SAY-IN - SPECIAL BEAM CAN-IN - SUN GOKU - DESTRUCTO DISK | Why does Dragon Ball STILL suffer with these shortcomings?

[Aim]

It comes from a Japanese root, so you can spell it however you like.

I guess as you said, Namekk or Namek works, maybe just Namek and have it pronounced properly.

See above. Except it kinda comes from a Chinese root, but it's the Japanese reading. There's actually a strong argument for rendering his name as Sun Wukong instead (which can be translated as "Aware-of-Vacuity", or "He Who Understands The Emptiness", but that kind of misses the "Sky" meaning in the Japanese, as I recall?... Though that's not particularly evident however you render it in English, really, and besides that, all of these are pretty weird, clunky names to give a person; imagine if Goku's name was He Who Understands The Emptiness... "You haven’t figured it out yet? I’m the Saiyan who came all the way from Earth for the sole purpose of beating you. I am the warrior you’ve heard of in legends, pure of heart and awakened by fury. That’s what I am. I am the Super Saiyan, Aware-of-Vacuity!" ), but provided we stick to the Japanese reading, there's no real better or worse spelling. Son Goku, Sonn Gokuu, Sohn Go'Kuu, Son Go-Ku, or anything else will work.

So to keep things simple, yet accurate would be to have it as just Son Goku then, just have the actors pronounce it correctly.

Similarly, I tend to say "Shen Long", which again comes from a Chinese root, but the dubs tend to adapt from the Japanese reading, which gives "Shenron". Arguably Shen Long should actually just be read as "The Dragon God" (since that's what Shen Long/Shenron means), or to borrow from Funi's early naming schemes, "The Eternal Dragon", but again, the subs use "Shen Long", and it's close to the dub, so if you say "Shen Long", you'll usually be understood.

But wouldn't having it read as "The Dragon God" be the same as literally translating Son Goku's name as that long Aware-of-Vacuity thing? I never understood why it's left as Shenron, isn't that like saying "Bejita", "Torankstu", etc? Shen Long is fine, isn't it?

lol. That would be a lot of fun, and to be honest, I've often entertained the fantasy of producing some kind of Dragon Ball fandub, or a set of custom subtitles that fixes commonly-cited translation errors, conforms the terminology to my preferences, etc., but realistically, it's just not feasible, and it would be hard work using free time I just don't have enough of. But who knows, maybe one day Funimation would hire me as a script adaptor for a new, revised English dub of DB+Z+GT.
(More likely, Funi would hire me for the role of getting punched in the face by Chris Sabat for all the unreasonable, immature, mean shit I've said about him and the rest of the Funi cast on this forum )

Understandable though, I am personally offended with how they have been treating our beloved show, particularity Chris Sabat since he's the one behind a lot of the changes, correct me if I'm wrong.

I just like digging into the meanings behind the names and ideas in one of my favourite shows, so I've come to know a lot about the intricacies of the names of characters and things in Dragon Ball.

That's what makes this fandom special

[MyVisionity]

But wouldn't having it read as "The Dragon God" be the same as literally translating Son Goku's name as that long Aware-of-Vacuity thing? I never understood why it's left as Shenron, isn't that like saying "Bejita", "Torankstu", etc? Shen Long is fine, isn't it?

It's left as "Shenron" probably because FUNimation wasn't particularly concerned with the language or accuracy or anything like that, but simply needed some kind of name for the dragon (I think it was the Cell Saga when that name was first used?). "Shenron" comes from shenron which is the Japanese approximation of the Chinese 神龍/shénlóng/Shenlong/Shen Long ("god dragon", "divine dragon" etc.), read as shinryuu in Japanese.

I don't know if you are aware but there is an old thread with a guide to names in the series found here that might help with some of your questions. There is also an index to techniques and attacks found here.

[Aim]

But wouldn't having it read as "The Dragon God" be the same as literally translating Son Goku's name as that long Aware-of-Vacuity thing? I never understood why it's left as Shenron, isn't that like saying "Bejita", "Torankstu", etc? Shen Long is fine, isn't it?

