Funi names: a review (update: Namek)

[Danfun64]

We could have Chi-Chi as ''Boobies''...

I was thinking her name could have been translated as "Udders", keeping with the cow theme of her father. However, I wonder if it would have been just as bad if not worse than bluntly calling her "Boobies"

[Sandubadear]

The Brazilian dub translates Senzu as "seed of the gods". According to what you wrote there, it's not a very bad translation, except they changed "bean" to "seed" for no reason. I think there's a movie or two that change it to "magical beans", but that's worse since it reminds you of Jack and the beanstalk.

[Valerius Dover]

They're not. For one, the harmony gold dub had a textless opening 2 and movie 3 ending, something funimation clearly don't have seeing as they had to slap a black bar on the third movie ending to put their own credits in.

Slight nitpick, but Movie 3: Mystical Adventure actually just leaves the end credits in Japanese. Same with the opening credits. Z Movie 3: Tree of Might is the one that scrunches the Japanese credits into a corner.

[DemonRin]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Enma's name "Yama" at some point in the DBZ Dub too? I vaguely remember him being called "Yama" there and TeamFourStar references his name being "Yama" ("Patented Yamalock!") which would seem odd for them to do if it had no precedent in any dub.

One thing about that name tho, and it's something I wouldn't have bothered noting if Herms hadn't mentioned Yu Yu Hakusho first, but, while DBZ Never bugged me, it always irked me how FUNimation called him "Yama" in Yu Yu Hakusho. For much the same reason "King Kai" and "Kaioken" make no sense being in the same dub together, I never understood why they'd translate "Enma" as "Yama", but then Enma Jr's Nickname "Koenma" gets... Left as Koenma.........

I think they should have gone with one or the other and kept consistent. Either Enma and Koenma, or Yama and Koyama.

[B]

Does the FUNi dub bother doing doing anything with "sen'byou?" Pretty sure they never call him the Cat Hermit, so unless they bring that up, translating "senzu" accurately still wouldn't outright connect them to "Korin." They do mention his holiness by way of Bora, and that "Korin" is a "holyland," but the exact wording is escaping me.

[Puto]

They're not. For one, the harmony gold dub had a textless opening 2 and movie 3 ending, something funimation clearly don't have seeing as they had to slap a black bar on the third movie ending to put their own credits in.

Slight nitpick, but Movie 3: Mystical Adventure actually just leaves the end credits in Japanese. Same with the opening credits. Z Movie 3: Tree of Might is the one that scrunches the Japanese credits into a corner.

On current releases, yes. On the original single, no.

[Herms]

Alright, here's a load of Namekian stuff...

Planet Namek
This comes from the Japanese word for slug, namekuji. In fact, the name of the planet is different from the pun source because it has a double “k” sound: ナメック/Namekku. This could be romanized as “Nameck” (and some Japanese merchandise even uses the alphabet spelling “Nameccian” for the planet’s natives), but Funi sticks with a simple “Namek” and Viz and Simmons’ subtitles do likewise. The dub’s pronunciation is slightly different too: in Japanese it’s Na-mek, rather than Nam-ek. Eh, po-tay-to, po-tah-to. Anyway, the biggest oddity about how Funi handles the name is their use of “Namek” to describe not only the planet but the inhabitants as well, so that Dende is a Namek from Namek. I guess as long as the meaning is clear it’s not too big of a deal, but it is strange simply from an English grammar point of view.

Dende
From denden-mushi, one of several Japanese words for “snail”. Left completely as-is.

Cargo
I think they leave this guy’s name as-is? It’s from escargot, and because of that Viz actually changed it slightly to “Scargo” to make the pun more obvious.

Moori
From katatsu-muri, another Japanese word for “snail”. The katakana spelling is ムーリ/Muuri. This switch from “u” to “o” is actually a fairly straightforward bit of romanization; due to the ambiguities of English vowels, the Japanese u sound often corresponds to sounds expressed with “o” in English. This is in fact the whole issue with “Buu” vs “Boo”. For that matter, Viz spelled Pui-Pui’s home planet of Zun as “Zoon” precisely to help readers pronounce it properly (since it should more or less rhyme with “soon” rather than “sun”). So while “Moori” is a perfectly valid spelling, it’s interesting that it’s an approach to character name spellings more characteristic of Viz than Funi.

Nail
From “snail”. And they left it as-is. So there.

Guru
In Japanese, chourou means an elder, specifically an elder in some position of leadership or authority (as opposed to just some old guy). Each of the tribal leaders on Namek are called chourou,”elder”. In turn, sai is a prefix meaning “most” (used for instance in saikyou, “strongest”), so a Sai-chourou would be the most elder, the elder of elders. I suppose “Eldest” is the most direct translation, but “Great Elder” conveys the intended meaning at least as well. Meanwhile, “guru” is a Sanskrit term for a “teacher, guide, or master”…in other words, it’s essentially a synonym for “roshi”. Through strongly associated with Hinduism, in the US it’s not infrequently used to describe any sort of expert. So, you can tell Funi was using this as a translation of Sai-chourou…but it’s really not a particularly apt term. The idea with Sai-chourou is that he’s a village elder, a patriarch. He’s got mystical aspects, and seems well-informed, but he’s not primarily defined as a spiritual teacher. Even calling him “the Guru” wouldn’t be so bad, but like with “Roshi”, the Funi dub largely acts as if “Guru” is not a title but rather this person’s proper name, printed on his driver’s license. Well anyway, they switched to “Great Elder” for the Kai dub, so whatever.

