Better translation?

I'm not sure who originally translated shogi, but they took some liberties with the piece names to make them more palatable to English speakers:

Foot soldier -> Pawn (based on chess)
Cassia horse -> Knight (based on chess)
Angle mover -> Bishop (based on chess)
Flying chariot -> Rook (based on chess)
Jade general -> King (based on chess)
Incense chariot -> Lance

I think this was for the best, as a lot of names just seem weird in English.

Now whoever translated Chu Shogi did not bother... Everything is a literal translation except when using pieces that were already in shogi. We have REALLY awkward names like go-between, and similarly less awkward names like side mover, vertical mover, etc. Can we do better? And at least make things more consistent with our convention for standard shogi? Here are some suggestions:

Go-between -> Vanguard: This is a very descriptive name (like the English term lance), describes the piece perfectly.

Reverse chariot -> Pike: This is to be consistent with the "lance" designation. A pike is a longer lance and can have a sharp butt, basically acting as a double-sided lance.

Side mover and vertical mover: I have fewer ideas here based on prior convention (angle mover was changed to Bishop, but there was already a corresponding chess piece). One suggestion is naming them "crab" and "snake" as in the symbols used for internationalized pieces. I picked those because they best symbolize the movement but also retain the heavy animal theming of chu shogi.

Everything else is OK. I think the standard of using full name and then abbreviation like gold general > gold can work for the rest.... Like calling drunk elephant an elephant, but retaining the name for original context.

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I think the best way is to follow the settled naming.

Vanguard instead of Go-Between looks interesting. In some languages, it was translated similar way, for example in Russian, or Ukrainian.

But if we'll use Vanguard instead of Go-Between now, it will feel weird, because we have already used to it in the most.

The same about Pike, Crab, Snake. Looks quite creative, and is good for mnemonic piece representation, but not appropriate for common use.
Especially taking in mind, that there are already settled EN move abbreviates for pieces, which are already used in move notations.

That's the same reason, why we still continue calling 麒麟 as kirin/kylin, not unicorn.

What about shortenings, I don't see any problem here.
Gold, Silver, Bronze/Copper, Leopard, Tiger, Elephant, Prince, Dragon, Horse, Falcon, Eagle, Boar, Ox - all of these are fine

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Well the reason I bring it up despite "settled naming" is that chu shogi is really a fringe game -- meaning that there isn't much weight behind the standing precedent. If someone writes a book or makes material using a specific notation or naming system, and if that is the most popular, then that simply becomes the standard.

And we're just following the nomenclature that was used by whoever first translated it... even though they didn't do a really good job.

And yeah, I agree about the shortenings.

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The go-between is someone who you send to relay communications with the enemy. Not really a fighter, but present. If I had to put another name to it, probably "messenger".

I like the "pike" suggestion.

Good point! I didn't even think about that meaning for "go-between" -- as in going between armies as a messenger, rather than its actual moves going back and forth. Messenger makes sense, but for shorter words (which is part of the goal when possible), we can also say Scout, Envoy, or more directly (but a little more awkward), Relay.

I like the Scout variant ;)

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