In class, we ask students to address us as “Sifu.” “Sifu” is the title given to us when our teacher, Master Choy Kam Man, certified us to teach T’ai Chi Ch’uan. Within a week of presenting us with our teaching certificate, Master Choy would accompany us to one of the printers in San Francisco Chinatown to produce business cards with both English and Chinese.
The term “Sifu” is pronounced “sea-foo” – like “seafood”, but without the “d” sound. Some Chinese martial arts schools pronounce this word “shur-foo.” You will hear this term used often in the older made-in-Hong-Kong martial arts movies. The term has specific translations from the Chinese characters that comprise “Sifu” (you can look it up on the Internet), but its usage in our classes is equivalent to the English terms “instructor” or “teacher.”
When we addressed Master Choy inside and outside class, we used “Sifu.” Interestingly, we never used “Master Choy” in his presence, just “Sifu.” Whenever we would ask him a question, we would preface it with “Sifu.”