Why were so many names mispronounced in the Funi dub?

[floofychan333]

Like, seriously...the original Japanese version explicitly pronounces it "Kio ken." Why was it called Kayo Ken? And why were Saiya-Jins called "Seyans"? Also, why change Kuririn, Tenshinhan, and so many other names?

[RedRibbonSoldier#42]

Like, seriously...the original Japanese version explicitly pronounces it "Kio ken." Why was it called Kayo Ken? And why were Saiya-Jins called "Seyans"? Also, why change Kuririn, Tenshinhan, and so many other names?

Well, it's not actually "kio-ken", but I assume that's a typo.
Mispronunciation of Japanese by English speakers in general is a bit indefensible. Except for つ and づ, and maybe ち, every possible Japanese sound is already in the English phonology.

[TekTheNinja]

'Krillin" is pretty much just saying Kuririn with an American accent.

[Vijay]

No offence, but is it that much of a big deal?

I'm open for constructive discussions anyday but c'mon. You're basically asking reason behind flaws of a very flawed dub (personal opinion, no offence to Funi Dub fans) which came 15 goddamn years ago.

Like really. Whats the goal of this?

Would providing ANY justification actually show Funi's work in better light? Hardly.

Funi's DBZ dub is notorious for their butchered scripts, corny lines, lame jokes, embarassing voice acting, weak handling of tone/drama & misfit musical score.

Compared to those titanic damages, trivial ones as misprounounced names arent damaging Z's "already" severely damaged status.

With that being said, I do hate pronounciation of "seiyans". Even more so as Baby keeps saying it so many goddamn times in GT, it actually grates my nerves

[TekTheNinja]

butchered scripts, corny lines, lame jokes, embarrassing voice acting,

I'll give you these, though I actually kinda love the corny bits.

weak handling of tone/drama & misfit musical score.

But I've never understood these complaints. Changing the score was unnecessary, but I never understood why people don't think the score fits. It fits great!

[MetaMoss]

No offence, but is it that much of a big deal?

I'm open for constructive discussions anyday but c'mon. You're basically asking reason behind flaws of a very flawed dub (personal opinion, no offence to Funi Dub fans) which came 15 goddamn years ago.

Like really. Whats the goal of this?

Would providing ANY justification actually show Funi's work in better light? Hardly.

What's wrong with asking for the reasons why the dub was inaccurate? This dub still has a very lasting effect on the English-speaking fandom, so it's not irrelevant, as much as you or I wish it to be. I'm personally curious for the reasons why Funimation made the pronunciation changes they did. The reasons are probably dumb, but it's possible some aren't.

[NitroEX]

I will say this, it's pretty weird that Funi were still mispronouncing Kaioken even after the Pioneer dub corrected that error in 1998 with Kelamis. I believe Schemmel was still pronouncing it kay-o-ken during the Funi redubs of those first three movies, it's really bizarre.

I mean, even Kirby Morrow pronounced it correctly during that one scene with Pikkon in the later Ocean TV dub.

[Vijay]

butchered scripts, corny lines, lame jokes, embarrassing voice acting,

I'll give you these, though I actually kinda love the corny bits.

weak handling of tone/drama & misfit musical score.

But I've never understood these complaints. Changing the score was unnecessary, but I never understood why people don't think the score fits. It fits great!

You see, I know how it ultimately boils down to "each to his own", "you're entitled to your opinion" bla...bla..bla all dat stuff

But frankly, Falconer's musical score is cringe-worthy

DragonBall is a Japanese anime with ancient Chinese tale Journey to the West at its core. Shunsuke Kikuchi's score gives the classical feel of watching a genuinely mythical tale coming.to.life with wide range of varieties. Intense to frolic fun to victorious to downright epic scores. You name.it. Its there

Falconer's score however:

1. Lacks soul. Feels superficial, forced & major contribution to Z's dumbed-down (thx to Funi) appeal to kids who think DBZ is all about green guy flying & punching

2. Incredibly repetitive. The same score plays for epic face-off scenes. For character revelations. During "silent" moments. Hell, even during goddamn death scenes

3. Lack of silence. There needs to be some quiet moments to emphasize on the words & tone of specific scene. Bruce however adds music in even.most unnecesarry scenes

4. Inconsistent. Its loud when supposed to be quiet. Victorious when a character dies. Sad score when a hero throws a challenge. Somber score as Goku or Gohan or Veggie give epic speeches/lines

My 2 cents

[VegettoEX]

It wasn't just FUNimation at the time; it was tons of other companies.

One of the big ones I can think of is the character Sasuke in Ranma (so we're talking years and years before Naruto here). In that dub, his name is pronounce aloud as "suh SOO kay" (traditional wrong emphasis on the middle syllable, and drawing out the otherwise slurred-through/unpronounced "su" sound). Tons of names in the dub got that kind of treatment.

That also being a Ocean Studios joint (a la the early FUNimation DB/DBZ work), you can draw some connections and assume that it was a combination of voice actor expectations, director ignorance, etc. of the time.

