Why is the "FRIEZA" spelling wrong?

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

Hey guys,


I've got a question for all of you and as the title says, it's "Why is the Frieza spelling wrong?". I don't want to start another "What's with the world filter" topic, but it's just something that's been bothering me that I want properly answered. Here's my knowledge of it:


"Frieza" and "Freeza" aren't romanizations, they're transliterations. A name can be transliterated in a variety of ways and still be correct, eg. "Broly", "Broli" and "Brolli". In Dragon Ball, people like to transliterate names to make them the closest to the pun, but this isn't necessary. For example, "Jheese" is the closest to the pun, but "Jheece" and "Jeese" are still correct. An "ie" sound in English is almost always pronounced as "ee".


Having said all this, there is no way the Frieza spelling can be incorrect. It's not the closest spelling to the pun, but it's still acceptable and is pronounced the same way as "Freeza", so what's the problem? To further prove my point, the Pokemon スターミー (Sutaamii) is "Starmie" in English.


P.S I'm not attacking the word filter, I just want someone to calmly tell me why the spelling is wrong and then I'll back off.

[Silver Sinspawn]

There's an M in Starmie. Frieza is pronounced (basically) fryza. Not Freeza like it's supposed to be.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

There's an M in Starmie.

There's a "s" in "silver". So what?


My example still applies because both スターミー and フリーザ have elongated "i" sounds in them.

Freeza is pronounced (basically) fryza. Not Freeza like it's supposed to be.

No it isn't. "Niece", "piece", "receive" and many other English words that have "ie" in them say otherwise.

[Silver Sinspawn]

But the F makes it Fry-za. Fr-ie-za. Fr-eye-za. (or Frayza)

[Metalwario64]

Thanks for making this thread. I was going to make a post about this a while ago in another thread, but I decided to let that child alone.

No it isn't. "Niece", "piece", "receive" and many other English words that have "ie" in them say otherwise.

Also, "field", "shield" and "believe" are also examples. I've also done extensive Google searching for a while now, and have never found anything regarding placement after an "r" or before a "z" to indicate an alteration in pronunciation, nor have I have been taught of such a rule in any English class I have ever had.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

But the F makes it Fry-za. Fr-ie-za. Fr-eye-za. (or Frayza)

What? I could seriously make a huge list of English words with "ie" in them that are pronounced "ee". Few words are contrary to this.

Also, "field", "shield" and "believe" are also examples. I've also done extensive Google searching for a while now, and have never found anything regarding placement after an "r" or before a "z" to indicate an alteration in pronunciation, nor have I have been taught of such a rule in any English class I have ever had.

Yeah, the pronounciation of "ie" before "z" or after "r" doesn't change at all. It's still pronounced as "ee".

[Gaffer Tape]

Personally, I use Freeza, for obvious reasons. I'm also not against the closer romanization of Furiza. And surprisingly, I admit that Fr ieza doesn't bother me either. Yep. I said it. I don't think it's wrong. It's not how I prefer to spell the name, and the fact that it's a FUNimation-ism certainly makes it undesirable to me, but I don't think it's wrong. Like others have said, "ie" sounds are constantly pronounced as "ee" in this language. And as for the pun, I don't think it detracts from. It's still obvious (to most aside from the occasional IGN idiots) what the pun is without necessarily bashing it over one's head. Like Jheece, it comes close to the word it's riffing while making its own name. To me, it's the same thing. But, eh, still prefer Freeza.

I'm quite surprised to see this as a topic again. Mike posted a link to his detailed article outlining exactly why he dislikes the Fr ieza spelling, all of which carry some validity to them, as far as I'm concerned.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

I'm quite surprised to see this as a topic again. Mike posted a link to his detailed article outlining exactly why he dislikes the Fr ieza spelling, all of which carry some validity to them, as far as I'm concerned.

I've read that article. He just explains why he dislikes the spelling, not why it's incorrect. Which is fair enough, I dislike certain spellings too.

[Cipher]

I don't see it being a huge deal either.

I don't prefer the "ie" spelling on a purely aesthetic level, but I wouldn't call it incorrect. It's pronounced the same way. It does obfuscate the pun a little bit, but it's still piss obvious (and maybe so obvious in English already that it could benefit from some alteration).

At any rate, it's still better than the completely wrong "Freezer," which still seems to maintain some use. Ditto for "Cooler," which Funimation actually did adopt. I'd have taken "Coula" or something over that.