It's left as "Shenron" probably because FUNimation wasn't particularly concerned with the language or accuracy or anything like that, but simply needed some kind of name for the dragon (I think it was the Cell Saga when that name was first used?). "Shenron" comes from shenron which is the Japanese approximation of the Chinese 神龍/shénlóng/Shenlong/Shen Long ("god dragon", "divine dragon" etc.), read as shinryuu in Japanese.

I don't know if you are aware but there is an old thread with a guide to names in the series found here that might help with some of your questions. There is also an index to techniques and attacks found here.

Is it the same as using names like "Bejita" and so fourth? If so, I still feel it's illogical to use.

[jjgp1112]

But wouldn't having it read as "The Dragon God" be the same as literally translating Son Goku's name as that long Aware-of-Vacuity thing? I never understood why it's left as Shenron, isn't that like saying "Bejita", "Torankstu", etc? Shen Long is fine, isn't it?

It's left as "Shenron" probably because FUNimation wasn't particularly concerned with the language or accuracy or anything like that, but simply needed some kind of name for the dragon (I think it was the Cell Saga when that name was first used?). "Shenron" comes from shenron which is the Japanese approximation of the Chinese 神龍/shénlóng/Shenlong/Shen Long ("god dragon", "divine dragon" etc.), read as shinryuu in Japanese.

I don't know if you are aware but there is an old thread with a guide to names in the series found here that might help with some of your questions. There is also an index to techniques and attacks found here.

Is it the same as using names like "Bejita" and so fourth? If so, I still feel it's illogical to use.

Ehh, not exactly. However, it is inconsistent with their choices to use the accurate Chinese terminology over the Japanese approximations for Chiaotzu/Chaozu, Yama/Enma (though they mispelled it lol), Tien/Ten (ditto, including making it seem like a first/last name) and some others I'm probably forgetting.

[linkdude20002001]

First syllable is still emphasised as Scott says it (possibly they emphasise the second syllable in the dub itself, we don't know), but much like Kaioken, they actually use the correct sounds; "Nah" as in the English word "Nah", with an Ah sound as in "Ah yes," or "Car" without the C; the common mispronunciation that Funi introduced has the "Nah" more like the A sound in "Yam", "Ham", "Slam", etc. So, Funi's is almost like it's 'Nammeck, whereas the correct pronunciation is kinda like Narmeck.
If you wanted the second syllable emphasis to be clear in its spelling, probably Na'Mek is the one to go for.

Jinzoningen literally means "Artificial humanoids", and can refer to androids, cyborgs, robots, but also creatures like Cell or Baby, which we wouldn't refer to as androids or cyborgs.
This is how translation usually works; there's a term or two that doesn't cleanly go into English 100% of the time, so you choose an equivalent that works well enough. Android isn't a literal translation of "Jinzoningen", but it's a close enough equivalent that works fairly naturally in the dialogue. Just avoid using it to refer to Cell ("I am one of Gero's [jinzoningen]" becomes "I am one of Gero's creations", for instance), and you're good.

On a sidenote, bit of a nitpick -- "Gokuh" is a terrible romanisation of his name; it implies more of an "uhhh" like someone's forgotten the next word they were going to say, or a short U as in "Fuss". "Gokuu" is arguably the clearest, but "Goku" is usually preferred (though perhaps "Gokuu" would have led people to emphasise the second syllable, as it should be -- "go-KUU", rather than the American-style "GO-ku").

Yeah.
In fairness, "Instantaneous movement", "Instant transmission", or the Ocean dub's "Instant translocation" all sound far more martial arts-y.
But yeah, "Teleportation" would probably make more sense, and be more straightforward. I guess all the weird names for it come from the flaws inherent to our main translations (Funi's take too many liberties and arguably miss the point, Simmons' subs tend to be extremely literal, and the Westwood Ocean dub ultimately had to adhere to Funimation's scripts, so any terminology changes had to be pronunciation differences like Kaioken, or remain close enough to still fit the flaps).

