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Relevant Japanese Terms in Karate
Pronunciation
All vowels are short and pronounced as follows:
- "a" as in "father"
- "i" as in "teen" except shorter
- "u" as in "boot" except shorter
- "e" as in "bet" * "o" as in "boat"
except shorter and without the off-glide
- Longer vowel sounds are the same sounds as above, but given more time.
- "aa," a longer "a"
- "ii," a longer "i"
- "uu," a longer "u" "ei," a longer "e"
- "oh," a longer "o"
- Except for the above, if you see two or more vowels in a row, they
are each pronounced clearly without becoming a single diphthong.
- An apostrophe is used where a glottal stop occurs (like between the
"n" and the second "a" when pronouncing "an apple").
- Consonants always take their "hard" sounds. So "gi"
is pronounced with a hard "g" (i.e., not "ji"). "Ch"
is always as in "cheese."
- The hyphens don't mean anything but serve to distinguish separate syllables
when it might be ambiguous, or to separate a word into two semantic parts.
There shouldn't be a pause for hyphens.
- Parentheses are used whenever a word might be omitted by some people,
or if the translation could mean more than one thing. For example, "nukite,"
literally only means "spear hand," which is just the name of
the "weapon" you form with your hand, but it is also often used
to mean the attack, "spear-hand thrust." So "thrust"
is in parentheses.
- Quotation marks are used on the English side to distinguish between
literal translations of the Japanese terms from their more figurative meanings
(quotes indicate literal translation).
- Numbers
- 1 ichi
- 2 ni
- 3 san
- 4 shi
- 5 go
- 6 roku
- 7 shichi
- 8 hachi
- 9 ku (kyuu)
- 10 juu
- When counting for class, just pronounce the first syllable of bisyllabic
numbers (i.e., ich, rok, shich, hach), for shorter, sharper counting.
Other Terms
- kihon -- basic(s)
- ki-ai -- "spirit focus" / a focusing yell
- kime -- "decision" / focus
- rei -- bow
- yoh-i -- "get ready" / often a command to stand in hachinoji-dachi
- yame -- stop
- yasume -- rest, relax
- maware / mawatte -- turn
- hajime -- begin
- mokusoh -- "quiet meditation"
- dojo [doh-joh] -- "way place," the place where you train
- dojo kun -- dojo desiderata
- seiza -- "proper sitting" / kneeling
- sempai -- senior student
- koh-hai -- junior student
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