The Son Family Speech patterns...

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ulisa
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The Son Family Speech patterns...

Post by ulisa » Tue Apr 03, 2018 2:27 pm

So as I’m reexploring the Japanese version a bit, I have found this question popping up. I’m sure a similar question may have been raised before but I’m inquiring again.

Naturally, ChiChi has a pretty distinct accent and Goku to some extent as well. Gohan and Goten speak pretty formally which I always contributed to ChiChi emphasizing proper speech in their studies. Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me if they slip into an accent when they’re relaxed as I can’t imagine living with two people with such strong speaking patterns and not picking up any of it. That’s just head canon though.

My question boils down to: Is there a stigma over that country accent and that’s why ChiChi doesn’t want her sons to have it? I’m not sure if that’s a more Asian thing or not...when I was growing up, having an accent was considered a neat little trait and actually made you quite popular, no matter what accent it was.
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Re: The Son Family Speech patterns...

Post by Koitsukai » Tue Apr 03, 2018 2:37 pm

well, to be fair, Gohan should've picked up Piccolo's speech pattern

Now seriously, japanese language has formal and informal (and at times it can be disrespectul if directed to the elderly) speech, the latter is Goku's which is only noticeable in the original version, haven't watched the english dub but in the various spanish versions you can't tell just how informal and disrespectul he can be and many jokes are lost. I wouldn't call it an accent though, it is more like an illiterate trait. It's been a while since a watched the Rocky movies but Rocky was like a donkey speaking english, something like that would be Goku's speech.

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Re: The Son Family Speech patterns...

Post by Doctor. » Tue Apr 03, 2018 3:45 pm

As far as I know, Chi-Chi and Goku speak like hicks. So the Japanese equivalent of rednecks. I'd imagine there's a stigma surrounding their accent in Japan just like in the US in regards to the southern accent.

I don't know where you're from, but more rural accents generally being associated with being uneducated and unintelligent is very common. United States aside, here in Portugal, people from the North or the archipelagos are mocked for their accent, different from the standard Lisbon one; in Germany, the standard German taught in schools originated in the South, historically a more prosperous region, and the dialect from the North is literally called "Low German".
Last edited by Doctor. on Tue Apr 03, 2018 3:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: The Son Family Speech patterns...

Post by Kamiccolo9 » Tue Apr 03, 2018 3:52 pm

Koitsukai wrote:well, to be fair, Gohan should've picked up Piccolo's speech pattern

Now seriously, japanese language has formal and informal (and at times it can be disrespectul if directed to the elderly) speech, the latter is Goku's which is only noticeable in the original version, haven't watched the english dub but in the various spanish versions you can't tell just how informal and disrespectul he can be and many jokes are lost. I wouldn't call it an accent though, it is more like an illiterate trait. It's been a while since a watched the Rocky movies but Rocky was like a donkey speaking english, something like that would be Goku's speech.
Goku's speech is not just informal, there's a noticeable accent to it. One particularly noticeable thing is when using the honorific "san," Goku leaves off the "n." So, "Piccolo-Sa." Stuff like that.

Herms has addressed this quite a few times in some of his guides, if I'm not mistaken.
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Re: The Son Family Speech patterns...

Post by Doctor. » Tue Apr 03, 2018 4:00 pm

Kamiccolo9 wrote:
Koitsukai wrote:well, to be fair, Gohan should've picked up Piccolo's speech pattern

Now seriously, japanese language has formal and informal (and at times it can be disrespectul if directed to the elderly) speech, the latter is Goku's which is only noticeable in the original version, haven't watched the english dub but in the various spanish versions you can't tell just how informal and disrespectul he can be and many jokes are lost. I wouldn't call it an accent though, it is more like an illiterate trait. It's been a while since a watched the Rocky movies but Rocky was like a donkey speaking english, something like that would be Goku's speech.
Goku's speech is not just informal, there's a noticeable accent to it. One particularly noticeable thing is when using the honorific "san," Goku leaves off the "n." So, "Piccolo-Sa." Stuff like that.

Herms has addressed this quite a few times in some of his guides, if I'm not mistaken.
That's just Chi-Chi. Goku does actually pronounce the n. I don't know if the two speak different dialects or if one is just a variation of the other, but it's worth noting this difference at least.

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Re: The Son Family Speech patterns...

Post by Chuquita » Tue Apr 03, 2018 4:05 pm

The one big thing I think that sets Goku's accent apart from Chi-Chi's (aside from her "n'da"s and as mentioned her Goku-sa's) is Goku's habit of substituting other vowels for e's. Like, that strong guy is sugoi sugee. Or the jubai jubei kamehameha.

I recall someone talking about the differences between their accents, but it was a long while ago.
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Re: The Son Family Speech patterns...

