What is the problem with the spelling 'Gokou'?

[Iberian_Saiyan]

Can someone enlighten me please?

Thanks.

[LuckyCat]

Because then his name would have been written ごこう. "Kou" doesn't express a "coo" sound in English.

[VegettoEX]

Not a whole lot. We do have long "o"-sound spellings with "ou" (like "you") in our language.

I adopted it for a while in my earliest "whatever FUNimation uses is wrong!" days. I think my circle of spellings has actually gone: Goku -> Gokou -> Gokuu -> Goku.

It's literally one of the only spellings with our alphabet that Japanese merchandise has consistently used since day one. If anything, I'll give them that.

When it comes to romanizations and transliterations for the names of characters in Dragon Ball specifically, I just personally don't like anything that could potentially add ANY confusion about the pronunciation. It's one of the reasons I dislike the "ie" spelling for Freeza. It's superfluous; it adds nothing. I do like that it helps guide the emphasis/elongation on the proper syllable (as opposed to the typical American "GOku" pronunciation), but that's all I like about it.

[RedRibbonSoldier#42]

Because as said above, when transliterated into Hiragana, it becomes ごこう. This would be pronounced with a long /o/ as opposed to a long /u/. Gokuu would be right, but nothing in English has a "uu" spelling(AFAIK), so it looks weird.

[VegettoEX]

The ごこう transliteration point doesn't really hold any water though. We use spellings like "Tullece" and "Cabba" and such that wouldn't play the transliteration telephone game back to Japanese again precisely to their original kana spellings, and yet they're perfectly valid spelling adaptations.

"Gokou" and "Frieza" technically "work"; they're just pointless or dumb depending on what time of day you ask me and how much coffee I've had.

[RedRibbonSoldier#42]

I guess that's a good point with pun names like Cabba. But Goku isn't a pun , so it seems like the only thing that needs to be considered in the spelling is the pronunciation. And since adding the extra o messes up the pronunciation in both languages, why add it? (looks like we agree that Gokou is needlessly confusing)

[Chuquita]

The Gokou spelling has some nostalgia for me, but that's about it. I switched from Goku to Gokû a while back (with the exception of DA and Tumblr tags where I use both) because I wanted to write it in a way closer to how it's pronounced, but also wanted to do it in a way that was easier for me to get used to. That's why I picked Gokû over Gokuu. I'm also used to writing pokémon with an accent mark, so accent marks aren't an issue for me.

[RedRibbonSoldier#42]

The Gokou spelling has some nostalgia for me, but that's about it. I switched from Goku to Gokû a while back (with the exception of DA and Tumblr tags where I use both) because I wanted to write it in a way closer to how it's pronounced, but also wanted to do it in a way that was easier for me to get used to. That's why I picked Gokû over Gokuu. I'm also used to writing pokémon with an accent mark, so accent marks aren't an issue for me.

I don't understand the ^ over the "u" at all. It makes me think I'm supposed to change pitch like a Chinese tone.

[DemonRin]

The big problem I see with the "Gokou" spelling is that it potentially creates pronunciation issues for anyone reading it. There are several ways "ou" like that can be pronounced, "You" is right but "though" or "Dough" isn't, and I think that can cause some confusion with people not familiar.

It's the same problem with "Frieza". I remember seeing a video review for one of the Sparking Games (I think) where the reviewer called him "Frai-zah" with the "Frie" being pronounced like "Fry".

As few of those mistakes as possible is better.

[Chuquita]

The Gokou spelling has some nostalgia for me, but that's about it. I switched from Goku to Gokû a while back (with the exception of DA and Tumblr tags where I use both) because I wanted to write it in a way closer to how it's pronounced, but also wanted to do it in a way that was easier for me to get used to. That's why I picked Gokû over Gokuu. I'm also used to writing pokémon with an accent mark, so accent marks aren't an issue for me.

I don't understand the ^ over the "u" at all. It makes me think I'm supposed to change pitch like a Chinese tone.

It's different depending on the language. And sometimes you can use û in place of ū as far as I know. Either way, that's what I like use. I don't like to write it with one plain u much because there's supposed to be emphasis on the kuu part of his name.

