You may have noticed a small change during our seiretsu before and after class. When showing gratitude we used to hear the following two commands:
- Sensei ni rei (先生に礼) Literally “thank your teacher“.
- Otagai ni rei (御互いに礼) Literally “thank each other“. You thank your classmates.
You may notice that these have changed and thus we’re offering a short explanation here:
- Sensei gata ni rei (先生方に礼) Literally “thank your teachers“, with “gata” being the honorific for a group of people. We still use the previous form if there’s only one teacher, but seeing how we now have multiple teachers you’ll often hear the new version.
- Sougo ni rei (相互に礼) Literally “Show mutual thanks”. It’s quite the same as the previous command and seems like more of a grammatical and formal change.
Don’t forget! If you need help remembering all of the Japanese terms, we have a handy page with lots of study materials made by our own members!