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[miyuru]

Ryu = RYE-OOH.

Nothing else is acceptable, even if it is right!!!

 

[XS+]

Ryu = RYE-OOH.

Nothing else is acceptable, even if it is right!!!

PREACH THAT $@#%

 

[Tsubaki]

You can't use English words/syllables to describe a vowel-sound that doesn't exist in the English language, at least not properly.

That's EXACTLY the point. Your statement is inaccurate. The vowels in almost every other language in the world (Romance languages, Korean, Japanese, etc) ARE sounds in the English language. The reverse isn't true, so the capability of an English speaker to say a foreign word is higher than vice versa.

In fact, whenever you come across a foreign language, you should automatically assume it's like this first because it's so common worldwide that vowel sounds are like those in Japanese, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Tagalog, Korean, etc etc etc.

a = sound of "a" in paw
e = sound of "e" in pet
i = sound of "e" in evil
o = sound of "o" in home
u = sound of "u" in immune

 

[Dujour]

It can be Ay-ris or Ee-ris

...

or Ay-rith or Ee-rith.

 

[Trojan X]

This thread is actually really useful or a great reference. Keep 'em coming.

 

[hirokazu]

a = sound of "a" in paw
e = sound of "e" in pet
i = sound of "e" in evil
o = sound of "o" in home
u = sound of "u" in immune

that guide isn't exactly accurate unless you're speaking with an American accent.

 

[Shrike_Priest]

"That's EXACTLY the point. Your statement is inaccurate. The vowels in almost every other language in the world (Romance languages, Korean, Japanese, etc) ARE sounds in the English language. The reverse isn't true, so the capability of an English speaker to say a foreign word is higher than vice versa."

Uhm... nope.

Sorry, but that just ain't true. Sure, the sounds are close, but they aren't identical.

a = sound of "a" in paw
e = sound of "e" in pet
i = sound of "e" in evil
o = sound of "o" in home
u = sound of "u" in immune

These are decent, yes, but not perfect.

Say inu, katana, hikouki/hikooki (not sure of the correct romanisation of that) and and ragnarök using English syllables, and get it spot on, and I will stand corrected. I'm sure you can get very close, but the a, o and u are pronounced differently, and the i is much shorter and not quite like the e in evil, although close.

You would be pronouncing it "correctly", but you'd have one hell of an American accent on it. As with everything, if you go by the rule that all the sounds in another language exist in English.

 

[Miburou]

One thing I noticed is that when Japanese speak, they don't move their lips as much as say English speakers would. This is most evident with the 'o' sound, where they don't round their lips, and they don't bring them closer together towards the end of the sound.

 

[Shrike_Priest]

^

Hence the fact that the Japanese O doesn't sound like the English one

 

[carbonbased]

My friend insists on calling Pikmin "Peak-min", even after I've corrected him multiple times. It's "Pick-min", dammit.

 

[dog$]

Nope, your friend's the right one.

Oh and just to open another wound:

FF8's Seifer -
Correct: Sigh-fer
Incorrect: See-fer

 

[Senretsu]

And that guy who said "gif" should be pronounced "jif" is just a douche, really.

Careful what you say, you just called the guy who created .gifs a douche!





(but I don't care what he says they are gifs (g as in great)) damnit! I will never pronounce them anyotherwaynomatterwhat.

 

[slayn]

Seifer- am I the only one who thought this was seh-fur?

you and I seem to agree on basically all definitions, including this one.

 

[Dujour]

I just relate it to keifer sutherland. K-eye fur. At first, I prounounced it Sayfer, but I evolved.

 

[carbonbased]

Nope, your friend's the right one.

Or not.

http://www.nintendo.com/gameminiav?gameid=m-Game-0000-1727 Watch the commercial, first link.

 

[MetatronM]

My friend insists on calling Pikmin "Peak-min", even after I've corrected him multiple times. It's "Pick-min", dammit.

You're both right. Pikmin is kind of flexible mainly because you will hear both pronunciations come from Nintendo, and it is not something that already has a preset pronunciation. It's also a title that seems to deliberately be neither Japanese sounding or English sounding, so you can kind of leave it somewhere in between the two.

Oh and just to open another wound:

FF8's Seifer -
Correct: Sigh-fer
Incorrect: See-fer

Is this really the official pronunciation? Cause I've been saying "sigh-fer" all along. Just sounded right.

 

[Sinatar]

Aquila as in "Battle Engine Aquila" is often pronounced Ack-wa-lay but its actually pronounced Ah-keel-ah.

 

[MetatronM]

Ok, here's a good one which shouldn't spark a Japanese vs. English pissing contest:

Lunar (the game series, obviously, not the English word)

Now, logic would dictate that it be pronunced normally, as the word lunar should (i.e. loon-er). However, in reference to the game, I often hear it pronounced as "Loon-ARR." What's the deal with this?

 

[cvxfreak]

Ok, here's a good one which shouldn't spark a Japanese vs. English pissing contest:

Lunar (the game series, obviously, not the English word)

Now, logic would dictate that it be pronunced normally, as the word lunar should (i.e. loon-er). However, in reference to the game, I often hear it pronounced as "Loon-ARR." What's the deal with this?

People actually say "LOO-NAR"? Weird.

 

[MetatronM]

People actually say "LOO-NAR"? Weird.

