# Japanese terms



## karatekid1975 (Nov 28, 2006)

Hiya all.

I'm new to Shotokan. I am having a hard time pronouncing Japanese terms for techniques, forms, ect. I have a Korean martial arts background, and I have all these Korean terms floating around in my head. I confuse the heck out of sensei when I try to say something in Japanese and it comes out in Korean. I mean, I learned a few words in Japanese from Jujitsu, but it's just words for bow, ready stance, sensei, ect. We don't use Japanese terms other than that.

Anyways, I was wondering if anyone had a site with Japanese terms in audio (mpeg) along with the text in english and Japanese.

Thanks in advance.


----------



## meta (Nov 28, 2006)

Unfortunately, I don't know any websites with audio files. As for Japanese terms and their English translations, there's a nice thread in this forum:

Japanese MA Terminology

When I started my karate training, I was really worried about not being able to remember all these Japanese terms, but as my training progressed I found that my vocabulary expanded without much conscious effort on my part. 

Good luck!


----------



## twendkata71 (Nov 29, 2006)

* I at one time had all of the Japanese terminology used in the dojo on a cassete tape, but it was lost many years ago. I will look around to see if any of my friends have any Mpeg audio clips that I can link to you. *


----------



## karatekid1975 (Nov 29, 2006)

Thanks so much for your help all. Let me know twendkata71. That would help a lot.


----------



## OnlyAnEgg (Nov 29, 2006)

Here's a few links to help with pronunciation:

At Anime Cafe
At Bento
Yay for Wiki!
Not Yale
In fact, Yahoo found some, too


----------



## Shotochem (Nov 30, 2006)

Hi Laurie,

How did you end up taking Shotokan? No more TKD or TSD? 

 I've been a little out of the loop lately.  I can help with alot of the terminology even though I am a Shotokan exile.

                                                                                 -Marc-


----------



## karatekid1975 (Nov 30, 2006)

Shotochem said:


> Hi Laurie,
> 
> How did you end up taking Shotokan? No more TKD or TSD?
> 
> ...


 
I did TSD first. Then I moved here. I did TKD, but it got way too expensive and the politic stuff got in the way. I had to go. I actually looked at my current dojo a few years ago. I liked it at the time, but it's a hike to get there (an hour). So when I decided to leave TKD, I remembered this place. I looked at a few others, and even trained at a few. But I'm hooked on this dojo. The drive seems so short now. It's worth the $50 a month and gas money (it's only twice a week, but super long classes  ). I love it.


----------



## Shotochem (Dec 1, 2006)

Good,
    I'm glad you're back to training again.  I really enjoyed my years in Shotokan.  In a few months with  your prior training, you will be surprised at the amount of power you will generate and how you will improve your body mechanics.  
     I have chosen the opposite path and have moved on to Kempo.  I find the lack of formality and being non-traditional to be quite refreshing. 

    If you need a hand with terminology I can give you a hand.

It's funny, I'm having a bit of trouble with my Kempo terminology and it's in English!!!


----------



## setboy (Dec 1, 2006)

http://web.mit.edu/~isshinryu/www/packet.html


----------



## Nemesis (Dec 2, 2006)

I did Karate Shotokai for quite a while when I was a younger and as such I had to learn a lot of words in japanese, so here's a tip for you, try to see it as a language and not just sounds.

By thinking in this way it will came to a point that even if you've never heard of that technic before you will still get the feel of what it is.

For example anything with tsuki in it will always be a punch, geri are kicks, empi are elbow strikes, dashi are stances and so on.

If you break the words down to it's parts and understand the meaning of each one it will be a lot easier.

Some words mean wich part of the body you use, others the way you deliver (for example yoko means sideways, mawashi means circular like a low kick, mae means frontal,...), they all are pretty self explanatory with a little pratice. But remember to focus on the words you need to know now and not somewhere in the future.

Good luck on your training!


----------



## karatekid1975 (Dec 2, 2006)

Shotochem said:


> Good,
> I'm glad you're back to training again. I really enjoyed my years in Shotokan. In a few months with your prior training, you will be surprised at the amount of power you will generate and how you will improve your body mechanics.
> I have chosen the opposite path and have moved on to Kempo. I find the lack of formality and being non-traditional to be quite refreshing.
> 
> ...


 
Hey Shotochem  Long time no chat. Nice to see you on here again.

Most of my training as been traditional, so I thought. Not until I went to this dojo. This is REALLY traditional. If you don't block, they actually hit you, ect. Like the old style karate. I don't know why, but I find this refreshing (maybe I'm weird LOL).

Anyways, I'll keep you in mind when I need help with term. Thanks so much.


----------



## hongkongfooey (Dec 3, 2006)

karatekid1975 said:


> Hey Shotochem  Long time no chat. Nice to see you on here again.
> 
> Most of my training as been traditional, so I thought. Not until I went to this dojo. This is REALLY traditional. If you don't block, they actually hit you, ect. Like the old style karate. I don't know why, but I find this refreshing (maybe I'm weird LOL).
> 
> Anyways, I'll keep you in mind when I need help with term. Thanks so much.


 

It feels good to hit and be hit, eh Laurie? I'm glad you finally got away from the BS of your last dojo.


----------



## Shotochem (Dec 4, 2006)

hongkongfooey said:


> It feels good to hit and be hit, eh Laurie? I'm glad you finally got away from the BS of your last dojo.


 

Instant feedback is a beautiful thing......:whip:


----------



## Robert Lee (Dec 6, 2006)

Ask your instructor if he has a termanolgy  hand out you could get. Or write it down from what he tell you. Might be just that easy to get.. Good luck with your current training


----------

