Hello, mike29 English natives have "s""s pronunciation. (="th", "sh") But Japanese language doesn't have "s" alone. In Japanese, every consonant is followed by vowel. That's why Japanese pronunce です・ます as 「desu」「masu」. Here is tips about "s"'pronunciation for Japanese people. 【英語の「sとthとsh」の発音のコツ】 https://eikaiwa.weblio.jp/column/study/pronunciation/pronounce-s-th-and-sh

>Hi, I've heard a lot of people pronounce "desu" and "masu" >as "deSU" and "maSU" instead of "des" and "mas". >(both male and female) Why is that? It is probably because they are from the west part of Japan like Kyoto or Osaka. To speak Japanese beautifully, you should pronounce des/mas instead of desu/masu. You cannot be a TV announcer or a voice actor unless you can do this 無声化（devoicing?). But it is so hard to do this 無声化 with Kansai(*) accent. They pronounce always "yarimasu/koredesu" instead of "yarimas/koredes" *Kansai: The west part of Japan > 無声化は西日本ではほとんど使われておらず、関西人をはじめ、 > 多くの西日本出身者を苦しめている悪魔です。 https://ameblo.jp/seiyu-tatsumi/entry-12120711476.html https://jn1et.com/vowel-devoicing/ *I tried Czech(sorry, not Slovakian). Please correct it if you don't mind. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >Hi, I've heard a lot of people pronounce "desu" and "masu" >as "deSU" and "maSU" instead of "des" and "mas". >(both male and female) Why is that? Pravděpodobně proto, že jsou ze západní části Japonska, jako Kjóto nebo Osaka. Pokud chcete mluvit krásně japonsky, měli byste namísto desu / masu říci des / mas. Nemůžete se stát televizním hlasatelem nebo hlasovým hercem, dokud to 無声化(devoicing)neuděláte. Ale s Kansaiovým(*) přízvukem je to těžké. Místo slova „Yarimas / Koredes“ vždy vyslovují „Yarimas / Koredes“ * západní část Japonska