Savetherocks wrote:

QUOTE:
"o" is like the "o" in "rope"

"ko" is like the "co" in "cope"

"so" is like the "so" in "soap"

"to" is like the "to" in "tofu" (obviously)

"no" is like the "no" in "note"

the _o sound is more like:
"ko" is similar to coffee (in fact,ko-hi, means coffee) and not comb
"so" is similar to sorry and not soda
"to" is similar to tick tock and not toasted or toby
"no" is similar to nomnom (and, funnily,'nomu' means 'to drink'-- though it'd be funnier if it meant to eat (which is the unfunny 'taberu' ) and not nose

similarly:
"ho" is similar to hostel and not hotel
"mo" is similar to motto and not motel
"yo" is similar to yob (don't know if you know that word!) and not yogi bear
"ro" is similar to rocky (well, intricacies in the 'r' sound come about, but that's more or less the idea) and not rose

We English speakers pronounce tofu like toe-foo, but it's actually more like toh-hfu