Japanese Language

Karate classes make use of some elements of Japanese language and culture, partly to honor the history of our art, and partly to provide a common language to karate practitioners worldwide.

Pronunciation

Pronouncing words in English is hard because we have so many rules and exceptions:

• The “ph” in “phone” and the “gh” in “cough” both sound like the “f” in “flat.”
• But “hea” is pronounced differently in “heart”, “hear” and “heard.”

By comparison, Japanese pronunciation is easy:

• Consonants are always pronounced just like they look.
• “A” is always “AH” like in “wasp.”
• “E” is always “EH” like in “effort.”
• “I” is always “EE” like in “pizza.”
• “O” is always “OH” like in “open.”
• “U” is always “OO” like in “tube.”

That’s almost all there is to it.

The Japanese language has a concept called “rendaku”, where the beginnings of some words change when they come after other words. For example, the word for “punch” is “tsuki”, but often “zuki” when following another word.

The good news is, you usually don’t need to worry about this because the English spellings of Japanese words already take this into account.

Counting

Most exercises in karate classes will be counted in Japanese, but usually just from one to ten over and over again. So if you can count to ten, you’re good. Just remember the easy pronunciation rules above and you’re all set.