Pronunciation
- Thread starter ManDudeChild
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who cares about being right, some names just sound better wrong.
I have known Rye-ooo to be wrong for a good 8 years now, and I shall continue to call him rye-oo because its a better name dammit.
I have also always despised hearing Guts as opposed to Gatts or Gattsu
I have known Rye-ooo to be wrong for a good 8 years now, and I shall continue to call him rye-oo because its a better name dammit.
I have also always despised hearing Guts as opposed to Gatts or Gattsu
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With regard to Berserk, right? "Gattsu" is just a katakana-ization of "Guts." That's a bit like insisting somebody say "beruseruku."slayn said:
That's just a Japanese/katakana thing.slayn said:
Japanese is so easy to pronounce, which is the really odd thing, because there aren't really any weird exceptions. Once you know the basic way in which vowels are spoken and get a handle on the combined syllables like "ryu," you pretty much can sound out any word you see. The only real exception is that the u is sometimes hushed after harsh consonants (but they are there...they aren't totally absent).
That's why Sasuke sounds a bit more like Sasske than Sa-su-ke. The middle syllable extends passed the "s" but it is more breathed than spoken.
Oh, and for the record, I'm pretty sure that Hyrule is "high-rule." I'm almost certain I've heard it in Japanese before.
Yes.
Mike Works
Member
I've always pronounced ICO phoenetically, and will continue to do so till the day I die!
jiji said:With regard to Berserk, right? "Gattsu" is just a katakana-ization of "Guts." That's a bit like insisting somebody say "beruseruku."
I'm aware, that doesn't change the fact that Guts is a suck ass name and Gatts sound more like an actual name that fits in more with the anime.
edit:
another one that bothers me is Cecil in FF4. I have always, and will always say Sea-sill. But I think it might actually be pronounced Sess-ill. But Sess-ill is a pussy ass name for a dark knight.
Anyone remember that SNL sketch with Chris Farley as the lone American contestant in a Japanese quiz show (with Mike Myers as the Japanese host)? Myers was giving him a multiple choice question, and one of the choices was Kagemusha, to which Farley replied "I'm sorry? Cage oosh?". The hillarious part was that Kagemusha was actually given verbally.
I once asked this Japanese girl about the meaning of Suikoden. She couldn't even understand what I was trying to say, even though I pronounced like the beginning of "Swiss". After I told her that it starts with the kanji for water, she said "oh Suikoden!", but the way she said it is like she had merged the u and i sounds. The lesson? Japanese pronunciation isn't that easy.
Oh, and XS+, check you PM inbox.
I once asked this Japanese girl about the meaning of Suikoden. She couldn't even understand what I was trying to say, even though I pronounced like the beginning of "Swiss". After I told her that it starts with the kanji for water, she said "oh Suikoden!", but the way she said it is like she had merged the u and i sounds. The lesson? Japanese pronunciation isn't that easy.
Oh, and XS+, check you PM inbox.
Miburou said:
Um...there's no sound in Japanese like the i in "swiss". The beginning of Suikoden sounds like "swee" because it's "su-i" said quickly instead of sounded out.
Pronunciation is easy once you know the sounds. You may of course say words awkwardly sometimes if you sound out each vowel, but you get over that with experience.
Let me add a few more...
Shenmue - Shen-Moo, not Shenmyuu ( シェンムー )
Koei - Koh-Aye, not Koh-ee ( コーエー )
Enix - Eh-Neex or Eh-Nix, not Ee-Nix ( エニックス )
Namco - Nam-Coh, not Name-Coh ( ナムコ )
Pokemon - Poh-kay-mon, not Polka-Mon ( ポケモン )
Shenmue - Shen-Moo, not Shenmyuu ( シェンムー )
Koei - Koh-Aye, not Koh-ee ( コーエー )
Enix - Eh-Neex or Eh-Nix, not Ee-Nix ( エニックス )
Namco - Nam-Coh, not Name-Coh ( ナムコ )
Pokemon - Poh-kay-mon, not Polka-Mon ( ポケモン )
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...nor Pokeymon/Pokeyman.CVXFREAK said:
Ryu is a Japanese word. There is only one way to say it. Paris is an adopted word/name, therefore the English way of saying the name is proper for English speakers. Besides, if somebody who isn't a native English speaker pronounced the word dragon as "dray-gown" would you find it pompous to tell them how the word was really pronounced?Cyan said:
RevenantKioku
PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS PEINS oh god i am drowning in them
Miburou said:
39! 39!
Neo_ZX said:
But if you study Japanese, its hard not to. Like there's definately difference between the way people say karaoke here in america and how I say it after studying Japanese for a few years. People always look at me like "What the fuck?" but its just habit
JoshuaJSlone
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Uh-carnia of Time
Panzer Dragon Otra
Panzer Dragon Otra
I once heard Goo-lee.JC10001 said:
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He's generally been "Raiden" in arcades and "Rayden" in home ports, apparently due to copyright reasons. http://www.mktemple.com/raidenspelling.htmlAnyanka said:
I still call Sagat "Saget" like Bob Saget. Saget sounds cooler but then again that's what i said when someone told me "Ree-you" was the correct way of saying Ryu.
off topic but kinda related: I find it annoying the speed channel commentators call Olivier Panis' last name in english ("pan iss") rather than the correct french way ("Pan ee") since he is French. If they can call his first name in french (well most of the time anyways) then call his last name in french as well.
off topic but kinda related: I find it annoying the speed channel commentators call Olivier Panis' last name in english ("pan iss") rather than the correct french way ("Pan ee") since he is French. If they can call his first name in french (well most of the time anyways) then call his last name in french as well.
