Why don't people want to stick to their own language?

Mroni · Post by **Mroni** » Sat Aug 10, 2002 4:57 pm

Asuka is certifiably not a German name!!!!! Langley is hence why she is part german part japanese.

WillWorkForTrigun · Post by **WillWorkForTrigun** » Sat Aug 10, 2002 5:10 pm

i'm not sure about the evangelion pronounciation..

i don't know much about the show, but i watched the death and rebirth movie recently and in the movie they pronounce it e-vahn-ghel-EE-on...
not e-vanh-jell-EE-on..
but i'm not sure because:

1. that was the english dub (dunno if that matters

)
and
2. the word evangelism/evangelist/etc, is prounounce with the jell sound.

TekkaRepliroid Zero · Post by **TekkaRepliroid Zero** » Sat Aug 10, 2002 5:33 pm

a d sound before an r?! HTF do you figure that? I mean, yes, "ryo" or "ryu" or "kyo" etc., are indeed one syllable and not 2, as the mispronounciations I know of are lie "rye-oo" and "ree-oh-koh".

As for Eva, I use a soft g if I'm speaking, hard g if I'm speaking japanese. I try to keep some consistency usually. Having studied japanese, and planning to finally continue my studies in september (level 4 is available, finally), I switch between the languages all the time (but I know what I'm doing when I do it, unlike some otaku out there who do indeed come across as morons at the end of the day).

I like to stick to the japanese pronounciations if I know somethings lost in the translation, Mahoutsukaitai is a good example, there are 2 ways to translate that, so I would never use the english. Ayashi no Ceres's english title isn't a good translation either IMO... although I prefer to pronounce CeLes, I'm sorta giving into the CeRes, even though there's no difference in Japanese. Celes is an actual (I think it is french) name. Let's not get into completely changed titles like Night Hunters - BLAH. I don't care if you were forced to change the title or not, that's crap. An 8 year-old picked that one.

I like a quote from the arch-mage on GargoyleS - "If you don't know, don't guess!". When it comes to pronounciation of a title, the real japanese title I mean, not a changed english one, if you don't know, ask someone that you're sure does know :P .

Flint the Dwarf · Post by **Flint the Dwarf** » Sat Aug 10, 2002 11:25 pm

Have you ever heard that one song where that one phrase keeps repeating, "I think I'm turning Japanese I think I'm turning Japanese I really think so"? Well, being American I'd kinda prefer to stay that way and not turn Japanese despite that it may be tempting at times

. So maybe my initial reaction to these words were to vainly try pronouncing them in an English form. It didn't really work. I had always pronounced Akira A-kee-rah (emphasis on the 'kee' and flat 'A'), and in the movie they pronounced it A-kee-rah (emphasis on the 'A' and the other two syllables were almost non-existant... and they seemed to throw in an 'l' in there somewhere). It took me about an hour and a half to figure out they were indeed saying "Akira". So... from then on I had tried to pronounce them the Japanese way. This didn't work out well either. So I've decided never to pronounce their names except in my head! Take that!

CaTaClYsM · Post by **CaTaClYsM** » Sat Aug 10, 2002 11:42 pm

Being japanees is like a frog on a stick being slowly roasted.

alternatefutures · Post by **alternatefutures** » Sat Aug 10, 2002 11:48 pm

If I remember correctly, "Ah! My Goddess!" was NOT meant to be a parody of "Oh my God!", but rather the writer found it to be a happy coincidence and so, when the series was released in the US, the JAPANESE STUDIO choose to alter the name to "Oh! My Goddess". For the movie the JAPANESE STUDIO chose to keep the original title. So, you're still kind of correct Milo. Purists should use the English title 90% of the time because it's what the Japanese studio wants. And every purist wants to be in step with the Japanese studio... for some strange reason...

UncleMilo · Post by **UncleMilo** » Sun Aug 11, 2002 2:09 am

OK... I can't speak with absolute knowledge here, but I did base my post on the footnotes that came with the old VHS release of Oh! My Goddess from AnimEigo... they were the ones who said that the title was supposed to be a whimsical turn on the phrase "Oh! My God!"

They also included how the names of the 3 Norse Goddesses of Fate are the basis for the three Goddesses in the title (while Belldandy's name was the one that took a big hit, because I believe the Norse Goddesses was something like Vertendi... or something like that... I'd have to get the notes)

Both AnimEigo and Dark Horse released this title as Oh! My Goddess... but many items of merchandise from Japan that used English spelled it Ah! My Goddess...

AnimEigo went to great lengths explaining why "Oh! My Goddess" would be the more appropriate English translation of the title.

The movie was released by another company and THAT company stuck with the Japanese interpretation of English, giving us "Ah! My Goddess" for the movie title...

-Uncle Milo

UncleMilo · Post by **UncleMilo** » Sun Aug 11, 2002 2:34 am

I understand some things.

For instance... I know that Akira, when spoken in Japanese has the accent on the A... AH - keera

but since most people say it here as a-KEER-ah, I know I'm just better off saying it that way...

However, I did hate back when Streamline did the dub and had it pronounced: Ah-keeeeeeeeeeer-ah.

They really over-killed the middle sylable.

A lot of people didn't want to say Kaneda's name correctly, since it sounds a lot like Canada... but it does sound that way....

As opposed to Ke-naaaaay-da...

I don't see anything wrong with people saying Magic User's Club, since that was the English name and it's easier to remember... but imagine if people said Maho User's Club...

I was more about people saying words from our own language correctly.

Like Evangelion. Someone said that it refers to the German word Evangelical... well that's true...

Look it up in an American Dictionary
Evangelical
Evangelist
Evangel

All of them have the g pronounced as "j" the soft j... people who think it sounds funny have to deal with the fact that funny or not, it is part of OUR LANGUAGE.

On another note... I hate to say this, but the song "I'm turnin' Japanese" is a song about masturbation. "Turning Japanese" was a slang term for masturbating. (On an odd side note, a friend of mine gathered up every song out there about masturbation and put all the songs on a single tape. It's a funny collection of songs.)

Oh... and trust me... just watch the JAPANESE version of Akira or Street Fighter and listend to how they say Ryu.

It's said with a quick "dy"... as if they were saying "you" with a very fast d on the front.... dYOU... as if the dY were one sound. It's one syllable.

A friend of mine who is a profesional translator has gotten on my case about that for a long time... and it took me a while to learn how to say it right.

I want people to say my name correctly and I think it is only courteous to do my best to say their names correctly as well.

-Uncle Milo

kthulhu · Post by **kthulhu** » Sun Aug 11, 2002 3:13 am

I have to tell people how to spell my last name, which sucks because it is a common, English type name (Hedges,for those who care.Yeah,hunt me down and taste lead if you want).

BigName · Post by **BigName** » Sun Aug 11, 2002 3:59 am

[quote="flint_the_dwarf"]Have you ever heard that one song where that one phrase keeps repeating, "I think I'm turning Japanese I think I'm turning Japanese I really think so"?

/snip
quote]

you do realize that THAT song is about masturbation and turning japanese in the song means that the face he makes as he's having an orgasm looks like he's turning japanese... put that in you pipe and smoke it...

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Why don't people want to stick to their own language?

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