Ah, misunderstanding. That's what I was trying to say. "Nah" as in "Ah, I see.", like McNeil says in the video, but with FUNimation's version being "Naah" as in "Aah! A spider!". Aah is not to be confused with "aah", tho, as in "Ahh, this hotspring feels good...". Thanks, English, for being so difficult. Lol.
I feel like "Namekk" would work best. The two Ks pull the emphasis to the second syllable, resulting in a pronunciation of "nuh-MEK", which is as close to the Japanese as you can get with keeping it a single word. "Na Mek" would be more accurate to the Japanese pronunciation, but when we leave it as a single word, the unstresst syllables will end up with our unstresst vowel: "uh". But oh well. That's just how we English.

Agreed. You gotta be consistent with translations, but you also have to adapt situation by situation. Cell isn't a part of the Androids line, and probably doesn't have any robotic parts, so suddenly 人造人間 (jinōningen) has to be translated differently. And "artificial human" isn't much better, since he's also not meant to be a human. Haha. "Creation" is probably the best translation there, since that's the point of that line.

My argument for Toriyama in using "Gokuh" is that it's not meant to be his name "in English", but rather, his name "in the Latin alphabet". You see stuff like "maoh" and Yu-Gi-Oh! using that for O's, and it conveniently works in English, but "UH" doesn't, and neither does "DZI" like in "Godzilla". It's "Go-dzi-lla", with the DZ making a J-sound. These are all old styles of Latinization that were common in the 80s. But even still, UH manages to work out fine for Final Fantasy players with the eidolan Ramuh (ラムウ, Ramū). People pronounce it correctly even! But...I heard that Toriyama used "Goku" at some point too? Can't find it, and saw no source, but if he did, they I'm willing to use "Goku" again. Haha

Martial arts-y, yes, but the people he learnd it from weren't martial art-y, were they? I suppose I don't really recall...
Yeah, and I believe it was Daimao's first professional translation. Well, as professional as it could be with Funimation at the type. It was basically like doing fansubs from VHS tapes. Haha. And as for Tomato's subtitles for the original DB, also his first professional translation I believe. I know it would be VERY different if he re-translated it. But since none of that'll happen, I've been touching up the translations myself. I feel like it goes a long way in making it more enjoyable for some-one who's never read or seen the series.

Looking at it as a whole makes a lot more sense, so "Teleportation" is better than "Instantaneous Movement" and "Instant Transmission"? And Namek is "N(uh)(aw) - MEKK"? So the "N(uh)(aw)" is pronounced quickly to emphasize the "MEKK"?

Makankosappo...Demon Pierce Cannon? It doesn't sound very natural in Japanese, does it? So what would be the most accurate translation to English? After what you said about looking at the whole word, I started thinking my previous suggestion wasn't actually accurate in the grand scheme of things.
Maybe keeping it as Makankosappo is better?

Which is the most accurate though? If it's Gokuu, then I feel it should be. Son Gokuu.

Yes, exactly. They simply taught him "teleportation". And nuh-MEK, or naw-MEK if you prefer, is how you'd say Namekk (ナメック, Namekku) in English. I spell it with two Ks to force the emphasis on the second syllable. It'd be like if you took the English word level and wanted to make a new name based on it, but with the emphasis on the second syllable. You'd spell it levell, and then everyone would pronounce it as you intended.

Makakosappō is a difficult one to translate. His moves are MEANT to be complex and Japanese, where-as Gokuh's are silly Japanese, and Vegeta's are English. That doesn't mean you SHOULDN'T translate Makankosapō (and his other moves), but it does leave the door open for options.

Technically, 悟空 is...Gokū, Gokuu, Gokuh, Goku, Gokou, or Gokoo. Depending on the style of Latinization. The first two examples match Latin rules, the third tries to create new rules, the fourth ignores the long vowel, fifth and sixth use English rules (so does the second example). There's really no "correct" way, which is why this stuff gets argued. That and the fact that different companies and translators have used most of those examples all in official products. Most people outside Japan now use a style of Latinization that would result in the first example: Gokū. So, Son Gokū is probably the BEST choice... But the Dragon Ball series has never used ANY diacritics in English, as far as I'm aware. Which is fine. what matters most to ME is that the spelling makes sense, the author is okay with the spelling, and it's being pronounced correctly.

