Mortal Kombat is also the franchise that spells everything with a K and used Shiva as inspiration for "Sheeva". I think you're looking too much into it.
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What Game/Character Name Mispronunciation irks you?
- Thread starter Kiro
- Start date
Mortal Kombat is also the franchise that spells everything with a K and used Shiva as inspiration for "Sheeva". I think you're looking too much into it.
If English were at all a phonetically consistent language, perhaps. ;)
Ree-You is wrong also. Ree-U is closer, but its still not quite right.
But I say Rye-You because for near a decade Capcom did nothing to correct it so whatever.
No, I was being serious. It seems like they just decided that after having mispronounced it for so long to just go with it, and since you brought up Sheeva, they decided to just keep going.
What do you mean? The game has been pronouncing it the same way since at least '94. And what is the difference between "You" and "U"? The actual Japanese pronunciation is neither "Ree-U" nor "Rye-You" anyway.
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Camus from Fire Emblem comes to mind. I've heard a lot of people incorrectly assume it's phonetic and not the French pronunciation.
This idea that Americans have never heard of the name Lara and so call her Laura just because it's a name that's a bit close to it is so stupid.
I'd never heard of the name 'Elon' before Elon Musk. I don't just call him Alan instead, do I?
I'd never heard of the name 'Elon' before Elon Musk. I don't just call him Alan instead, do I?
There are obviously lots of quirks in the English language, but Laura/Lara seems pretty consistent to me.
Yeah. Same logic would also justify pronouncing it "Clara" or "Liara" or anything else that is one letter off "Lara".
The U is sounding like you pronounce the letter, so like saying 'You' with no Y sound. So Ree-ou if you will. That is what most people think is correct. It's meant to sound more like 'Roo' but with with a 'y' sound like the letter 'e' is spoken somehow, but hell if I can pronounce it.
I'm just saying, it's right in the OP that it's about the pronunciation of names and not the name itself, but you wanted that hot take so you ignored it, I guess.
This, but just Japanese words in general. It's one of the reasons I can't listen to the English voices for SF. Everyone sounds so horrible saying Japanese words and usually mispronouncing them.
Lots of English names are pronounced the same despite having different spellings.
Shaun/Shawn/Sean
Ricky/Rickey
Louis/Lewis
Stephanie/Stefany
Sarah/Sara
Lynn/Linn
Brittney/Brittany
So, it makes sense that people would default "Lara" to "Laura", especially if they've mostly heard the latter their whole life. In fact, they may not even be aware of the ambiguity in the pronunciation at all (as there are undoubtedly Laras in the world that actually do pronounce their name as "Laura", but the same can't be said for the other way around).
Video games are not worth emotional distress. Aeris wouldn't be happy about it.
This is what bothers me the most in games without dual audio.
Like, I'm not usually anal about this, and there's something to be said about the flow of the lines being broken to correctly pronounce something in a different language, but I just can't get over how most people in the Persona universe can't say their own names.
I'm going through the Naruto Storm games now, and there was a cutscene I skipped in Storm 3 because I already played the game, but then I decided I did want to watch that moment again, so I went on youtube and ended up clicking a video that was in english, and holy shit. Each character was saying Madara in a different way, it was nuts. Aren't they listening to each other? Can't they at least agree on a way to say it?
It actually made me somewhat understand Atlus' angle in the whole "it was actually Atlus JP that asked us to say the names like this" debate around Persona 5. At least it's consistent.
OK, I get you now. I guess I've just been pronouncing it so long as "Ree-ou" anyway that I didn't draw a distinction. When you say "Ree-You" fast enough, it sounds the same to me anyway. I suppose if you say it slower, it might stress the Y too much.
My issue with the way others are pronouncing it, is that even if English speakers aren't pronouncing it the same as Japanese are, they are still not even pronouncing it similarly to what the game has been yelling at them for ages. Or any of the movies for that matter.
I've literally also not heard a single person pronounce Zangief with more than two syllables either.
i can't believe i missed this, but fucking thank you
Not video game specific, but I hear this constantly now during video game reviews or discussions (it's rather ubiquitous anymore outside of games as well). When did genre suddenly become "John-ruh"? It's rare for me to ever hear it pronounced correctly anymore. Similarly, I keep hearing aesthetics being pronounced as if the "H" is silent, but it's not.
