Ou or Oo

[Matsuyuu]

When written in romaji, I see people spelling the same word differently; for example:
"kookoosei" and "koukousei" (would it be [hoping this would be written in hiragana] こおこおせい or　こうこうせい?)
"sayoonara" and "sayounara"
..and so on and soforth.
How do you go about writing this in Japanese? Do you always use the "o" or "u" character in Japanese, because I'd like to know if I'm spelling what I'm writing correctly.
Arigato.

[Erik]

Originally posted by Matsuyuu
When written in romaji, I see people spelling the same word differently; for example:
"kookoosei" and "koukousei" (would it be [hoping this would be written in hiragana] こおこおせい or　こうこうせい?)
"sayoonara" and "sayounara"
..and so on and soforth.
How do you go about writing this in Japanese? Do you always use the "o" or "u" character in Japanese, because I'd like to know if I'm spelling what I'm writing correctly.
Arigato.

In my school, (i hated this too), when words were written, they tried to write the word so it was phonetically spelled. ie: Teachers would write KYOO (today) opposed to KYOU (this is how your suppose to spell it). For the most part, I dont think it makes much of a difference. I believe people will understand your spelling mistakes just like any other language for the most part.

[Elizabeth]

Originally posted by Matsuyuu
When written in romaji, I see people spelling the same word differently; for example:
"kookoosei" and "koukousei" (would it be [hoping this would be written in hiragana] こおこおせい or　こうこうせい?)
"sayoonara" and "sayounara"
..and so on and soforth.
How do you go about writing this in Japanese? Do you always use the "o" or "u" character in Japanese, because I'd like to know if I'm spelling what I'm writing correctly.
Arigato.
It is arigatou, though. ;)

[avarame]

Nihongo newbie here... I've never seen something oo (like こおこおせい), only ou (like こうこうせい) in any word with a long O. I guess ou is the 'correct' transliteration and oo is an attempt to make it easier to understand for English speakers. I guess it's the same situation as ti/chi, tu/tsu, si/shi, and the d/z/dz mess. It depends on what Romanization system you're using, and how much that system kludges to make it easier for Western speakers to grok the pronunciation. The difference is that with oo/ou, there is a "right" and a "wrong" way based on how the words are actually written.

Related question: Is long E spelled えい or ええ?

[Elizabeth]

Originally posted by avarame
Related question: Is long E spelled えい or ええ? [/B]
ええ is an informal way of saying "yes"....so only "ei" is correct
in this case.

[jspecdan]

ええ is an informal way of saying "yes"....so only "ei" is correct

it's like saying "uh huh"

[Matsuyuu]

Arigatou, everyone. So I'll just write ou now..unless there's a problem with that. Either way, THANKS!