[Aim]

Jinzoningen literally means "Artificial humanoids", and can refer to androids, cyborgs, robots, but also creatures like Cell or Baby, which we wouldn't refer to as androids or cyborgs.
This is how translation usually works; there's a term or two that doesn't cleanly go into English 100% of the time, so you choose an equivalent that works well enough. Android isn't a literal translation of "Jinzoningen", but it's a close enough equivalent that works fairly naturally in the dialogue. Just avoid using it to refer to Cell ("I am one of Gero's [jinzoningen]" becomes "I am one of Gero's creations", for instance), and you're good.

On a sidenote, bit of a nitpick -- "Gokuh" is a terrible romanisation of his name; it implies more of an "uhhh" like someone's forgotten the next word they were going to say, or a short U as in "Fuss". "Gokuu" is arguably the clearest, but "Goku" is usually preferred (though perhaps "Gokuu" would have led people to emphasise the second syllable, as it should be -- "go-KUU", rather than the American-style "GO-ku").

Yeah.
In fairness, "Instantaneous movement", "Instant transmission", or the Ocean dub's "Instant translocation" all sound far more martial arts-y.
But yeah, "Teleportation" would probably make more sense, and be more straightforward. I guess all the weird names for it come from the flaws inherent to our main translations (Funi's take too many liberties and arguably miss the point, Simmons' subs tend to be extremely literal, and the Westwood Ocean dub ultimately had to adhere to Funimation's scripts, so any terminology changes had to be pronunciation differences like Kaioken, or remain close enough to still fit the flaps).

Could "Altered humans" or "Altered beings" be a substitute for Jinzoningen? With Goku, would it be prononced "Go(pronounced like the Japanese say "go") - Kuu"? That's how I usually say it, but I'm unsure.

Teleportation, Instantaneous movement, anything that most accurately portrays what Toriyama had down works for be to be honest, I do recall in this thread that someone said that Toriyama did put down something about "Android" or something.

Ah, misunderstanding. That's what I was trying to say. "Nah" as in "Ah, I see.", like McNeil says in the video, but with FUNimation's version being "Naah" as in "Aah! A spider!". Aah is not to be confused with "aah", tho, as in "Ahh, this hotspring feels good...". Thanks, English, for being so difficult. Lol.
I feel like "Namekk" would work best. The two Ks pull the emphasis to the second syllable, resulting in a pronunciation of "nuh-MEK", which is as close to the Japanese as you can get with keeping it a single word. "Na Mek" would be more accurate to the Japanese pronunciation, but when we leave it as a single word, the unstresst syllables will end up with our unstresst vowel: "uh". But oh well. That's just how we English.

Saying to myself to get the hang of it, so the "nah" would be pronounced a at the same speed as the old "na" in "namek" Funi dub, and "mek" would be emphasized a little longer?

Agreed. You gotta be consistent with translations, but you also have to adapt situation by situation. Cell isn't a part of the Androids line, and probably doesn't have any robotic parts, so suddenly 人造人間 (jinōningen) has to be translated differently. And "artificial human" isn't much better, since he's also not meant to be a human. Haha. "Creation" is probably the best translation there, since that's the point of that line.

Couldn't human be related to being like a creature? Seems like a hard translation, Ningen: Mortal? Human? Both? Context?

Martial arts-y, yes, but the people he learnd it from weren't martial art-y, were they? I suppose I don't really recall...
Yeah, and I believe it was Daimao's first professional translation. Well, as professional as it could be with Funimation at the type. It was basically like doing fansubs from VHS tapes. Haha. And as for Tomato's subtitles for the original DB, also his first professional translation I believe. I know it would be VERY different if he re-translated it. But since none of that'll happen, I've been touching up the translations myself. I feel like it goes a long way in making it more enjoyable for some-one who's never read or seen the series.

You do subs? Are you part of the Seed of Might Discord thing?