[MCDaveG]

Because Freeza is from the word freeze, or is it spelled frieze in english? Nope.
You know in family derived from cool and cold, freeze is then next option.

[Amigo Ten]

Because it just confuses the matter. "ie" can be pronounced "ee" ("frieze" would be a nice example), but it can be pronounced other ways as well. Flies, fries, pie, die, lie, etc. It's just that Funimation chose to still pronounce it as Freeza.

It's appropriate that you should mention Jheese, since he suffers the same problem in Funimation's dub. Both Jiisu and Furiiza have the same elongated "ii" sound, and both come from English words with the long "ee" sound (cheese and freeze). Yet one becomes Frieza and the other becomes Jeice. Only with Jeice that actually changed the pronunciation as well.

There just seems to be no rhyme or reason to the changes.

[Amigo Ten]

Just to add, there are words where "ei" is pronounced as "ee" as well, like "conceit". But it's a needless change that only creates confusion, and so we get "Jayce".

[Dayspring]

But the F makes it Fry-za. Fr-ie-za. Fr-eye-za. (or Frayza)

What? I could seriously make a huge list of English words with "ie" in them that are pronounced "ee". Few words are contrary to this.

True, but all English examples of F-R-I-E are pronounced "Fry." Fried egg, French fries, etc. Plus, what other Japanese ways are there to make the "E" pronunciation? It may be a matter of Piccolo vs Piccoro again.

[Vegeta Jr]

I see it like I see Pokemon names, they are generally two words mixed together and Freeza just so happens to be a pun on Freeze which is spelled ee.

[Amigo Ten]

But the F makes it Fry-za. Fr-ie-za. Fr-eye-za. (or Frayza)

What? I could seriously make a huge list of English words with "ie" in them that are pronounced "ee". Few words are contrary to this.

True, but all English examples of F-R-I-E are pronounced "Fry." Fried egg, French fries, etc. Plus, what other Japanese ways are there to make the "E" pronunciation? It may be a matter of Piccolo vs Piccoro again.

There is "frieze", which I mentioned. It's pronounced the same as "freeze".

[JulieYBM]

Why is the dub spelling acceptable? What is it about the original kana spelling that implies that the 'furii' should be romanized any way other than 'Free'? The entire argument seems to be built on 'frie' being a correct spelling because a licensee dictates it. Plenty of spellings globally have specified the name of the character in question is 'Freeza'. It most accurately describes the pun of the character's name in both spelling and when spoken allowed. The spelling introduced by a licensee has little if any affect on what is and is not official on a global scale because their reach stops right at their border. In England Luke Skywalker is still Luke Skywalker, even a British dub calls the character Lewis Divingstar.

[RoarkVegeta]

Well, simply, that's not his name.

フリーザ = Freeza

Viz has always gone with Freeza, but I will NEVER understand why FUNimation decided to go with Frieza. Same with Ti en. Or Chaozu, or the Ginyu Tokusentai.

[Cipher]

In England Luke Skywalker is still Luke Skywalker, even a British dub calls the character Lewis Divingstar.

Oh, come off it. There's a huge difference between outright changing a name (for instance, 'H'ercule and T'i'en are unacceptable) and romanizing it differently.

If you want to get right down to it, the character's name is フリーザ and that's that. Anywhere you go from there is personal discretion as long as the phonetics are intact. Some spellings are better representations than others, of course. But I find it funny how no one, for example, questions the romanization fo "Hildegarn," when he takes part of his name from a Toei staff member named Hiruta (which would never be romanized as Hilta.)

I personally think Funimation's spelling of Freeza sucks. But it's not really erroneous. Just a little baffling.

フリーザ = Freeza

Except, it doesn't. フリーザ = Furiiza. Obviously, that's stupid and ridiculously far from the intended pun. Fr'i'eza is neither of those. And let's remember that Toriyama isn't always about keeping his puns super obvious. He requested a different spelling for Coola, playing with the katakana characters to distance it further from the actual word "cooler." It's about the equivalent process of changing an "e" to an "i" in his brother's name, if you want to go that route.

Again, I'm just playing devil's advocate.

[Freeza Heika]

Just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you should. I COULD quit school to try and play video games professionally, but It is a lot more logical to no do so. Just as it is more logical to just follow the pun, rather than spend time justifying white "ie" is equivalent to "ee", solely because Funimation has used it. I doubt that if Funimation didn't spell it that way, you would be trying to convince people that F-R-I-E-Z-A is ok.

[Amigo Ten]

I thought Coola's slight name change was someone elses idea?