Pronunciation

of Nihongo, Japanese language, is like many other things Japanese--straightforward, yet not so much...
Here is a guide I copied off of AikiFAQ (see the links to the left)

Pronunciation Guide
Strictly speaking , the following pronunciation guide is not precise since Japanese has it's own system of pronunciation, but it will help you to figure out good approximations, If you keep in mind that the Japanese words as written in this glossary are transliterations, and as such should be read phonetically, and not as you would read an English language word.
Vowels
Letter
Approximate pronunciation
a-Like the vowel in car, but pronounced further forward in the mouth.
e-like e in ten.
i-like e in we.
o-similar to o in gone but with lips slightly more rounded.
u-similar to u in put but with lips not rounded.
Note: Between Voiceless consonants (k,p,s,t,h) or after a voiceless consonant at the end of a phrase, the vowels i and u are generally not pronounced at all, e.g., Tsuki is pronounced (t)ski and torikeshi is pronounced torikesh.
Consonants
These are pronounced approximately as in English with the following exceptions;
Letter
Approximate pronunciation
g-is pronounced as in English go when at the beginning of a word; everywhere else it is pronounced like ng in ring.
n-as in English no.
r-is pronounced with the tongue more or less in the position for l (there is no separate l in Japanese), but the tongue does not touch the front of the mouth, nor is the sound "rolled".
s-is always hard as in see.

In Andre's excellent blog post about beginners, he mentioned several words. Japanese is known for it's honorific and polite phrasing, and there are many levels of politeness, depending on the situation and who you are speaking with. "Dozo" (doh-zou) indicates "go ahead", but literally means "Please...", the 'go ahead' is understood. "Onegai shimasu" (Oh-ne-gae-shi-mas(u)) literally means "will you do me the favor of..." something. "Domo arigato gozaimasu" (doh-moh-a-ri-gah-tou-go-zae-mas(u)) is thanking someone very deeply, more honorific than "domo arigato". A punch or strike to the mid-section, "mune tsuki", is pronounced "Mu-net-ski"
Chuck