Learn Chinese – learn Mandarin – How to say “That martial art teacher trains his disciple very well” in Chinese: 那武术师父训练他的弟子训练得很好. Na4 wu3 shu4 shi1 fu4 xun4 lian4 ta1 de5 di4 zi5 xun4 lian4 de5 hen3 hao3. Na4 (那 that) wu3 shu4 (武术 martial art) shi1 fu4 (师父 teacher for martial art) xun4 lian4 (训练 train) ta1 de5 (他 的 his) di4 zi5 (弟子 disciple) xun4 lian4 (训练 train) de5 (得 a habitual particle usually put after a verb or a verb phrase) hen3 (很 very) hao3 (好 good or well). There are three types of teachers – 老师，师傅 and 师父 that we need to know about:
老师 Lao3 Shi1: the person who teaches you mainly the knowledge, like school teacher, music teacher, or ballet teacher.
师傅 Shi1 fu4: master worker that works and also teaches his or her apprentice, like the chief chef at restaurants or the master worker at the construction field.
师父 Shi1 fu4: Martial art teacher, Shi1 means teacher, fu4 means father. This term shows the martial art teachers receive high respect in Chinese society. However, shi1 fu4 also means monks (he2 shang4 和尚）. Shaolin martial arts are considered to be the authentic Chinese kungfu （功夫 gong1 fu1, martial art）. Originally, Shaolin Kungfu was developed from the Shaolin Temple, in the region of Song Mountain. The people who taught martial arts there were monks. It is also one of the reasons why the martial art teachers have been called by the term of 师父 shi1 fu4 for over several hundred years.