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

[UncleMilo]

Just a pet peeve of mine.

For example... the English title for the series should be "Oh! My Goddess!"

The title was a parody of the English phrase "Oh! My God!" A phrase that is commonly used here in the US.

Now... the Japanese use "Ah!" in their language, much the way we use "Oh!" so in the Japanese, it starts with "Ah!"

However...some Americans insist on saying "Ah! My Goddess!"

Either say it in English or say it in Japanese... but don't use the Japanese "Ah!" and then follow it up with the English.

--------------------------

Evangelion:

Americans frequently hear words such as

Evangeline - a common name, more common in the south as far as I can tell.

Evangelist, Evangelical, Televangelist

and in all cases, the g is soft.

Now... the Japanese use g to represent a hard g... and so they say
Evangelion with a hard g... and that's acceptable for the Japanese...

but why must many out there use the Japanese pronounciation?

I mean... the Japanese say Christmas "present-o" and computer "disk-o" because most of their "letters" are consonant+vowel sounds... and so when they try to say English words, they often throw that "o" at the end to get the letters out... but I never hear anime fans talk about buying disk-os or present-os... and yet they want to use that hard g in a word that shouldn't have it.


------------------------

Ry...

In the opposite of what I am talking about... while some people are keen on wrecking our own language to make it sound the way the Japanese say it... they don't seem to care about the pronounciation of Japanese names.

Ry, as in Ryoko and Ryu, is pronounced with a very quick "d" sound.

To say Ryu, you say the word "you" as if there was a quick "d" in front of it ... like dyou.

Ryoko, if you listen closely, is pronounced dyoko... again with a very quick d.

and sometimes, U is ignored.

Sakura is pronounced Sak'ra just as Asuka is pronounced As'ka.

Anyway...
I was just frustrated and I wanted to rant a bit.

Thanks

-Uncle Milo

[UncleMilo]

Oh... just so you don't get the wrong idea... I used to mispronounce Ryu and Sakura all the time.

A friend of mine who is a professional translator got on my case all the time about it, until I forced myself to pronounce the names correctly.

...

I did always say Evangelion and Oh! correctly though...

and for anyone who says "well... they released the movie as "Ah! My Goddess"... I can tell you all about mistranslations that have been allowed in US releases that are great embarassments to the English language and to our culture as well...

For example - in "Ghost in the Shell" there is a moment where the Bible is quoted. In the subtitle script, the quote is there correctly, but in the dub, they changed it... THEY CHANGED A QUOTE FROM THE BIBLE!!

I'm not so much concerned that it was from The Bible... but I mean, it's a quote from a fairly known book and some voice director or some exec changed the line because they didn't know any better.


In one series, they decided to translate Templar into Religious Knight. I mean...come on...

Imagine if we just called Samurai something like Japanese Knights...

-Uncle Milo

[nailz]

because lets face it. Evanjellyon sounds stupid.

[BaHaRa]

I usually say shows exactly how the Romaji shows with the correct Japanese pronunciation, just without the accent.

[Anime Jedi]

Sakura is pronounced Sak'ra just as Asuka is pronounced As'ka.

I thought Asuka was pronounced like that because it was a German name.

I find it difficult to pronounce Sakura like that. I always thought one of these ways were the right way, like Sa kur ra or Sa koo ra. But then again, I'm awful with any other languages other than English & French.

[UncleMilo]

because lets face it. Evanjellyon sounds stupid.

Well... if you say so.

Some words can be forced to sound funny...
and some have become victim to changing culture...

I feel badly for the word queer. It was a cool word for old gothic, fantasy and horror novels... but now it has become an insulting slang for homosexuals... what a waste of a good word.

And what about flabergasted? That is a funny sounding word, but I love using it whenever I can!

Personally, I think saying a word correctly sounds better than saying it incorrectly... and sounding like a moron.

-Uncle Milo

[UncleMilo]

Sakura is pronounced Sak'ra just as Asuka is pronounced As'ka.

I thought Asuka was pronounced like that because it was a German name.

I find it difficult to pronounce Sakura like that. I always thought one of these ways were the right way, like Sa kur ra or Sa koo ra. But then again, I'm awful with any other languages other than English & French.

Actually, I have seen the name Asuka pop up in some other anime titles. I am fairly sure it's a Japanese name...

It took me a long time to say Sakura correctly as well...

and I'm horrible with French

[Chaos Angel]

Huh. I always pronounced it E-van-geh-lee-ahn myself. I've been saying it that way for awhile now, so E-van-jell-ee-ahn sounds strange to me.

But, and correct me if I'm wrong, because I probably am, but isn't Evangelion German for Evangelical? Someone (can't remember who) once told me that Neon Genesis Evangelion is German for New Evangelical Beginning. Or something like that.

In any event, I always pronounced it as E-van-egh-lee-ahn because that's how it is pronounced by the voice actors. Of course, I suppose technically, I should be saying it E-van-geh-ree-ahn if that is the case. But I never knew about the G thing.

As for Ryoko, Sakura, and Oh My Goddess, well, you can see that I use the Oh, not the Ah, and I've ever said Sa-kuu-ra or A-suu-ka. As for Ryoko, well, that's news to me as well.

[The HentaiMaster]

uncle milo ur right better sound funny that sound like a moron.
but in a world like ours i'd say "iff u can't beat them u might ass well join them"

I have to udmit that what ur saing is totaly right

[leathelanime]

Same reason why People wanna go out of there way calling Magic users club (US Name)...Maho tsuki Tai...