Yeah. Just check out the Making of video with Lunar:SSSC (or maybe it was Eternal Blue...one or the other). Everybody on the team says "Loon-ARR."

 

[XS+]

Ok, here's a good one which shouldn't spark a Japanese vs. English pissing contest:

Lunar (the game series, obviously, not the English word)

Now, logic would dictate that it be pronunced normally, as the word lunar should (i.e. loon-er). However, in reference to the game, I often hear it pronounced as "Loon-ARR." What's the deal with this?

It sounds cooler, and it rhymes with the original game's subtitle (The Silver Star)

 

[BugCatcher]

I've got a question. How do you pronounce Cait Sith's name? I've always said "kayt sith", but in the V Jump scan in this thread it is written as ケット･シー. What do I say?

 

[Miburou]

It's probably something like "Ket See".

 

[BugCatcher]

Ok, here's a good one which shouldn't spark a Japanese vs. English pissing contest:

Lunar (the game series, obviously, not the English word)

Now, logic would dictate that it be pronunced normally, as the word lunar should (i.e. loon-er). However, in reference to the game, I often hear it pronounced as "Loon-ARR." What's the deal with this?

I assume the pronounciation was deliberately changed from its standard English pronounciation to avoid confusion or akwardness between lunar (a common noun) and Lunar (a proper noun in the context of the game). The Japanese penchant for appropriating foreign words as names can be a real pain when localizing them back into their original language. It's interesting to note that sometimes, it's easier to avoid this confusion and akwardness by allowing foreign nouns retain their Japanese pronounciation, rather than inventing a new one. Look at El Hazard, for example. Ignoring the multilingual hodgepodge of words that make up this title, the American localization pronounced Hazard as "ha-ZARD", from the Japanese ハザード. As ハザード just means hazard (eg. バイオ・ハザー&#12489, it would have been more accurate for the name to have been pronounced "el HA-zerd", as it seems to be an English loanword.* But saying "el ha-ZARD" distinguishes it as a proper noun, and its unique pronounciation to English speakers makes it sound like a plausible name for a foreign land, while "el HA-serd" sounds silly and unimaginative.


*I did try to find this word in other languages, because I can't say with absolute certainty that it was derived from English. However, the closest I could find was the French hasard, and I don't know how that is pronounced.

It's probably something like "Ket See".

Well, this is why I am confused. I don't know if Cait Sith is the creative romanization of "ketto shii", or if ケット・シー is the Japanese spelling of foreign words "cait" and "sith". Because a great many names in the Final Fantasy series are taken from mythology (and a host of other sources, I presume), I don't think it's unreasonable to wonder if the name has foreign roots. If it does, then there must be a more accurate pronounciation than "ketto shii" (or even "ket see") in English. Unless, of course, "Ket See" is the more accurate pronounciation.

 

[Jonnyboy117]

Even up to my first E3, I thought "Miyamoto" was pronounced "MY-a-mo-toh". Of course, then I heard tons of people say his name correctly and ended up meeting him in person. (The correct way is "Me-ya-mo-toh".)

I know "Ryu" is one syllable, but damn that's hard to say.

When I say "Enix" in my head, I still say "Eee-nix" even though I know the right way. Just sounds cooler, and that's how I've been saying it since Dragon Warrior came out.

 

[Jonnyboy117]

"Mother of mercy, I don't speak Japanese!!!!"
*Farley's groin is then zapped with jumper cables*

I always wondered how mangled Myers' Japanese was.

I don't speak Japanese, but I've been around tons of people who do, so I have a good feel for what it sounds like. I think Myers did a pretty good job. Same with the two girls in SNL's "Rabun to Shuri", the Japanese version of Laverne and Shirley.

 

[Miburou]

Well, this is why I am confused. I don't know if Cait Sith is the creative romanization of "ketto shii", or if ケット・シー is the Japanese spelling of foreign words "cait" and "sith". Because a great many names in the Final Fantasy series are taken from mythology (and a host of other sources, I presume), I don't think it's unreasonable to wonder if the name has foreign roots. If it does, then there must be a more accurate pronounciation than "ketto shii" (or even "ket see") in English. Unless, of course, "Ket See" is the more accurate pronounciation.

Yeah, I see your point. And even if the word has foreign roots, there's no guarantee that ケット・シー is the most accurate way to write it. For example, you'd think Spiderman would be written as スパーイダマン, but it's actually written スパイダーマン, which is supposedly easier for the Japanese to say, even if it's less faithful to the original word.

 

[BugCatcher]

How do you pronounce Cait Sith's name?

So nobody knows the answer to this? I didn't mean to stump the forum and kill the thread. I don't want to be that guy! Don't let me be that guy

 

[MetatronM]

I've got a question. How do you pronounce Cait Sith's name? I've always said "kayt sith", but in the V Jump scan in this thread it is written as ケット･シー. What do I say?

Hmm...tricky. I think "kayt sith" would be acceptable. It's probably a situation where they just don't really have a good way of writing it in katakana.

 

[radios shipping overview]

"Cait Sith" is Gaelic, and from what I gather, the pronunciation is pretty close to "ket shee".

 

[BugCatcher]

Cool. That was exactly what I wanted to know, thanks!

 

[MetatronM]

"Cait Sith" is Gaelic, and from what I gather, the pronunciation is pretty close to "ket shee".

Fair enough then. I did not know that.