Yes, exactly. They simply taught him "teleportation". And nuh-MEK, or naw-MEK if you prefer, is how you'd say Namekk (ナメック, Namekku) in English. I spell it with two Ks to force the emphasis on the second syllable. It'd be like if you took the English word level and wanted to make a new name based on it, but with the emphasis on the second syllable. You'd spell it levell, and then everyone would pronounce it as you intended.

Makakosappō is a difficult one to translate. His moves are MEANT to be complex and Japanese, where-as Gokuh's are silly Japanese, and Vegeta's are English. That doesn't mean you SHOULDN'T translate Makankosapō (and his other moves), but it does leave the door open for options.

Technically, 悟空 is...Gokū, Gokuu, Gokuh, Goku, Gokou, or Gokoo. Depending on the style of Latinization. The first two examples match Latin rules, the third tries to create new rules, the fourth ignores the long vowel, fifth and sixth use English rules (so does the second example). There's really no "correct" way, which is why this stuff gets argued. That and the fact that different companies and translators have used most of those examples all in official products. Most people outside Japan now use a style of Latinization that would result in the first example: Gokū. So, Son Gokū is probably the BEST choice... But the Dragon Ball series has never used ANY diacritics in English, as far as I'm aware. Which is fine. what matters most to ME is that the spelling makes sense, the author is okay with the spelling, and it's being pronounced correctly.

If Vegeta's is in English, would it be "Garlick Gun"? Son Gokū does seem to be the best in my opinion.

With Makankosappō, if it's meant to be complex, then....Demon Piercing Light Kill Cannon? Devil Piercing Light Kill Cannon? Demon Piercing Light Death Cannon? Devil Piercing Light Murder Cannon?

There's "Devilman" from DB, so would that still be accurate? Isn't it emphasized that Piccolo is a Demon, not a Devil? Same thing?

[linkdude20002001]

Could "Altered humans" or "Altered beings" be a substitute for Jinzoningen?

With Goku, would it be prononced "Go(pronounced like the Japanese say "go") - Kuu"? That's how I usually say it, but I'm unsure.

Saying to myself to get the hang of it, so the "nah" would be pronounced a at the same speed as the old "na" in "namek" Funi dub, and "mek" would be emphasized a little longer?

Couldn't human be related to being like a creature? Seems like a hard translation, Ningen: Mortal? Human? Both? Context?

You do subs? Are you part of the Seed of Might Discord thing?

If Vegeta's is in English, would it be "Garlick Gun"? Son Gokū does seem to be the best in my opinion.

With Makankosappō, if it's meant to be complex, then....Demon Piercing Light Kill Cannon? Devil Piercing Light Kill Cannon? Demon Piercing Light Death Cannon? Devil Piercing Light Murder Cannon?

There's "Devilman" from DB, so would that still be accurate? Isn't it emphasized that Piccolo is a Demon, not a Devil? Same thing?

I wouldn't use "altered human", since that means they started out as normal humans: a cyborg". And most of them are 100% robotic.

Yes, that is exactly how they are saying "Gokū" in Japanese. Luckily, if the GO isn't emphasized, it ends up pretty much Japanese-sounding even from an English speaker...if they're lazy enough. Haha. Ironic.

Sorry if I was confusing. I meant that the A in "Namekk" is pronounced like the A in "bra", or anything similar-sounding and easy to say, like say...an UH sound. UH is how most English speakers would, but A as in "bra" is at least a "short" sound, so it's perfectly fine. ...Unlike when they awkwardly force full pronunciation of vowels whenever they say "Pokémon" in the English dub.

人間 (ningen) probably can be translated as mortal in some cases. I know it can range from being translated as "person" to "humankind​".

Nope. I don't even know what Seed of Might is. Haha. They're just stuff I do on my own. If I somehow ever finish, I suppose I'll probably upload the somewhere, but it's a long show... Might be a while. Haha.

