Is "Saiyan" the correct spelling?

[Kingdom Heartless]

I know it's pronounced "Saiyajin," but what is the correct way to spell it?

[Kaboom]

"Saiyan" is the most correct way of adapting it into English. "Saiya" is a play on the Japanese word "yasai," which means vegetables. "Jin" means race or people, along those lines. So "Saiya-jin" means "vegetable-people." In English, instead of keeping the odd-sounding Japanese structure for that sort of thing, it's translated to "Saiyan" instead.

[VegettoEX]

I know it's pronounced "Saiyajin," but what is the correct way to spell it?

Depends on what you mean by "correct".

The original Japanese writing is サイヤ人 (saiyajin). Adding in the hyphen is all based on preference ("Saiyajin" versus "Saiya-jin"). Personally, I use it consistently when it's denoting something like race (for example, I don't use "jin-zo-nin-gen", I use "jinzoningen").

Based on generally-accepted/typical romanization styles, either "Saiya-jin" or "Saiyajin" would be the "correct" way to spell it out (sa / i / ya / jin).

But then you get to "translating" the phrase. Technically, "Saiya-jin" doesn't make any sense in English (or Spanish, yet they still use it). The name of the actual race is "Saiya", with the kanji "jin" (meaning "person") denoting the relationship being the person/people of that race. If you wanted to "translate" it, you would do something very similar to how we say that "Americans" are from "America"... you might say they are "Saiyan" (or "Saiyans"), keeping in mind (as you said) that the correct pronunciation would sound more like "sigh" (as in, "I sigh when I'm bored!") than "say".

And quite frankly, "Saiyan" is the generally-accepted "spelling" of the race throughout the majority of the world... including Japan.





So why spell it "Saiya-jin"? Again, it's all based on personal preference, experience, knowledge, etc. There's no "right" way to go (although there's certainly a "right" way to pronounce it). Way back on episode seventy of our podcast we talked about "today's fans' viewpoints due to their relational [dis]placement, critical analysis of information sources, and respect". I'm pretty sure we covered why people might go one way or the other with regards to "Saiya-jin"... might want to check that one out.

[dragondyle]

I made this same topic a year or two back. I didn't get the cool pics though.

[Kendamu]

The original Japanese writing is イヤマ人 (saiyajin).

Just as a note, you mistyped the Japanese. Its サイヤ人. You wrote Iyamajin.

[Adamant]

And quite frankly, "Saiyan" is the generally-accepted "spelling" of the race throughout the majority of the world... including Japan.

Actually, I do believe the majority of the translations out there use "saiya-jin"

It's a Saiya-jinan space capsule!

...yeah.

[VegettoEX]

[quote="Kingdom Heartless"The original Japanese writing is イヤマ人 (saiyajin).

Just as a note, you mistyped the Japanese. Its サイヤ人. You wrote Iyamajin.

Holy craps, you're right. Fixed!

Actually, I do believe the majority of the translations out there use "saiya-jin"

Well, let's take a look:



But then there's:



That's Mexico (via FUNimation), Germany, Spain, and Italy, respectively, and are just a fraction of what's out there. Anyone got anything else? I'm rather intrigued, now.

We've got "Sayajin" to "Saiyajin" to "Saiyans" to "Sayan" to whatever.

[Kid Trunks]

The AB Group must be the only ones who use "Saiya". As in, DBZ Movie 4: "Super Saiya Son Goku".

[Timo]

The AB Group must be the only ones who use "Saiya". As in, DBZ Movie 4: "Super Saiya Son Goku".

As far as I know, there isn't "Saiyajin" or "Saiyan" in the French dub (<- In the dub! I don't know about the Manga or other products). Only "Space Warrior" or "Super Warrior". That also counts for most of the dubs which are based on the French dub (all European Spanish dubs, the Hungarian dub etc.).

[sangofe]

The AB Group must be the only ones who use "Saiya". As in, DBZ Movie 4: "Super Saiya Son Goku".

As far as I know, there isn't "Saiyajin" or "Saiyan" in the French dub (<- In the dub! I don't know about the Manga or other products). Only "Space Warrior" or "Super Warrior". That also counts for most of the dubs which are based on the French dub (all European Spanish dubs, the Hungarian dub etc.).

French DBZ dub mostly uses "Super warrior" or "Space warrior", but I've heard instances of "Saiyan". In DBGT it's consistently "Saiyan".

[Tatsunoboshi Horoko]

That hilarious Malaysian dub used "Saiya People," if that contributes to anything.

[The Time Traveller]

I remember fans spelling it as Saiya-Jin and saying "It's pronounced as Saiyan, just spelt differently.

