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Rogier
16th May 2002, 12:54
mokuso
osu
sensei-ni-rei

if heard it in about 8 different ways by now... anyone know how it is said correctly

Peisho
16th May 2002, 13:32
mokuso
mo[moe]
ku[koo]
so[sew]

osu
o[oh]
su[sue]

sensei-ni-rei
sen[sen]
sei[say]
ni[nee]
rei[ray]

Hope this helped.

Jeff Hamacher
18th May 2002, 03:52
Rogier,

i take it that there are no ex-pat or immigrant japanese where you're living and training. obviously, they would be the best source of information if they were present. the next best thing would be to get someone to mail you a sound file (like ".wav") with a japanese person's voice saying those expressions.

Glen's explanation of the pronunciation is pretty close, but unless you hear and learn the timing of the syllables (precise, machine-gun-like timing is a hallmark of japanese pronunciation), you'll still be saying it wrong. HTH.

Enfield
18th May 2002, 22:07
It's usually more along the lines of mo-k'-so and o-s'. (Weak vowels between unvoiced consonants.) Then, of course, in a budo context, all words become a grunt. ;)

fifthchamber
19th May 2002, 16:18
Hi all,
I think Kent has it right...At least from what my own Sensei use and from my (admittedly rather hazy..) memories of Shotokan Karate back in the days..Mokuso is pronounced with little emphasis on the 'u' sound to come over as 'Mok'so'..The 'U' is there but very quiet..like a silent letter in english but a bit stronger..
The same applies for 'Osu'...We used to say it as 'Oss'..A slight emphasis on the 'S' sound to carry over into the 'U'. I know that Japanese does this to the vowel sounds quite often and it can become a little confused..'U' is the worst affected from my memory of Japanese language books and tapes...
The "Sensei ni rei" section is less complex..I use a pronounced form of the phrase as it is an honorific phrase and there is no need to drop any of the sounds..A slight pause before the 'Rei' section as emphasis for the first parts maybe..Your choice on that I think though.
HTH...Abayo.

hyaku
22nd May 2002, 01:24
The clipped U is a masculine pronunciation. Stands out a lot with things like "nani nani desu" pronounced as "des" by men.

"O" is as in "sock" and can be extended like o-o sometimes written as "ou"

Rei is re-i. The Re as cross between Re and Le. The I as in "sit"

Listen to some Westerners speaking Japanese and its sometimes quite obvious they learned from their girlfriends!

Hyakutake Colin

http://www.bunbun.ne.jp/~sword/