No, since it's ギャリック砲 (Gyarikki Hō), not ガーリック砲 (Gārikku Hō). "Gar" is rendered in Japanese as ガー (gā). So is the "gir" in "girl" ( ガール / gāru), as apposed to "gal" which is rendered as ギャル (gyaru), as also apposed to "gall" (ガル / garu). As for ギャリック, Daimao chose to spell it "Gyallic" in his subtitles. ...And Funimation stupidly went with "Galick", with one L, so it looks to be pronounced like the word "Gaelic". They don't say it that way, but they still spell it that way. :/

Well, I'd say, for dubbing purposes, to somehow make it fit five or six syllables.

魔 (ma) means stuff like: evil, demon, demonic, devil, devilish, etc. "Devil" might make people mistake him as "the Devil" (Satan), since his other half is god of Earth, but I don't know if that's what Toriyama intended or not, so "demon" is a safer route to take.

[El Diabeetus]

For Makankosappo usually adapt it Demonic Piercing Death Cannon, for Gyarikku Ho, I usually go with Gyarlic Gun, where it’s still different but you can tell it came from the base word. Kaioh, the Galactic Overseer. Would call him the Galactic King but the character in Jaco/Super complicates that. Usually for the Kaioshin go with Supreme (Universal) Overseer.

Fer Goku, usually have ‘I'm speak somethin’ like:
‘Sup! I’m Son Goku! I ain’t th’ most smart guy ‘round. But’cha know what I’m ‘bout. Y’know what I mean?

If you were ever curious to hear what Schemmel’s performance would sound like with “Sigh-yan”:
https://youtu.be/QFD3kNkp5q0

[Aim]

I wouldn't use "altered human", since that means they started out as normal humans: a cyborg". And most of them are 100% robotic.

Yes, that is exactly how they are saying "Gokū" in Japanese. Luckily, if the GO isn't emphasized, it ends up pretty much Japanese-sounding even from an English speaker...if they're lazy enough. Haha. Ironic.

Sorry if I was confusing. I meant that the A in "Namekk" is pronounced like the A in "bra", or anything similar-sounding and easy to say, like say...an UH sound. UH is how most English speakers would, but A as in "bra" is at least a "short" sound, so it's perfectly fine. ...Unlike when they awkwardly force full pronunciation of vowels whenever they say "Pokémon" in the English dub.

人間 (ningen) probably can be translated as mortal in some cases. I know it can range from being translated as "person" to "humankind​".

Nope. I don't even know what Seed of Might is. Haha. They're just stuff I do on my own. If I somehow ever finish, I suppose I'll probably upload the somewhere, but it's a long show... Might be a while. Haha.

No, since it's ギャリック砲 (Gyarikki Hō), not ガーリック砲 (Gārikku Hō). "Gar" is rendered in Japanese as ガー (gā). So is the "gir" in "girl" ( ガール / gāru), as apposed to "gal" which is rendered as ギャル (gyaru), as also apposed to "gall" (ガル / garu). As for ギャリック, Daimao chose to spell it "Gyallic" in his subtitles. ...And Funimation stupidly went with "Galick", with one L, so it looks to be pronounced like the word "Gaelic". They don't say it that way, but they still spell it that way. :/

Well, I'd say, for dubbing purposes, to somehow make it fit five or six syllables.

魔 (ma) means stuff like: evil, demon, demonic, devil, devilish, etc. "Devil" might make people mistake him as "the Devil" (Satan), since his other half is god of Earth, but I don't know if that's what Toriyama intended or not, so "demon" is a safer route to take.

How would one say Vegeta's move then? Is it "Gyallic"? So "Gar-lick-Gun"? Sorry, I'm having trouble trying to figure this one out. What is the most accurate way to translate Vegeta's move?

For Makankosappo usually adapt it Demonic Piercing Death Cannon, for Gyarikku Ho, I usually go with Gyarlic Gun, where it’s still different but you can tell it came from the base word. Kaioh, the Galactic Overseer. Would call him the Galactic King but the character in Jaco/Super complicates that. Usually for the Kaioshin go with Supreme (Universal) Overseer.