[laserkid]

I have always written it as Saiyan, and for the longest time pronounced it wrong, it has taken me a long time to fix that, but I have at this point. However whenever I abbreviate Super Saiyan, I use "SSJ" denoting Super Saiya-Jin. I do this primarily to prevent confusion amongst non fans, who I talk to more then the fanbase these days, with other "SS" abbreviations (Germany Secret police, boats, ect).

Which one is right? Well as Mike has pointed out even the Japanese seem to use Saiyan, even well before Dragon Ball Z was even a twinkle in FUNimation's eye.



The amount of consitancy that Japan uses, and has LONG used, Saiyan as the english spelling of their Japanese Saiya-Jin, I think makes a point about what it is supposed to be.

Not that there's anything WRONG with writing/saying Saiya-jin, its the Japanese term, and I don't honestly see any major issues with using either form. However, there does appear to be a definite official english translation of the word.

[Adamant]

The German dub and manga translation uses "Saiya-jin", and it's the basis for at least the Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and I believe Finnish manga translation, so that makes 4/5 more counts of that spelling.

(also, they say "Saiya-jinan space capsule", which always makes me chuckle)

[sangofe]

The German dub and manga translation uses "Saiya-jin", and it's the basis for at least the Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and I believe Finnish manga translation, so that makes 4/5 more counts of that spelling.

(also, they say "Saiya-jinan space capsule", which always makes me chuckle)

I believe the "Collector's edition" of the French Dragonball manga I'm buying has "Saiya-jin" as well.

[Stan1992]

Here in Italy, usually it's "Sayan", but in the movies it's "Saiyan" !
Our Comic usually use "Saiyan" for his lines ...

Well, for italian language, a correct translation can be "Saiyanni" or "Saiyanesi" (Or without "Y", because the italian language don't have it !), but it's Sayan/Saiyan, i don't know about that I (Here, Great Saiyaman it's Great Sayaman) !

About the Japanese correct spelling, i think is "Saiya-Jin" ...


P.S.: I'm really bad in Japanese language (i don't know nothing about it), but i have a question, "Saiya" from Saiya-Jin can't be a word joke about the japanese term "Seiya" (warrior) ?

[Herms]

P.S.: I'm really bad in Japanese language (i don't know nothing about it), but i have a question, "Saiya" from Saiya-Jin can't be a word joke about the japanese term "Seiya" (warrior) ?

Toriyama confirmed in DragonBall Forever's name pun guide that "Saiya-jin" is a pun on the Japanese word for vegetable, yasai. I don't think "seiya" is a term for warrior in Japanese.

[xzero]

The Japanese usage of the spelling 'Saiyan' lends credence to its legitimacy and correctness, as does Steve Simmons' use of the same (which remained consistent throughout, even when initial errors caused by Funimation were corrected by him, eg. F-r-i-e-z-a as subbed on the initial Ginyu DVDs was changed to Freeza).

The abbreviation, however, seems more universally accepted as SSJ. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe some of the games use that abbreviation instead of spelling out Super Saiyan. Further, though I know it isn't canon in the traditional sense, Bruce Faulconer used SSJ frequently in his track names on the 9 domestic CDs he released right from the start.

In sum, Saiya, I believe, refers to the race as a whole (as Mike noted), and Saiyajin or Saiya-jin refers to an individuals or group thereof within that whole. Saiyan is an appropriate Romanization of the terminology from my perspective.

Quick question for anyone who knows: did the SSJ thing start as a fan abbreviation that got adopted as canon (kind of like 'Mystic Gohan'), or was it used in the original Japanese text of the manga in some capacity?

[Herms]

In sum, Saiya, I believe, refers to the race as a whole (as Mike noted), and Saiyajin or Saiya-jin refers to an individuals or group thereof within that whole. Saiyan is an appropriate Romanization of the terminology from my perspective.

"Saiya-jin" is actually used in the Japanese to refer to both the race as a whole and individual members of it.

Quick question for anyone who knows: did the SSJ thing start as a fan abbreviation that got adopted as canon (kind of like 'Mystic Gohan'), or was it used in the original Japanese text of the manga in some capacity?

"SSJ" started in English fandom. In the Japanese text, it's always written as 超サイヤ人 (with furigana indicating that 超 should be pronounced as the English word "super".

[SSj_Rambo]

"SSJ" started in English fandom. In the Japanese text, it's always written as 超サイヤ人 (with furigana indicating that 超 should be pronounced as the English word "super".

So in Japan is there any commonly used abbreviation for Super Saiya-jin? Because I know that they abbreviate a lot of other titles and something as long and as detailed to write out as "Super Saiya-jin" seems like something they would abbreviate.