theory and different points are attacked to cause different effects. According to the ancient theory behind dim mak, attacking the points disrupts the flow of energy, which results in illness or death.
There is no questioning the effectiveness of dim mak. Anyone who has ever been struck hard on a dim mak point or witnessed a pressure point knockout can attest to dim mak's effectiveness. However, there are many who question the ancient explanation of dim mak's effects. Although the previously mentioned theory has been in existence for centuries, modern medical science can provide a new scientific explanation for dim mak's effects. Almost all of the points are located in areas where the one can attack a vulnerable portion of a nerve. In fact, many of the points can be linked neurologically to the internal organs that they are believed to affect. Consequently, attacking the nervous system can disrupt many of the body's functions resulting in illness or death.

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Which is better in you opinion Karate, Tae Kwon do or Kung fu? Every time I see kung fu at competitions they don't do well.

Kurt M., Australia

Thanks for the good question. Honestly it comes down to how hard a student trains. However, a good teacher is very important as they help develop good students in turn themselves become good teachers. But let's say a person of equal size and diligence trains in different systems, let us look at a few facts and myths.

There are many stereotypes surrounding martial arts. This section looks at the views that some people have towards Kung Fu. Some of these opinions can be related to all martial arts in general, whereas others are more exclusively Kung Fu.

* Tournaments

Authentic Kung Fu styles are not used in martial arts tournaments. In America, Canada, Australia, Japan, UK, etc. practically all Kung Fu moves are illegal in a tournament. Because of the serious nature of Chinese arts, Kung Fu remains one of the last martial arts to become a sport (like Tae kwon do).
Kung Fu practitioners are typically more interested in practical combat, rather than scoring more points or looking good in front of judges.
However, many Kung Fu schools do attend martial arts tournaments, however most of them are merely there to demonstrate forms and moves, rather than actually participate in any competition.
Those who do, use a severely modified version of Kung Fu and shouldn't be considered as real, where everything has been changed to make it legal.

Please read on for more comparisons.

* What belt are you?

When people find out I do Kung Fu, one of the first questions I often get asked is, "what belt are you on?" Kung Fu is a Chinese martial art and the colored belt system comes from Japanese martial arts (and was adopted by Korean martial arts during the Japanese occupation around 1922). Even Japanese martial arts originally did not use colored belts. Arts such as Karate-do come from the peasant class of Okinawa. Peasants aren't known for wearing colorful uniforms. The colored belt system was introduced by the Japanese Imperial military as a form of identifying rank and is still used by many Japanese and Korean schools for the same reason.
In Chinese Kung Fu, this system often not used. Often, it is viewed as somewhat unnecessary. Unlike many Japanese and Korean arts, Kung Fu classes, it is rather obvious who is more skilled than who isn't. This goes for any class really. Think back to your school days, in mathematics classes, everyone knew who was better than who. At CAI however, we divide the students into Levels for the self-defense based programs and Ranks for assigning teacher and generational status. This is varied with different kung-fu systems.
I'm not saying that the colored belt system is totally useless. Indeed some Chinese martial arts schools are imitating it with colored sashes. However, as pointed out before, it is not a strict necessity.
Furthermore, the actual colors and number of colors of belts varies between martial arts.
For instance, many Aikido schools have only three belts - white, brown and black.
Also, the image of the black belt has been greatly exaggerated in the West (exaggeration is sometimes a typical trait of Western culture). The black belt means that one is a beginner, now ready to seriously study the martial art. All belts below black are merely preparatory. Beyond black are the dan, (CAI RANK) which means "level"; so first dan, or rank translated to English, means "first level."

* Uniforms

Japanese martial arts has really set the Western stereotype of martial arts. Here is a very basic breakdown of typical uniforms:
Japanese martial artists wear a white uniform based on what the peasants of Okinawa wore. Some western schools have colored and black uniforms, but traditionally, all uniforms are white. This is because in Japanese culture, white symbolizes the human spirit. Some Japanese martial artists view colored and black gi's as a deviation from the martial spirit.
Bushido-based arts, such as Kendo and Aikido also use the hakama - traditional wide Japanese trousers, worn by the samurai.

The basic Chinese uniform is also based on what Chinese peasants wore. Typically, this includes black trousers and a plain white T-shirt and simple jacket.
Now may schools as well as CAI wear black trousers, white, red or black T-shirt with a logo or schools name. Some schools also include a Chinese jacket as well.