Fer Goku, usually have ‘I'm speak somethin’ like:
‘Sup! I’m Son Goku! I ain’t th’ most smart guy ‘round. But’cha know what I’m ‘bout. Y’know what I mean?

If you were ever curious to hear what Schemmel’s performance would sound like with “Sigh-yan”:
https://youtu.be/QFD3kNkp5q0

I actually really liked that, but still, when I think of Goku I think of either Masako Nozawa or an English Masako Nozawa, which is weird, because I've never heard anyone who sounds like Masako Nozawa as far as I know. "Sigh-yan" just sounds so much better, and so alien as well.

[linkdude20002001]

For Makankosappo usually adapt it Demonic Piercing Death Cannon, for Gyarikku Ho, I usually go with Gyarlic Gun, where it’s still different but you can tell it came from the base word. Kaioh, the Galactic Overseer. Would call him the Galactic King but the character in Jaco/Super complicates that. Usually for the Kaioshin go with Supreme (Universal) Overseer.

Fer Goku, usually have ‘I'm speak somethin’ like:
‘Sup! I’m Son Goku! I ain’t th’ most smart guy ‘round. But’cha know what I’m ‘bout. Y’know what I mean?

I'd be concerned with those translations having too many more syllables than the Japanese names. Also "Kaioh Ken" would technically become "Galactic Overseer Technique", which might pose a problem. Haha.

For Goku's accent, I'd go more like...

"Heya! I'm Goku! I might not be smart or nu'n, but wouldn'cha know, I got a bunch o' good friends who'll make up for that. Annithin' I can't do, I'm shur they can."

More lazy than "Southern", since Chichi is the one with the strong "Southern" accent. So for Goku, lots of contractions (wouldn't've, couldn't've), ya or -cha for you, gotta and wanna, su'm and nu'n for something and nothing. The only bit of a specific accent I put in there is the very unique pronunciation of anything as annithin' that I heard from an actress from (I think) New Zealand. The "anni" is pronounced like in anniversary . I feel like it's about as unique as Goku's pronunciation of daikon as dēkon.

How would one say Vegeta's move then? Is it "Gyallic"? So "Gar-lick-Gun"? Sorry, I'm having trouble trying to figure this one out. What is the most accurate way to translate Vegeta's move?


"Sigh-yan" just sounds so much better, and so alien as well.

Almost any way, so long as there's no R in it. So no "Garlic" or "Gyarlic". There's nothing about the Japanese name that implies there should be an R.

Gallic, Gallik, Galliq, Gyallic, Gyallik, Gyalliq. All possible spellings. The only thing I think it might be based on is Gatling Gun (ガトリング砲 / Gatoringu Hō). The only thing garlic-y about ギャリック砲 (Gyarikki Hō) is リック (lic) at the end. MAYBE it's based on BOTH? If so, a spelling like Gallic would be the best option. Pronounced like the English words "gal" and "ick".


I agree. Saiyan being pronounced correctly isn't hard to do (or weird-sounding) like people claim. In Final Fantasy XIV, there's a group called "The Scions". If you're just listening, and not reading, it's literally "The Saiyans". "Scion" is actually a word in the English language, pronounced [ SAHY-ən ] just like "Saiyan" is, so it's not like it's "un-English".

[jjgp1112]

It's ironic that Cynthia Cranz voices Chi-Chi with a neutral middle American voice when in real life she has a super heavy southern accent that would perfectly fit a proper Chi-Chi

[El Diabeetus]

For Makankosappo usually adapt it Demonic Piercing Death Cannon, for Gyarikku Ho, I usually go with Gyarlic Gun, where it’s still different but you can tell it came from the base word. Kaioh, the Galactic Overseer. Would call him the Galactic King but the character in Jaco/Super complicates that. Usually for the Kaioshin go with Supreme (Universal) Overseer.

Fer Goku, usually have ‘I'm speak somethin’ like:
‘Sup! I’m Son Goku! I ain’t th’ most smart guy ‘round. But’cha know what I’m ‘bout. Y’know what I mean?

I'd be concerned with those translations having too many more syllables than the Japanese names. Also "Kaioh Ken" would technically become "Galactic Overseer Technique", which might pose a problem. Haha.

