1. MK characters are known for muttering gibberish Sonya, Kung Lao, Raiden, Sub-Zero etc are examples. I assume that's the case with Kung Lao too.


2. Kung Lao and Liu Kang are from China, so I presume it's Chinese characters, probably something to th effect of White Lotus or Shaolin.

1. It's all gibberish. Everything they say that isn't intelligible English is just random sounds they thought sounded vaguely asian. It's been that way since the beginning. 2. Dunno

Actually the symbol on his back is a korean symbol meaning Martial. Or translated into Korean - Moo.

:)

The symbol has changed since MK2. But the MK symbol back then could be translated into different things such as bravery, military, martial, and daring.

I think it's still the same, just written a bit more fancy. And you're right. It means Military or Martial.

I kinda think it 's something that has been toned down especially if you want to make this a serious Mortal Kombat. Kung Lao sounds like it's going: "Ah de zula!": I'm like: "WTF is he saying? Is that Chinese?"

It means explicitly "war".


Am I the only one who hates the jacket he seems to have since MKSM? I long for the robes of MK2. MK:DA civic chinese Lao would be fine too.

Does it have that many meanings? war, martial, bravery, military? That's a bit confusing, I want to ask NRS about this via Twitter or something, but I forsee it getting lost amongst the other asinine questions they get asked.

I'll ask my wife what it means next time I play.

I'm pretty sure it is military or war. But to me the bravery one holds the most meaning. I also read somewhere the symbol represented the ultimate goal in war. Peace.

yes we should knows what mk characters cause we are mk fan so should knows this kind of things like other fighting game fans knows what their favorite game characters said.

The thing about foreign languages is that other cultures have words that don't have direct analogs in our language. Like the German word schadenfreude. We don't have any one word that precisely matches its definition. Also, cracking open my trusty Latin dictionary to a random word, I see the verb emunio having such diverse definitions as "to fortify, make safe; prepare, make accessible." Each of those is an aspect of the word's actual meaning in Roman culture. Or like the way we say something is cool: it means fun, attractive, popular, attention-grabbing, stylish, and more, all at once. Many definitions for one word.

The same is likely to be true of that Korean pictogram, since the ideas of war and valor are pretty closely tied. The real question is, why is a Chinese guy wearing a prominent Korean pictogram?

Ah yes, you're right, I shouldn't be so ignorant on the subject, very well said.

My brain's been on autopilot these last few days unfortunately. I know better than that lol. Every word has multiple meanings, I'm seriously herp derping today, my apologies.



Them choosing a Korean symbol for a Chinese character makes me wonder f they even know for sure what it means.


Pretty cool stuff nevertheless, I like the philosophy behind that one.

It makes sense for it to be peace since he is a Shaolin Monk.

To be honest, Deadly Alliance was the only time I liked his costume.

My wife says it means martial arts. It's also the first character in kung fu. It can also be the first character in military, but in this context, written on the back of a shaolin monk, it most certainly means martial arts.

It's also definitely a Chinese character, not Korean.

You're right. I don't know Chinese, but I know korean, and it's used by both the chinese and koreans.

In Korean it translates to: Moo – military, chivalry, martial; within the ideograph the inner part of the symbol is the word for "stop" and the outer part means "weapon".

So in a way, we're both right. You more than me, seeing as how your wife seems to know chinese a lot more than I know korean.

you we consider the Kung lao symbol means War or military but what about his 1st round victory dialogue

In Chinese it's Wu. The definitions are the same in both languages, it would appear.

Note that Wushu is Kung Lao's main fighting style.

I getchya. So the symbol on his back is more the chinese symbol than the korean version.

Well obviously, since Kung Lao is Chinese, he would be wearing Chinese on his shirt, not Korean.

Makes sense.

Finally we find the answer i am sure a few people about this shirt symbol meaning

There was a letters page in a GamePro magazine where the Kung Lao symbol was discussed:

http://tabmok99.mortalkombatonline.com/GamePro Issue 066 January 1995 page 014.jpg

John Tobias himself clarifies that the answer is "war" but read the whole thing, it is fascinating.