LingoDrop
Japanese · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "どうぞ" in Japanese?
doh-oh-zo — three beats, and the first two are one long o, not a short "doh."
douzo
Three morae, and the whole point of the word is the 2:1 ratio between them: do-o takes two counts, zo takes one. The pitch starts high and steps down, so the energy is front-loaded, but even that fall doesn't change the timing — the long o stays long whether it's high or low.
Listen: どうぞ
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
どうぞ、こちらに座ってください。
Douzo, kochira ni suwatte kudasai.
Please, sit here.
Listen: どうぞ、こちらに座ってください。
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どうぞ、こちらに座ってください gives you どうぞ's long o and then, a few words later, 座って's geminate double t. Set them side by side deliberately: one is length added to a vowel, the other is length added as silence before a consonant. Both are full beats, and both are the sort of thing English simply doesn't do.
Where English speakers slip
Almost everyone says "DOH-zo," a short first syllable with English stress on it, which to a Japanese ear is a different-sounding word altogether. The fix is unglamorous: hold that first o twice as long as you think you need to. And watch the d — English speakers often give it an alveolar release with a little puff; Japanese d is dental and cleanly released.