In this day and age, those that frequent video game forums or watch videos should have an idea how to pronounce it, but be honest: how would your 10 - 16 year old self have pronounced this back in the early 90s if you weren't from Japan? It was a toss-up between "Whys" and "Yeez" for me. I think I learned how to pronounce it correctly in '98, but I totally understand why so many mispronounce it.
In this day and age, those that frequent video game forums or watch videos should have an idea how to pronounce it, but be honest: how would your 10 - 16 year old self have pronounced this back in the early 90s if you weren't from Japan? It was a toss-up between "Whys" and "Yeez" for me. I think I learned how to pronounce it correctly in '98, but I totally understand why so many mispronounce it.
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Serious question.
Would Caeda sound like Shiida? In spanish we pronounced it like /kaeda/ and didn't sound anything like /siida/.
This thread taught me that Cait Sith is not pronounced as "Cait Sith" but rather "Kett Shee". I never, ever would have figured that out.
I still hate the way "TEE-dus" sounds though. I'll use it but it feels so wrong.
Even worse is pronouncing "Snes" as "Snezzz". I don't know where that came from.
I still hate the way "TEE-dus" sounds though. I'll use it but it feels so wrong.
Even worse is pronouncing "Snes" as "Snezzz". I don't know where that came from.
They've said that their own employees pronounce it differently because both are correct. Yves has mentioned it as Oo-bee-soft but has also said You-bee-soft is right too, particularly if speaking English.
Gris is also Catalan for "gray" and pronounced similarly to the Spanish. I say this because the studio is based in Barcelona and it appears the artist gave an interview in Catalan and has his site in Catalan as well as Castellano.
Otherwise, Ys mispronunciation bugs me.
Most name pronunciations are kind of based on what language you speak (or even your region, since the only time I ever heard the May-rio thing was when I met someone from the East Coast of the US), so I'm more willing to give people a pass...
Otherwise, Ys mispronunciation bugs me.
Most name pronunciations are kind of based on what language you speak (or even your region, since the only time I ever heard the May-rio thing was when I met someone from the East Coast of the US), so I'm more willing to give people a pass...
It's not RYE-you
It's not REE-you
it's monosyballic. It's "you" with a very brief "r" sound in front of it. Imagine saying "sure you" quickly, then skip the "su" (and most of the "r").
It's not REE-you
it's monosyballic. It's "you" with a very brief "r" sound in front of it. Imagine saying "sure you" quickly, then skip the "su" (and most of the "r").
When I was young I called Tidus(FFX) "Tie-duhs" and Zidane(FF9) "Zai-dan."
I still prefer the old way I pronounced them compared to what they actually are...
I still prefer the old way I pronounced them compared to what they actually are...
Some people need to use some phonetic signalling or IPA in their examples, otherwise we can't know which pronunciation bothers you or people won't learn the correct pronunciation.
Are you saying you think this is incorrect?
I literally have a degree in linguistics, these threads fucking kill me every time. Watching people trying to write words "phonetically" is worse than the actual mispronunciations.
Also I majored in Japanese and could speak some Mandarin growing up (I grew up in my city's Chinatown), so basically all those words.
Also I majored in Japanese and could speak some Mandarin growing up (I grew up in my city's Chinatown), so basically all those words.
OP
OP
I think they pronounce it like Aw-ka-ree-na and not oh-ka-ree-na.
I say both personally.
The title character of Shenmue.
So many people say his name wrong. Some people say Shine-moo, some people say Shen-mooey.
His name is Shen-moo.
So many people say his name wrong. Some people say Shine-moo, some people say Shen-mooey.
His name is Shen-moo.
"ForTza" instead of "Forza".
To this day my friends and I can't understand why people pronounce it like that. At first we thought maybe it was a little quirk of Dan Greenwald's, but then other people inside Xbox pronounced it like, then game journalists. Is that an American thing or something?
To this day my friends and I can't understand why people pronounce it like that. At first we thought maybe it was a little quirk of Dan Greenwald's, but then other people inside Xbox pronounced it like, then game journalists. Is that an American thing or something?
This is wrong. It's pronounced RYE DEN, the way both the English and Japanese versions pronounce it.
In Japanese kanji, Raiden is 雷電, which means "thunderbolt". This is the reason why when Raiden laments "It even rained the day I was born" in MGS4, Solid Snake responds, "You were the lightning in that rain."
And on the title screen of Super Mario 64.
The way Martinet pronounces it there is akin to words like "carrycase", "barrier" or "lariat".
What in the world? Are you sure they just don't have a mouth full of Oreos when saying it?