Manick Joe
Member
I had a friend back in middle school who was the worst at this. This was when the 32-bit systems first hit so the morning conversations at our bus stop were interesting. "Have you played TohSHEEdan yet? It totally kills TeaCan."
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Either way, while that's definitely the accepted pronunciation, the guy's based on a Japanese god, so "rayden" is about as correct as a Chinese ninja, no matter how the creators say it.Anyanka said:
jiji said:Either way, while that's definitely the accepted pronunciation, the guy's based on a Japanese god, so "rayden" is about as correct as a Chinese ninja, no matter how the creators say it.
Yeah, that's why I said blame Midway.
I was shocked to hear "Rye Den" when I first played MGS2......
XS+ said:
Yeah, that's Chinese pronunciation for you..
Apparently, learned from my Taiwanese friend: Xianghua = She-ang Fa. X is SH sounding, and HU creates a F sound. If you've ever seen Shaolin, the alternate, real spelling should be Xiaolin. First time I heard "Zang Hwa" I almost cried in pain.
And Ryo in Shenmue refers to Shenhua as "Shenfa." HU sound again.
Lots of mentions of Ryu but no Ryo? Is it supposed to be Ree-oh, right? I never, ever said Rye-oh.
SiegfriedFM
Member
The pronunciation of Ryo in the game itself is quite correct. R(ee)-yoh with the emphasis on the short "oh" since "y" isn't a vowel per se.
English is really a horrible language to transcribe Japanese since there are so many pronunciations of every letter. Blame the guys who decided, pretty much haphazardly, on a standard spelling based on Old English pronunciation rules when they introduced the printing press in England during the Middle English period. For example, the i "ee" sound had turned into "ai" in speech (ride, fine, tide) but instead of spelling them raide, faine, taide they used the old spelling (same as in Swedish rida, fin, tid which are still pronounced with "ee"). Probably because they were scholars and old men who thought that everything was much better back then...
Well congrats guys. You made English even more of a mess.
Anyway, a few corrections.
Kage = kah-geh. "kah-gay" would be Kagei in Japanese. There's no "y" at the end, it's a short sound.
Same thing with po-keh-monn. Po-kay-monn is an anglofied pronunciation (but not as bad as Poe-kay-monn).
English is really a horrible language to transcribe Japanese since there are so many pronunciations of every letter. Blame the guys who decided, pretty much haphazardly, on a standard spelling based on Old English pronunciation rules when they introduced the printing press in England during the Middle English period. For example, the i "ee" sound had turned into "ai" in speech (ride, fine, tide) but instead of spelling them raide, faine, taide they used the old spelling (same as in Swedish rida, fin, tid which are still pronounced with "ee"). Probably because they were scholars and old men who thought that everything was much better back then...
Well congrats guys. You made English even more of a mess.
Anyway, a few corrections.
Kage = kah-geh. "kah-gay" would be Kagei in Japanese. There's no "y" at the end, it's a short sound.
Same thing with po-keh-monn. Po-kay-monn is an anglofied pronunciation (but not as bad as Poe-kay-monn).
Hournda said:
There's nothing wrong with someone wanting to know how something is supposed to be pronounced (especially with Japanese words), but I'll agree that it shouldn't be a big deal. It's not like the Japanese pronounce English words correctly, either (ZA ROAD OB ZA RINGU!).
"Mother of mercy, I don't speak Japanese!!!!"Miburou said:
*Farley's groin is then zapped with jumper cables*
I always wondered how mangled Myers' Japanese was.
Speaking of Canadians, there was also the Canadian Xenosaga incident - up here a TV voice-over pronounced the game "Ex-No-Sa-Ga". Then the commercial would play, and it was prounouced "Zee-No-Sa-Ga", the correct pronunciation, which made the previous-voiceover sound like a moron.
The correct pronunciation of Ryu is neither "Rye You" nor "Ree You", although the latter is closer. It's a two syllable word that is not possible to indicate in English - 1st being "ryu" the 2nd being "u". So it's kinda like "ree you" if it were blended together to form a monosyllabic compound. Then you elongate the "uu" sound at the end to compensate for the 2nd syllable.
IIRC, Street Fighter II+ announcers do pronounce Ryu correctly. If you did hear "Rye you", I'd like to check it out myself.
IIRC, Street Fighter II+ announcers do pronounce Ryu correctly. If you did hear "Rye you", I'd like to check it out myself.
Miburou said:
But at the same time, it's entirely capable that within the English language, English speakers can pronounce Japanese (and other foreign) words pretty darn well.
The fact of the matter is, Japanese does not have a lot of our sounds in their language so you can't expect the reverse to apply.
I personally can't stand it when English speakers trounce around in their ignorance, butchering Latin words(ee pleribus oonum), Spanish words (Porto Rico? come on...), etc. *Gag*
I don't seriously care if someone wants to call something the wrong name. But I do think it's lame that some people reject change just because it's a challenge to them. Adaptation, IMO, is a much better trait than stubbornness. I like knowing about the Japanese language, especially as a videogame and anime follower. And I will correct people. Yeah, most people may accept an incorrect pronunciation, but they're just words. Nothing to get emotional over.