I heard a Japanese word said to the English ear as Two Coo or Two Coup?

Question

I've been told in the past no such sound as English sound of "2" (two) in Japanese sounds. Yet, word was said many times and many times identified as being Japanese. It was plainly stated, as well. So, no error in reproduction has occurred even though the "sounds like" approach is not preferred in translations. Here I can with 100% reliable accuracy give the correct sound of the word. Don't know its definition, if it is slang, modern Japanese, or even ancient Japanese or a Japanese dialect. Some speculate that the Maori people use a word that is "tuku" that sounds EXACTLY like that which I heard; however, it may or may not originate from Japan....sources were uncertain. I was told many Maori words came from Japan and from other Pacific Island cultures. Anyway, to the English ear it sounds like Two Coo ("Two" as the English number 2 and "Coo" as the baby or dove sounds) or, alternately, Two Coup (again, English number 2 and "Coup" as in the indian counting coup in war). Thanks.

Answer 1

Currently linguistic theory holds that Japanese is from the Altaic language family, which also includes Korean, Turkish, and numerous Central Asian languages. In my studies, I came across and interesting parallel with Japanese and one Polynesian tongue where "one person" is pronounced "hitoli" (hitori in Japanese), "two people" is pronounced "hutali" (futari in Japanese), and "three people" was pronounced with another three syllable word ending in -li).

Actually, Japanese does not have a "too" sound. It has a "tsoo" sound instead.

The word you heard is probably the Japanese word "tsuku" which could mean to arrive (着く), affix to (付く), or poke (突く).

Answer 2

The origins of the Japanese language are highly disputed. Some say it's Altaic, because it is grammatically/structurally the same (Korean, Turkish, Mongolian are Altaic). Others say it has Polynesian origins.

It is true that the "too" sound does not exist in Japanese. Japanese has "tsu" instead of "too" however, the Japanese are still able to pronounce the "too" sound. It has always been like this, and if you HEARD someone say it, then it wouldn't be an ancient form of the language anyway, because modern Japanese people wouldn't know the earliest forms of the language (especially since the origins are unknown!)

Assuming that the person you heard really is Japanese AND they really did use the "too" sound, I think "too koo" sounds kind of like "Took" in English. Could they have been trying to use an English word? "too koo" has to be an imitation of a word in SOME other language, whatever it is.