Some schools also use sashes - as mentioned before, this is an adaptation from the Japanese belt system.Oh, and Chinese Kung Fu training is not done bare-footed (yes, we keep our shoes on).
The reason why the Japanese remove their shoes during training is because traditionally, Japanese martial arts were practiced on tatami (straw mats) floors. Not only is it rude to where shoes inside a Japanese building, but rough-housing with shoes on would have severely damaged the tatami.
I live in Japan, I made a sufficient amount of grooves on my tatami floor just by casually rocking back on my chair.
Nowadays, the practice of removing the shoes continues for the sake of tradition as well as respect to the dojo and sensei. (same as bowing)

* Bowing

The Japanese have different degrees of bowing - in martial art training, often the most humble form of bowing is used - that is, getting on your knees, placing your hands on the floor in front and bowing very low.
The Chinese bow consists of placing your right fist into the palm of your left hand (representing Yin and Yang - hard and soft), and bowing at about 45 degrees.
It's all a matter of showing respect.

* Screaming, yelling -- Hyyyyaaaaarrrrggghhh!!!!!!

There is no screaming in most Chinese Kung Fu styles. I am rather skeptical about the purpose of "kiai" and other forms of screaming. Karate was institutionalized in Japan during the first World War, when the Imperial Forces decided to use it as a way to help brainwash their soldiers.
This also saw the introduction of many elements that have become standard in Karate, such as the coloured belt coding (ranking), punching repetitively in the air (it's a very droning, mind numbing activity, much like marching "left-right-left-right") as well as several modifications made to karate moves (further loss of fluidity etc).
The yelling in martial arts has long been poetically defined as the expulsion of qi (or ki in Japanese). However, I have yet to see a scientific/medical explanation for this. As I mentioned on my web page, But why you would want to expel this energy is beyond me. Respiration is a very important feature of any strenuous physical activity. This is my theory on how yelling in martial arts was developed and why many schools continue to cling on to it: First of all, the human lung never holds more than 1/3 of its maximum capacity. Some people think that in order to improve respiration, that the lung should be used to higher capacity. If you ask very young children to breath out and in, they will often try to empty their lungs, and then breath in sharply to try to fill it up (of course, it is impossible for the lungs to be fully filled or emptied, even when you fully exhale, your lungs are still 10% full of gas). The notion is that if you exhale more carbon dioxide, you can inhale more oxygen. I disagree with this notion. Firstly, if you expend more time expelling gas, your blood starts to become deoxygenated (because you're not inhaling). Then when you do the sharp and _long_ inhale, you're not expelling the carbon dioxide building up in your blood.
Secondly, even high intensive athletes such as swimmers and marathon runners do NOT breathe this way. You will not see Olympic runners, as the starting gun fires, attempt to expel as much air as possible as she takes her first step, and then try to inhale sharply on the next step. Nor will you see Olympic swimmers like Michael Phelps keep his face above water and try to fill his lungs as he swims a few strokes, and then stick his face under the water and blow out all the air in his lungs in a "kiai!"-like fashion that some martial artists do. No. Why? Well, as I'm sure you've figured out by now, it's a very inefficient way to use your lungs. This is where I fail to see the logic of screaming/exhaling sharply in martial arts -- it leads to a very inefficient gaseous exchange in your lungs.
Athletic training does NOT make the athlete use more of their lungs. Olympians use their lungs in the same manner as you and I. The difference is that they use it more efficiently. This is the purpose of "Qi Gong," which is what we use at CAI as opposed to screaming. Qi Gong focusses on training the martial artist to breathe in a more controlled and efficient manner, thus using their lungs more efficiently. That way, you don't end up exhausted and out of breath within the early stages of a fight. If you do a mighty exhale (which is what yelling is, only vocalized), then you are no longer using your lungs in an efficient manner as described above.

* How about breaking wood and bricks?

Nope. None of that either, sorry. The Chinese don't see breaking inanimate objects as any real test of one's fighting ability. After all, inanimate objects don't move nor retaliate.

* Flying kicks

The probability of one ever needing to use a flying kick in a real fight are more remote than getting struck by lightning on a sunny day.
Hence, many serious martial arts put extremely little focus (if any) on leap kicks. You may see some styles that do flying kicks and turns, such as Wushu forms, which are a crowd pleasing form of exagerated kung fu for competition and to demonstrate agility. These jumps actually are borowed from Chinese opera which emphasis acrobatics type moves. Main land China made traditional combat kung fu forbidden. In the last few decades this modified Chinese opera influenced sport-like form is legal.
In some northern and Korean styles the high flying kicks developed by villagers to kick invaders off of horse back, not needed too much in today's world.

