A few words

Just a few curiosities,

The japanese word for "Yes" and how is it pronounced?

The Japanese word for "No" and houw is it pronounced?

Also why is there two words for the numbers four and seven and ohly one for the other numbers in japanese?

and lastly, how would you say "I don't understand" in japanese.

Just trying to learn some basics thank you

Norman

"Yes" = "hai" and is pronounced like the English word "hi." "No" = "iie" and is pronounced with "ii" like the long vowel sound in "meek" and "e" like the short vowel sound in "bet." Japanese is a phonetic language so you should be able to just say the words as they're "spelled."

There are two ways to use "four" and "seven" in the Japanese language. Basically, when you are counting (like from one to ten), you can use either way. If you are using it as a number outside of the single digits place like "400" or "70," you would use "yon" for four and "nana" for seven (and not "shi" and "shichi"). It's a lot more complex than this, really.

"I don't know" is "wakarimasen."

If you're learning all of this for aikido, I wouldn't really bother. You're not there to learn the Japanese language but to learn aikido. Learning the technical terms, I think, is important, but all of the rest of the language, I believe, would be superfluous. I doubt that any dojo would force you to learn all of these kinds of Japanese trappings. If they do, I would be a bit wary...

-- Jun

Jun,
I am trying to learn some basic japanese out of personal curiosity.

My friend who may be studying Aikido with me recently moved here from China in 1997. He reads and writes chinese and teaches me a little, The Japanese is for personal enjoyment.

Thank you though

Norm