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Hi, Chuckles. I am going to tell you what I know, maybe not enough, but I hope it is helpful:
1. So your purpose is self-defense and also keeping good health.
2. Then, how are you? Thin, fat, medium? tall, short, medium? light or heavy? Have you played any sport? how much time a week do you spend on sports? And how much time can you spend on martial art once you begin to practice?
3. Depend on your answers of above-raised questions, you can decide which arts you follow.
For your reference:
1. Wing Chun: it is soft, flexible and slow, requiring a lot of patience. To some extents, it looks like Tai Chi but is very effective in close-in combats once you are good at it. And Wing Chun performance is not so stunning (as flying kicks in Taekwondo, for example). It goes for real effects, not for ineffective beauties. I don't know how about in Europe and America, but in China, Hong Kong and other Asian countries, one should practice patiently and arduously at least 1 year before they are allowed to practice fighting with their club friends. Any type of people can practice Wing Chun.
2. Muay Thai: it is hard and quick, requiring a good form of body. It is very simple, you don't need to learn any forms. Actually, one can practice 3 types of kicking, 2 types of knee-kicking, 3 types of punching, and maybe 3 types of elbowing, to be good enough. If you practice hard, after 3-6 months you can defend yourself against 1-2 guys who have the same measures of body as yours.
3. Shotokan Karate: a very popular branch of Karate. It is hard and has a lot of techniques and forms. In various branches of Karate, Shotokan is better in performing forms. Its combat techniques is not bad, but not as good as others such as Suzucho Karate or Goju Ryu or Okinawa Karate. Still effective, however, if you practice it patiently and long enough. In the same conditions, and you don't focus too much on performing forms (i.e. concentrating more on Kumite - Karate term for fighting), you can get the same result as learning Muay Thai.
About myself, I chose to learn martial arts because:
1. Good health
2. Self-defense
3. Better handling of all social relations and cases.
4. Know more people, establish more relations
5. Learn about a culture.
At the first time I practiced martial arts, I went for reasons 1 &2. The more I practice, the more I learn why I should learn.
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