Granolah's name

[Cipher]

"Goku" does tend to invite the "wrong" emphasis on English (though I'm not convinced it's the end of the world), but "Gokou" was never any better, since it invites a host of misreadings on its own.

It was used on basically all Japanese products that used something other than kanji for his name for decades, but just recently seems to have begun being phased out in favor of "Goku," as Shueisha seems more interested in global consistency with name spellings.

[Adamant]

It was used on basically all Japanese products that used something other than kanji for his name for decades

...with the notable exception of the manga itself, that is, since Toriyama tended to favor the "Gokuh" spelling. I thiiiink the anime spelled it "Gokuh" more often than not too, but not entirely sure.

[TheGreatness25]

The idea that Funi mispronounces Goku's name has always been overstated. It's not really all that far off.

They emphasize the wrong vowel...

They emphasize the right vowels. Maybe their "Go-" is a little bit too much sometimes, but chalk that up to the difference between the Japanese approach to pronouncing words and the English speaking approach. I don't think it's particularly noteworthy, given that it's an English speaking dub. It's a bit of an exaggeration.

But it's not a "word," that's his name. And it's not like "Bobby" or something--it's already a word that isn't exactly natural in English. So they could very, very easily emphasize the "KU" instead of the "GO". It's incredibly easy. In fact, it's so easy, that I'm pretty sure that Matt Smith's "Tien" (Ocean dub) would pronounce his name properly. Like, his name is purposely written in a way to emphasize the enging.

While it's a bit different it is close to just chalking up their pronunciation of "Saiyan" or the way they used to pronounce "Kaio-ken" as the "English-speaking approach."

It really does come off like someone translated the series and put together a script and when it came time to record, the director and actors just kind of read everything as if it was originated in English. But sometimes you have to pay attention to the origin (you wouldn't read "oui" as "ow-ee" or "faux" as "fa-wu-x" right?). This is why some people choose not to follow the official versions--they don't pay attention to certain detail.

[MyVisionity]

But it's not a "word," that's his name. And it's not like "Bobby" or something--it's already a word that isn't exactly natural in English. So they could very, very easily emphasize the "KU" instead of the "GO". It's incredibly easy.

They already emphasize the "KU", plenty. That's not the issue.

It's like you said, the names are not natural to English speakers. Of course they won't sound exactly like they do in Japanese. Yes, they could take the effort to imitate the Japanese pronunciations, but at what cost? Just how natural will an English dub feel and sound when they opt for using the "proper" pronunciations? If things begin to sound too stiff and awkward, it's for a reason.

Again I don't think that their "Goku" pronunciation is any kind of notable deviation from the original Japanese to begin with.

[TheGreatness25]

But it's not a "word," that's his name. And it's not like "Bobby" or something--it's already a word that isn't exactly natural in English. So they could very, very easily emphasize the "KU" instead of the "GO". It's incredibly easy.

They already emphasize the "KU", plenty. That's not the issue.

It's like you said, the names are not natural to English speakers. Of course they won't sound exactly like they do in Japanese. Yes, they could take the effort to imitate the Japanese pronunciations, but at what cost? Just how natural will an English dub feel and sound when they opt for using the "proper" pronunciations? If things begin to sound too stiff and awkward, it's for a reason.

Again I don't think that their "Goku" pronunciation is any kind of notable deviation from the original Japanese to begin with.

Oh, come on. It's not like pronouncing good name correctly comes at a "cost"--it won't sound any more unnatural than the way they pronounce it.

Also, it's not a huge deal, but it is an example of why fans of the original version don't care for the "official" stuff.

[Adamant]

Pretty sure Americans pronounce the word "bayou" perfectly fine instead of being up in arms about how unnatural a word it is to say.

[Desassina]

I think that the best combination would be for animated shows to pronounce these names correctly by having their translation staff write them down in a way that does not necessarily preserve the pun but indicates how it's supposed to sound because fans could then read the right spelling in the manga with that pronunciation in mind. In Portugal, it helps that his name is Son Goku, and indeed we say "songohcoo".

[Shorty GZ2]

I do wish we could get more or deeper insight into how the source company & official localiser decides on why they went/keep going with certain iffier translations over ones that seem more sensible

And also, "Goku" how it is is fine