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Old 06-15-2011, 05:16 AM   #4
Peter Goldsbury
 
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Dojo: Hiroshima Kokusai Dojo
Location: Hiroshima, Japan
Join Date: Jul 2001
Posts: 2,308
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Re: -"masu" or -"mashita"?

Quote:
David Santana wrote: View Post
my japanese teacher(who also practice aikido - 2nd dan) told me that "shita" is past tense so I usually say arigato gozaimashita after everything. but yesterday my aikido instructor told me that we use "shita" for something that is still continuing e.g: after pairing up but the class is still in session. when I shared with him what I know from my japanese teacher, he insisted that his understanding is the correct one(aikido instructor - 1st dan) because he's checked with 3 aikido dictionaries from 3 different aikido organizations..

what do u guys think? what do u usually say after pairing up and after class? is it arigato gozamasu or arigato gozaimashita?
Well, I teach in two dojos in Japan, where all the students are native speakers of Japanese, so we do not need dictionaries from different aikido organizations. First, here is an example from outside aikido.

When I went to Tokyo recently, I travelled from Hiroshima by shinkansen (bullet train). The train conductors are very polite and the first announcement they gave when the train started off from a station was:
新幹線ご利用いただきましてありがとうございます。Shinkansen goriyou itadakimashite arigatou gozaimasu, which is a polite way of saying 'Thank you for using the shinkansen' (at the beginning of the journey).
Just before the train stopped at a station, the announcement, made to alighting passengers, would be:
新幹線ご利用いただきましてありがとうございました。Shinkansen goriyou itadakimashite arigatou gozaimashita, which is a polite way of saying 'Thank you for using the shinkansen' (that is, having used it, at the end of the journey).

In my own dojos, by far the most common use is 'arigatou gozaimashita', which is used after I have demonstrated a waza, after two students have finished practising together, or when the whole practice ends, after the formal bow. Today, at the university, individual students said, 'arigatou gozaimashita', as they filed out of the classroom.

I have never heard aikido students utter arigatou gozaimasu before they start practising. It is invariably, onegai-shimasu.

P A Goldsbury
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