Translating Taekwondo moves from Korean to English (that is, to a phonetic form so you can understand them when spoken) is quite possibly one of the most controversial parts of Taekwondo. I've got a lot of translations on my Taekwondo glossary page, and yet more on the pattern pages. Browse the web, and you'll find other sets of translations that are different. Some will basically be simply different ways of producing the same sound, so while I call a front kick "ap chagi" you'll see others writing that as "Ahp Chaggi" or any number of other variations. This is simple enough to understand, but it gets complex when you start seeing variations that bare no resemblance to what you have been taught as the right way. A good example would be the reverse turning kick. When I first started training (that would probably be before you were born) we referred to it as "bandai dollyo chagi". Now it's referred to as simply "horyo". Bandai dolly chagi is (or rather was) an attempt to directly translate the three Korean words "reverse", "turning" and "kick". Some clubs still use it I believe.

So what is the cause of the discrepancies? I asked my Taekwondo instructor this week, and he gave some insightful answers.

First up, every high level instructor will certainly have his/her own set ideas. Don't argue with your Master!

Directly translating Korean into English doesn't really work, so almost all translations are the best they can be, but never truly accurate.

When General Choi split Taekwondo in half by setting up ITF Taekwondo, the remaining masters in WTF changed quite a few words in the Taekwondo vocabulary so it would be different to the "new" style of ITF.

The Japanese occupation of Korea also had an impact on the Korean language, and some of those changes have filtered into Taekwondo.

There are five major schools (Kwans) in Korea (Chung Do Kwan, Moo Duk Kwan, Jidokwan, Song Moo Kwan and Chang Moo Kwan - my club is a member of the Chung Do Kwan). Depending on which Kwan the current head at the Kukkiwon is affiliated to, translations get changed.

The use of the prefix "An" (for instance "An Chagi" - inner crescent kick) usually refers to the direction of the move, but in some cases may refer to the body part used (for instance the inner side of the forearm).

Phill Payne dropped me an e-mail explaining that "Naeryo Chagi" (Axe Kick) used to be referred to as "Chikyo Chagi". It looks like Chikyo is the Korean for Axe, but has been dropped in favour of Naeryo meaning "downward" so the kick is described by it's direction, rather than it's name.

Conclusion? Unfortunately the only hard and fast answer as to what is "right" is that your instructor is right. I'm going to stop worrying about it!