At his talk last night Ringu Tulku Rinpoche mentioned that we should use the term Sravakayana (way of the disciple) instead of Hinayana (inferior way) when referring to pre-Mahayana Buddhism. Good on him!

It's an improvement, but it would be better they call us by the names we call ourselves.

Pre-Mahayana Buddhism had more than one flavor; only the Theravada has survived to the present. So if we're talking in historical terms, then Sravakayana seems appropriate. I agree though, that if Rinpoche is talking about contemporary practitioners from traditions that predate the Mahayana, then using the term "Theravada" would be better. Even better still, how about dropping the term "Mahayana", with its implicit sense of comparison/superiority?

He was briefly describing the branching off of Mahayana from the other sects at the beginning of his talk, which was billed as "The Four Noble Truths - A Vajrayana Perspective." But as he pointed out, the Four Noble Truths is common to all schools and sects.

Wikipedia has an interesting entry on the term:

Śrāvakayāna (Sanskrit: ष्रवकयन‌;, Pali: श्रभकयन) is one of the three yānas known to Mahāyāna Buddhism. It translates literally as the "vehicle of hearers [i.e. disciples]". Historically it was the most common term is used by Mahayana Buddhist texts to describe one hypothetical path to enlightenment. Śrāvakayāna is the path that meets the goals of a Arhat – an individual who achieves liberation as a result of listening to the teachings (or lineage) of a Bodhisattva Buddha.

Scholar Isabelle Onians asserts that although "the Mahāyāna . . . very occasionally referred contemptuously to earlier Buddhism as the Hinayāna, the Inferior Way," "the preponderance of this name in the secondary literature is far out of proportion to occurrences in the Indian texts." She notes that the term Śrāvakayāna was "the more politically correct and much more usual" term used by Mahāyānists.[1] "Hīnayāna" (the "lesser vehicle"), however, was used to include both Śrāvakayāna and Pratyekayāna in contrast to the Mahāyāna.

In a Theravadin context, the Śrāvakayāna is said to lead to Śrāvakabuddha-hood. In that context, Śrāvakabuddhas are not able to be the first in their age to turn the wheel of Dharma.

Just want to point out that Wikipedia, as quoted above, has got the Sanskrit and Pali (in Devanagari script) way wrong for Sravakayana/Savakayana. Sorry, I don't have a Devanagari font on my computer to show the correct version.