[RedRibbonSoldier#42]

The Gokou spelling has some nostalgia for me, but that's about it. I switched from Goku to Gokû a while back (with the exception of DA and Tumblr tags where I use both) because I wanted to write it in a way closer to how it's pronounced, but also wanted to do it in a way that was easier for me to get used to. That's why I picked Gokû over Gokuu. I'm also used to writing pokémon with an accent mark, so accent marks aren't an issue for me.

I don't understand the ^ over the "u" at all. It makes me think I'm supposed to change pitch like a Chinese tone.

It's different depending on the language. And sometimes you can use û in place of ū as far as I know. Either way, that's what I like use. I don't like to write it with one plain u much because there's supposed to be emphasis on the kuu part of his name.

It's not that there's an emphasis on the "ku" part, it's that it's a long vowl. It's a flat pronunciation.

[Tyro]

I've been meaning to ask why Kanzenshuu uses the regular "Goku" over "Gokû" or "Gokū". Presumably the reason they don't use "Gokuu" is the same reason they don't translate "Majin" like they were talking about in this week's podcast; Doing so alienates your audience who aren't used to reading it that way even though it would be a more correct spelling. But "Gokû" and "Gokū" are so close to what most people use that I feel that they could get away with it.

[Haji]

The big problem I see with the "Gokou" spelling is that it potentially creates pronunciation issues for anyone reading it. There are several ways "ou" like that can be pronounced, "You" is right but "though" or "Dough" isn't, and I think that can cause some confusion with people not familiar.

It's the same problem with "Frieza". I remember seeing a video review for one of the Sparking Games (I think) where the reviewer called him "Frai-zah" with the "Frie" being pronounced like "Fry".

As few of those mistakes as possible is better.

If i never seen DBZ before and after learning a bit of Japanese, i would probably pronounced that name as "free-eh-za" if i only read the funimation spelling.

[Chuquita]

It's not that there's an emphasis on the "ku" part, it's that it's a long vowl. It's a flat pronunciation.

I didn't explain it the best, but yeah that's what I meant. I don't really have much more else to say on the topic. I spell it Gokû; I explained why earlier in the thread; that's it.

[TheGreatness25]

There's really nothing wrong with it. As long as the sound matches whatever it is in Japanese, I think it's okay. But why add the extra letter? "Ou" doesn't add any more to the sound than "u" does, which is why it's kind of redundant. For a name like "Piccolo," the double "c" makes sense if you break his name down into syllables (Pic-co-lo), but the "ou" doesn't do much for "Goku."

If you want it to have that long "u" sound at the end of his name, "Gokuu" would probably be more appropriate. But as long as it sounds like the original, then it can be spelled either way. "Goku," "Gokuu," "Gokou," "Gocu," "Gocuu," "Gocou." Who said it has to be a "k" and not a "c?" Or you can spell it the way Chuquita spells it, if the accent mark over the "u" isn't a pain for you. That is probably the most accurate-sounding spelling for Goku's name (at least based on the Japanese pronunciation).

But since the Japanese merchandise does use "Goku," apparently, then it's probably the closest to the "official" name as you can get.

[VegettoEX]

I've been meaning to ask why Kanzenshuu uses the regular "Goku" over "Gokû" or "Gokū". Presumably the reason they don't use "Gokuu" is the same reason they don't translate "Majin" like they were talking about in this week's podcast; Doing so alienates your audience who aren't used to reading it that way even though it would be a more correct spelling. But "Gokû" and "Gokū" are so close to what most people use that I feel that they could get away with it.

In general, we treat given character names (like "Mike" or "Goku") as spelling adaptations rather than romanizations (even in the cases where the exact romanization IS the spelling we go with, like "Kuririn"). This is as opposed to "real" "words" like Budōkai or Daimaō.

So yeah. Goku doesn't get a macron!

[Haji]

I have seen in a few games that spell Gokuu in hiragana. That is another name that if i never heard before i would say Goku as Gok.

[Duo]

"Gokou" and "Frieza" technically "work"; they're just pointless or dumb depending on what time of day you ask me and how much coffee I've had.

That gave me a good chuckle.

I just figured "Goku" was most preferable because it's simple and well within the world of accuracy. I think this is one of the few names/terms I've never considered altering my preference on.