Post by Doctor. » Tue Apr 03, 2018 4:16 pm

Chuquita wrote:The one big thing I think that sets Goku's accent apart from Chi-Chi's (aside from her "n'da"s and as mentioned her Goku-sa's) is Goku's habit of substituting other vowels for e's. Like, that strong guy is sugoi sugee. Or the jubai jubei kamehameha.

I recall someone talking about the differences between their accents, but it was a long while ago.
Actually, I think Chi-Chi does that too. I'm no Japanese expert, but here, she changes the standard 'zettai' for 'zettee'? I'm not actually sure that's what she says, since I can't seem to find any results for the word on Google, but she does pronounce what should be 'zettai' differently.

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Re: The Son Family Speech patterns...

Post by Koitsukai » Tue Apr 03, 2018 5:10 pm

Sure, everybody has an accent, but Goku speaks in an impolite, rural way. He grew up in the mountains, his grampa, his wife, his father-in-law and his kids are rural people so he probably has a rural accent aswell, but what sets him apart from them is how naively impolite he is. Masako Nozawa tends to change words to make him even more like a hick, so I guess he has an accent of his own. I don't think there is a town in Japan where they all speak just like Goku, probably there are towns where they speak like his family though.

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Re: The Son Family Speech patterns...

Post by ulisa » Tue Apr 03, 2018 10:47 pm

Doctor. wrote:As far as I know, Chi-Chi and Goku speak like hicks. So the Japanese equivalent of rednecks. I'd imagine there's a stigma surrounding their accent in Japan just like in the US in regards to the southern accent.

I don't know where you're from, but more rural accents generally being associated with being uneducated and unintelligent is very common. United States aside, here in Portugal, people from the North or the archipelagos are mocked for their accent, different from the standard Lisbon one; in Germany, the standard German taught in schools originated in the South, historically a more prosperous region, and the dialect from the North is literally called "Low German".
That was my best guess at it but I wasn’t sure. I grew up in the South where everyone had some kind of accent, most of it being Southern/Texan. I suspect I might have felt a stigma if I hadn’t been in the majority.

Goku and ChiChi’s way of talking has always been fascinating to me. Accents in general are intriguing to me. I don’t think there’s a real equivalent to their tone in English, aside from the “hick” stereotype. While I understand why the English dub opted not to give them an English equivalent accent (though I did hear they debated a Texan style accent before opting against it; not sure how true that is) something is a little lost there in the translation without it.
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Re: The Son Family Speech patterns...

Post by Doctor. » Wed Apr 04, 2018 12:27 am

ulisa wrote:
Doctor. wrote:As far as I know, Chi-Chi and Goku speak like hicks. So the Japanese equivalent of rednecks. I'd imagine there's a stigma surrounding their accent in Japan just like in the US in regards to the southern accent.

I don't know where you're from, but more rural accents generally being associated with being uneducated and unintelligent is very common. United States aside, here in Portugal, people from the North or the archipelagos are mocked for their accent, different from the standard Lisbon one; in Germany, the standard German taught in schools originated in the South, historically a more prosperous region, and the dialect from the North is literally called "Low German".
That was my best guess at it but I wasn’t sure. I grew up in the South where everyone had some kind of accent, most of it being Southern/Texan. I suspect I might have felt a stigma if I hadn’t been in the majority.

Goku and ChiChi’s way of talking has always been fascinating to me. Accents in general are intriguing to me. I don’t think there’s a real equivalent to their tone in English, aside from the “hick” stereotype. While I understand why the English dub opted not to give them an English equivalent accent (though I did hear they debated a Texan style accent before opting against it; not sure how true that is) something is a little lost there in the translation without it.
It's worth noting that they don't speak merely in a different accent, but they speak an entirely different dialect to begin with. Accents change the way words are pronounced, dialects change not only in pronounciation, but in grammar, vocabulary and spelling too. Specifically, they both seem to speak, I think, either the Tōhoku dialect or the Ibaraki dialect, though I guess they both speak some kind of sub-dialect individually, in order to account for the idiosyncracies in their speech. You'd better ask Herms, I'm just spitballing here :P

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Re: The Son Family Speech patterns...

Post by MyVisionity » Wed Apr 04, 2018 2:57 am

Here's a couple older threads that discuss this subject:

viewtopic.php?t=19380

viewtopic.php?t=25188

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Re: The Son Family Speech patterns...

Post by ulisa » Wed Apr 04, 2018 10:53 am

MyVisionity wrote:Here's a couple older threads that discuss this subject:

viewtopic.php?t=19380

viewtopic.php?t=25188
Thank you! I had a feeling that this had likely come up before but seeing it had been a while, I didn’t want I revive old dead threads. Lots of good info in these!
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Re: The Son Family Speech patterns...

Post by DBZAOTA482 » Tue Apr 10, 2018 11:58 am

What do you think Yajirobe's accent is? He speaks somewhat similar to Goku, Chi-Chi, and Gyumao.
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