So you've gotta think and remember that it's a job they're all doing, and while yeah, we'd hope they'd have a basic understanding of how Japanese phonetics work considering they're working on a Japanese show... that's... not their area of expertise. It trickled down through the companies for years.

There was a pretty huge pushback when the Naruto anime came out here; one of the early Toonami promotions used the incorrect/prevalent "nuh ROO do" pronunciations, and literally by the very next promo, THAT got corrected REAL FAST. That was the name of the goddamn show, though, as opposed to something like "Kamehameha" (kuhmayamaya) and "Kaio-Ken" (kayo-ken), which are iconic in their own right, but aren't the main character's / show's name.

That's pronunciation, and separate from intentional name changes. It's important to make a distinction there.

[exodius33]

Christopher Sabat said in a podcast once that Funimation didn't even have the original Japanese masters from Toei, they had to use the Spanish dub to base their own translation.

And a lot of this is nitpicking tbh. Who cares if his name is Tien Shinhan as opposed to Tenshinhan?

[VegettoEX]

And a lot of this is nitpicking tbh. Who cares if his name is Tien Shinhan as opposed to Tenshinhan?

Sometimes people have questions and they should be encouraged to ask those questions and learn more about the production history of the franchise they enjoy.

[TheBalishChannel]

In Episode 8 of the original Dragon Ball series, not only did the actors mispronounce "Kamehameha" but the name was also misspelled on the episode's title card!

In retrospect, this misspell was probably influenced solely by the way the actors were pronouncing the word originally as opposed to being a simple spelling mistake.

[Snow_Lilies]

Like, seriously...the original Japanese version explicitly pronounces it "Kio ken." Why was it called Kayo Ken? And why were Saiya-Jins called "Seyans"? Also, why change Kuririn, Tenshinhan, and so many other names?

Can't speak for all of them. Krillin is a transliteration of Kuririn. If you say Kuririn with Japanese pronunciation (and not English), Krillin is pretty close in sound. Kreelin would be closer but it doesn't flow all that well. Unfortunately the pun isn't preserved.

Biggest issue with Saiyans as opposed to Saiya-jin is "seya" vs "saiya". "Jin" is used in this case to mean "people of x". Not unlike Amerikajin = American. Nihonjin = Japanese. In English we have German = People from Germany. Russian = People from Russia. So we have Saiyan. I suppose the one issue here is there's no planet named Saiya, (though Planet Vegeta is along those lines), but it holds true for Namekkuseijin and Namekian.

I believe when Ten first appeared in the manga his name was written in Kanji and that the first character of his name might be pronounced along the lines of Tien in Chinese. Later it's in Katakana though so it gets a bit confusing. Moreso we went the opposite way with the sheron/shenlong case so who knows what they were thinking.

[RedRibbonSoldier#42]

Biggest issue with Saiyans as opposed to Saiya-jin is "seya" vs "saiya". "Jin" is used in this case to mean "people of x". Not unlike Amerikajin = American. Nihonjin = Japanese. In English we have German = People from Germany. Russian = People from Russia. So we have Saiyan. I suppose the one issue here is there's no planet named Saiya, (though Planet Vegeta is along those lines), but it holds true for Namekkuseijin and Namekian.

Speaking of which, since there's a precedent for translating 人 and not the rest of the word, I believe that Ma' Man Boo is the most appropriate translation of the character

[floofychan333]

butchered scripts, corny lines, lame jokes, embarrassing voice acting,

I'll give you these, though I actually kinda love the corny bits.

weak handling of tone/drama & misfit musical score.

But I've never understood these complaints. Changing the score was unnecessary, but I never understood why people don't think the score fits. It fits great!

You see, I know how it ultimately boils down to "each to his own", "you're entitled to your opinion" bla...bla..bla all dat stuff

But frankly, Falconer's musical score is cringe-worthy

DragonBall is a Japanese anime with ancient Chinese tale Journey to the West at its core. Shunsuke Kikuchi's score gives the classical feel of watching a genuinely mythical tale coming.to.life with wide range of varieties. Intense to frolic fun to victorious to downright epic scores. You name.it. Its there

Falconer's score however:

1. Lacks soul. Feels superficial, forced & major contribution to Z's dumbed-down (thx to Funi) appeal to kids who think DBZ is all about green guy flying & punching

2. Incredibly repetitive. The same score plays for epic face-off scenes. For character revelations. During "silent" moments. Hell, even during goddamn death scenes

3. Lack of silence. There needs to be some quiet moments to emphasize on the words & tone of specific scene. Bruce however adds music in even.most unnecesarry scenes

4. Inconsistent. Its loud when supposed to be quiet. Victorious when a character dies. Sad score when a hero throws a challenge. Somber score as Goku or Gohan or Veggie give epic speeches/lines

My 2 cents

Yeah, I've always loved Kikuchi music and disliked Faulconer's. I actually enjoy some Nathan Johnson music though.