Overall, you shouldn't change things for the sake of change. "Dorter, Trade City" works just fine; there's no reason to replace it with Merchant.
Then, using the sword skills as an example - I can see why you might want to remove "punch" from the skill names (it's being done with a sword after all), but why are the changes so extensive? There's nothing wrong with Stasis Sword, especially considering it procs Stop. Why change Lightning Stab to Lightning Thrust?
You're on track to one of the major problems with the WotL translation - they changed a lot of things just for the sake of change. Even if something sounds slightly better to you after the change, it's still going to be ridiculously jarring to the people who played the original. I mean, people hated the change from Aeris to Aerith, and that's a much smaller one.
For a counter example, Stigma Magic to Purify makes sense, and is worth the change.
Finally - looking at your monk and swordskill changes, it looks like you're setting up names that have nothing to do with either translation. If you really have to fix a bad FFT name, changing it so far away from the FFT name - use the WotL one. Neither FFT nor WotL players are going to recognize "Surge Attack", and that's not a good thing.
I agree that changes should not be made for the sake of change. However, one of the goals of this patch is to eliminate awkwardly translated elements of the original release. So, I'll be changing the port and merchant cities back to trade cities.
As far as the monk and swordskills are considered, those extensive name changes are based on the literal translation from the Japanese text they are based upon. Here are the literal translations of the original moves.
Spin Fist = Reverse Spinning Fist
Repeating Fist = Continuous Fist
Secret Fist = Concealed Fist
Wave Fist = Wave Motion Strike
Earth Slash = Earth Fury Slash
Stigma Magic = Stoma Arts
Revive = Resurrection
Stasis Sword = Unmoving Lightless Sword
Split Punch = Chaotic Life-Severing Killing Strike
Crush Punch = North Star Bone-Crushing Strike
Lightning Stab = Peerless Lightning-Flash Thrust
Holy Explosion = Holy Light Explosive Break
Shellbust Stab = Strong Armor-Piercing Point Thrust
Blastar Punch = Starry Heaven Bombing Strike
Hellcry Punch = Hades Terror Scream Strike
Icewolf Bite = Biting Ice Wolf Break
The problem with Final Fantasy Tactics is the same with most early rpg releases. The English translation and localization is generally rushed and usually only given one or two quick passes.
While I myself am not bilingual I am at least vaguely familiar with how translation works. It's not enough to simply literally translate one language to the next. It has to be localized as well or else you can end up with nonsense.
Let's look at Secret Fist. It's translated from 秘孔拳 or Hikōken. If you toss it into a literal translator you'll probably get a phrase similar to Secret Hole Punches. The closest literal localization is Concealed Fist; so its meaning is lost. Most of the western world however is very familiar with the Wuxia concept of dim mak or death touch as it's more commonly known.
While my new goals include not changing things just for the sake of change, after reading the literal translations for most of the abilities, the original release's leave me wanting, particularly the sword skills. Also, if I just left everything the same this wouldn't be much of a translation.
That said, I welcome any and all suggestions, especially if you speak English and Japanese, Chinese, or both.