Porunga
Left as-is. According to Toriyama, this is a gibberish name that means nothing…in the real world, but in-universe this name is said to mean “God of Dreams” in the Namekian language. Which I seem to recall ended up as “God of Love” in the Funi dub? As in “Don’t piss off the God of Love”. That happened, right?

To be continued…

[DanielSSJ]

Which I seem to recall ended up as “God of Love” in the Funi dub? As in “Don’t piss off the God of Love”. That happened, right?

And they were afraid to call Piccolo a demon or Kami a God?

[Puto]

Well anyway, they switched to “Great Elder” for the Kai dub, so whatever.

Grand Elder, actually. And they reverted to Guru for the video games, even post-Kai.

[Valerius Dover]

Regarding the Namek thing, they do use Namekian sometimes, even in Z. By Kai, they pretty much switched over to using Namekian entirely.

And also, the God of Love thing was only in the the 1999 original dub. This line isn't anywhere to be found in the 2007 redubbed material.

[Duo]

Well, at least they got this batch pretty accurate for the most part.

Whenever I hear "Guru" I very specifically think of the DBZ Abridged version of the character.

[Soppa Saia People]

I prefer Scargo over Cargo. When I hear cargo I think of luggage.

[LuckyCat]

Porunga
Left as-is. According to Toriyama, this is a gibberish name that means nothing…in the real world, but in-universe this name is said to mean “God of Dreams” in the Namekian language. Which I seem to recall ended up as “God of Love” in the Funi dub? As in “Don’t piss off the God of Love”. That happened, right?

You know they made it God of Love just so they could make that joke. Season 3 was 100% cornball mode for Dragon Ball.

[TheBlackPaladin]

The dub’s pronunciation is slightly different too: in Japanese it’s Na-mek, rather than Nam-ek. Eh, po-tay-to, po-tah-to.

Interestingly enough, Scott McNeil and others have said that for the (so far unseen) Ocean dub of Kai, they used pronunciation, "NAW-mek." McNeil said that he didn't think it was a good idea because the audience would be too used to "NAM-ek," but it doesn't bother me much either way. If anything, I would argue that the English spelling of the word lends itself more to the pronunciation that FUNimation went with.

[Puto]

Moori
From katatsu-muri, another Japanese word for “snail”. The katakana spelling is ムーリ/Muuri. This switch from “u” to “o” is actually a fairly straightforward bit of romanization; due to the ambiguities of English vowels, the Japanese u sound often corresponds to sounds expressed with “o” in English. This is in fact the whole issue with “Buu” vs “Boo”. For that matter, Viz spelled Pui-Pui’s home planet of Zun as “Zoon” precisely to help readers pronounce it properly (since it should more or less rhyme with “soon” rather than “sun”). So while “Moori” is a perfectly valid spelling, it’s interesting that it’s an approach to character name spellings more characteristic of Viz than Funi.

Doesn't the dub usually pronounce it closer to "Mori"? At least in Kai?

[Valerius Dover]

Moori
From katatsu-muri, another Japanese word for “snail”. The katakana spelling is ムーリ/Muuri. This switch from “u” to “o” is actually a fairly straightforward bit of romanization; due to the ambiguities of English vowels, the Japanese u sound often corresponds to sounds expressed with “o” in English. This is in fact the whole issue with “Buu” vs “Boo”. For that matter, Viz spelled Pui-Pui’s home planet of Zun as “Zoon” precisely to help readers pronounce it properly (since it should more or less rhyme with “soon” rather than “sun”). So while “Moori” is a perfectly valid spelling, it’s interesting that it’s an approach to character name spellings more characteristic of Viz than Funi.

Doesn't the dub usually pronounce it closer to "Mori"? At least in Kai?

Yeah, it's always pronounced "More-E" in both Z and Kai.

[Esfír Dedragón]

Herms, you still doing this?

[floofychan333]

Gohan is mispronounced as "Gohawn" as so many other things are. Examples: "Yawmcha" instead of "Yamcha," "Tien Shinhawn" instead of "Tenshinhan," etc. Pronouncing "aw" when it's clearly said as "a" is completely inexcusable anymore.

[Dbzfan94]

Gohan is mispronounced as "Gohawn" as so many other things are. Examples: "Yawmcha" instead of "Yamcha," "Tien Shinhawn" instead of "Tenshinhan," etc. Pronouncing "aw" when it's clearly said as "a" is completely inexcusable anymore.

Gohawn is almost exclusively from Chi-Chi's English actress but I think that's just her accent. I haven't heard the other "aws" at all in recent memory

[jcogginsa]

...that's an error?