For Goku's accent, I'd go more like...

"Heya! I'm Goku! I might not be smart or nu'n, but wouldn'cha know, I got a bunch o' good friends who'll make up for that. Annithin' I can't do, I'm shur they can."

More lazy than "Southern", since Chichi is the one with the strong "Southern" accent. So for Goku, lots of contractions (wouldn't've, couldn't've), ya or -cha for you, gotta and wanna, su'm and nu'n for something and nothing. The only bit of a specific accent I put in there is the very unique pronunciation of anything as annithin' that I heard from an actress from (I think) New Zealand. The "anni" is pronounced like in anniversary . I feel like it's about as unique as Goku's pronunciation of daikon as dēkon.

How would one say Vegeta's move then? Is it "Gyallic"? So "Gar-lick-Gun"? Sorry, I'm having trouble trying to figure this one out. What is the most accurate way to translate Vegeta's move?


"Sigh-yan" just sounds so much better, and so alien as well.

Almost any way, so long as there's no R in it. So no "Garlic" or "Gyarlic". There's nothing about the Japanese name that implies there should be an R.

Gallic, Gallik, Galliq, Gyallic, Gyallik, Gyalliq. All possible spellings. The only thing I think it might be based on is Gatling Gun (ガトリング砲 / Gatoringu Hō). The only thing garlic-y about ギャリック砲 (Gyarikki Hō) is リック (lic) at the end. MAYBE it's based on BOTH? If so, a spelling like Gallic would be the best option. Pronounced like the English words "gal" and "ick".


I agree. Saiyan being pronounced correctly isn't hard to do (or weird-sounding) like people claim. In Final Fantasy XIV, there's a group called "The Scions". If you're just listening, and not reading, it's literally "The Saiyans". "Scion" is actually a word in the English language, pronounced [ SAHY-ən ] just like "Saiyan" is, so it's not like it's "un-English".

Have done dubs with it, usually went around Kaioh-ken but shortening it to Overseer’s Burst (since it’s a literal burst of energy). Approach it with the Pokémon mindset of doing something in English that sounds good. But go a step further to make sure it respects the idea of the original. Maybe didn’t word it right with Goku. But we seem to have the same idea. Lazy rather than southern. Had mic issues hence the noise/pops, at the time but did a dub with what was listed above:
https://youtu.be/mPmO3tkgmZY
Piccolo’s move sounds like it shouldn’t work but with the speed he says normally sats Makankosappo you can fit it in naturally.

@jjgp1112, same. She could naturally do it. But I guess if Goku speaking like lower class/no education, most of the time. Not surprised it was the same with Chi-Chi. When they do write Goku like a hick in the official dub Schemmel does a great job with it (like when he says he ain’t no hero of justice, if using a Super example).

[Aim]

Have done dubs with it, usually went around Kaioh-ken but shortening it to Overseer’s Burst (since it’s a literal burst of energy). Approach it with the Pokémon mindset of doing something in English that sounds good. But go a step further to make sure it respects the idea of the original. Maybe didn’t word it right with Goku. But we seem to have the same idea. Lazy rather than southern. Had mic issues hence the noise/pops, at the time but did a dub with what was listed above:
https://youtu.be/mPmO3tkgmZY
Piccolo’s move sounds like it shouldn’t work but with the speed he says normally sats Makankosappo you can fit it in naturally.

@jjgp1112, same. She could naturally do it. But I guess if Goku speaking like lower class/no education, most of the time. Not surprised it was the same with Chi-Chi. When they do write Goku like a hick in the official dub Schemmel does a great job with it (like when he says he ain’t no hero of justice, if using a Super example).

I really liked your video! It's a great example of how Son Goku should be talking!

I do agree Sean Schemmel is a great VA, he's just not right for the role of Son Goku, I know for a fact there's people out there who can mimic Nozawa, and it's that voice or something closer that is the sound that should come out of Son's mouth.

Sean just sounds like he's trying to up the bravado to 1000 fold, which isn't what Son's about.