* Karate seems more devastating than Kung Fu

Not totally discounting karate here, but it certainly is no more devastating than Kung Fu. Here are some factors which creates the major differences between the perception of Chinese and Japanese arts:

1) Japanese arts seem more aggressive because of the screaming, yelling and breaking of inanimate objects.

2) Chinese arts use far more circular actions than many Japanese arts. Japanese arts like karatedo have very little circular action and have become very short and jarring compared to the circular and smooth motion of Chinese arts. Because Japanese arts stem from Chinese arts, there is some evidence that such circular motions did once exist in Japanese arts. In karate, the basic straight punch actually twists as it moves along. This is a vestigial version of the Chinese circular motion (like the tail bone in humans, if you take my meaning). Some Japanese arts still retain the circular motion from Chinese arts though. A great example is Aikido.

3) Japanese arts typically primarily use the limbs to fight. Chinese arts use the entire body. Let's look at one body part many Japanese styles have lost the use of - the shoulder. This is extremely evident in Japanese karate, where the loss of shoulder use has aided in giving their punches the sharp jarring. The use of the shoulder was first discouraged by the samurai, who considered raising one's shoulder to be unbecoming. However, Okinawante (Okinawan karate - the original form) still retains the use of the shoulders, thus their moves are far less jarring than Japanese karate.

* Lion and Dragon Dancing

Lion and Dragon dancing is only practiced by a select few Kung Fu styles, such as Choy Li Fut.
Preying Mantis, like many other styles, does not do this.
However, dancing and fighting styles have often been closely related. Elvis Presley revolutionized dancing when he introduced karate moves in with his own.

The Brazillian art, Capoeira, is a dance form derived from African battle moves.
Dancing is a way of merging training in with casual fun. It also relieves the regimentation of formal training at times. Furthermore, when one goes dancing, one's adrenalin starts pumping... hence the body harks back to training.

* When you're in a fight, you often become confused and disorientated.

How can you remember all these complex manuevres in a fight?
By making the moves become your second nature. Impossible? No. There is a difference between understanding a concept and knowing it. Understanding comes after some consideration - some thought. Knowledge comes immediately - without pre-thought, like an instinct.
This works with the acquisition of all concepts, not just martial arts.

Let's make comparisons and examine some other examples of how this works:

Language acquisition - You can tell if someone is a learner of a language based on how much time he/she spends on thinking about language production. Often the language production is slow and very deliberate - they're basically translating their thoughts before they utter them. As one becomes more proficient in that language, production can be made with minimal pre-thought. Production increases and thinking about it decreases.

Logic acquisition - Remember when you first learned to count? You'd get a question like, "there are three apples in a basket and John comes along and puts in four more apples. How many apples are there now in the basket?" Then you'd start counting one by one on your fingers, "one... two... three..." Of course, as this understanding of arithmetic becomes knowledge, you can do it instincively.
|||||||||||||||||| 3 + 4 = ? ||||||||||||||||||
Seven of course. But did you notice how the answer came to you instantly, whereas an infant would have taken longer.

The same applies with martial arts. A random punch thrown can be instinctively countered with a block, hook and/or grapple, followed up by a counter-offensive - all within a millisecond's worth of response time.
How is this achieved in martial arts? Through training and practise. A martial artist repeating the same move over and over again is similar to a child chanting the multiplication table repeatedly.
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See what I mean? ^_^

* Wooden Dummies

Again, like the dancing, only certain styles such as Wing Chun and Choy Li Fut use the wooden dummy. Because of our Wing Chun and Jeet Kune do influences we too a C.A.I. use the Mook Jong ( wooden dummy).

* The North kicks and the South punches

Some people say that Northern Kung Fu focus on kicking and Southern Kung Fu focus on punching. This is a myth. Some styles may have different attentions to punches and kicks, but whether or not it is a Northern or Southern style is irrelevant. I've met some people who were quite surprised to discover that Northern Preying Mantis has just as much handwork as Southern Preying Mantis.
Back to the top

* Kung Fu is a religion

Don't laugh, some people actually believe this. Kung Fu is more than a system of fighting, it is a system of thought. Kung Fu is actually a form of philosophy as well as a form of combat. The same can also be said for many other martial arts (although Kung Fu seems to be the only one accused of being religious). Although it is true that religions have had an influence on martial arts, martial arts themselves (and Kung Fu is no exception) are not religions. Perhaps some people confuse philosophy with religion.

* The Martial Spirit

Known in Chinese as "qi" or "chi"- in Japanese, it's called "ki" - in English, "spirit."
Many martial arts concepts have been poetically described. This is evident in the names of some moves such as "dragon claws the hawk" or "monkey steals the peach."
In reality, "Qi" is merely controlling one's metabolism through respiration, specifically targeting the cell organelle known as the mitochondria (which is responsible for producing cellular energy). Indeed, the Chinese have long described "Qi" as a form of energy flowing around the body; and this is a fairly accurate description when you consider that they had no knowledge of microbiology at the time. It IS controlling energy flow, at an endocellular level.
Nevertheless, some ignorant Christian groups have been known to go around to Kung Fu schools and trying to 'convert' the students, or accusing the school of being evil/Satanic etc. Kung Fu has no deity(-ies) and does not specifically prescribe any moral issues - certainly none which conflict with Christianity.

* Why do you want to go around hurting people?

Undeniably, Kung Fu is a deadly martial art. For thousands of years, the Chinese soldiers used it during warfare. Most Kung Fu schools also teach the use of Chinese weapons. However, times have changed and so have the reasons for studying Kung Fu.
Such reasons include:

1. Self defense! We all have a right to defend ourselves. In most developed countries law, you can use equal or lesser force against an opponent, or even a would-be opponent. If someone walks up to you and says, "I'm gonna hit you," you are legally allowed to begin attacking. In the eyes of the law, a verbal threat to attack is the same as throwing a punch. Some martial arts (such as Aikido) are totally self defensive with no offensive manuevres.
2. Self discipline. One thing common among all martial arts is the self discipline it gives the practitioner. Although, the discipline of Chinese arts is not as militant as Japanese and Korean arts.
3. Health. Some Chinese arts are dedicated to health. One example is Tai Chi (also known as Taijiquan).
4. It's fun!
5. Preserving cultural heritage. Ever since the advent of firearms, the Boxer Rebellion (where firearms became widespread in China) and the Second World War (where the Chinese Communist government hunted down all philosophers and other such potential political threats) Chinese Kung Fu has been dying. The reason why Kung Fu instructs the use of weapons is purely for the sake of tradition and entertainment. Not many people walk around the streets carrying a 2.5m staff or swords, hence there is very little practical use in weapons training.
Even many Chinese people (particularly those in Hong Kong and Malaysia) are almost totally ignorant about Chinese Kung Fu.

* What good is unarmed Kung Fu against weapons?

With Kung Fu, it is possible to counter attacks with ancient weapons such as blades (knives, swords) and staves. Kung Fu was used for thousands of years by the Chinese military, and hence evolved alongside with the advent of weapons. However, there is not much a martial art can do against a firearm. A bullet is undeniably faster than a human. There are some moves which one can do to try to disarm an assailant before s/he fires the weapon, but such moves are extremely dangerous; any contact with a weapon - especially a firearm - is extremely dangerous.
However, this does not detract the role martial arts can play in self defense. People don't go around carrying guns (in Australia, you cannot even possess a firearm unless you have a gun license, and obtaining a gun license is becoming harder all the time). And now it's illegal to carry blades.

* Languages

Almost every martial arts instructor knows all the names and terminology of that art in it's dominant language. Some instructors can speak it. For instance, instructors of Japanese arts are familiar with terms such as kumite, kata and ukemi. Instructors of Chinese arts use terms such as chan se, bong qui and la shou. Instructors also know the names of all their forms in the dominant language of the martial arts as well. Why?
The same reason why the metric system exists. The same reason why scientists use Latin and Greek. International standardization. Although two martial artists may not be able to speak a lingua franca (contact language), they may still be able to convey at least some important martial arts concepts to each other.
From a linguistic point of view, it isn't really used to compensate for any vocabulary gaps (e.g.: the English word for kumite is "spar(ring)" and qi means "spirit"). Many of the terminology and words used are words which exist in almost every language (certainly any language from a culture with military history - I can't think of any culture which doesn't).