What's the closest approximation of Gokuu's hick-ness?

[Acid_Reign]

So in the Japanese version I know Gokuu is supposed to have a rural dialect. Assuming the English dub had attempted to “translate” this quality, what would be the closet approximation of that? I suspect there is no direct corollary, but would it be “close enough” if he were given a general US Southern accent? Or is it less accent and more speech pattern?

[jpdbzrulz4sure]

Or is it less accent and more speech pattern?

I'd say it's more the speech pattern. I think the best approximation would simply be the frequent use of contracted words, such as "ain't", "wanna", "gonna", etc.

Sure, these aren't exclusive to hick-talk, but then again, neither are the quirks in Goku's Japanese speech.

[Piccolo Daimao]

I don't think a US Southern accent is the way to go for approximating Goku's hick quality. I agree with jpdbzrulz4sure that it's more the speech pattern that needs to be used to approximate Goku's hick-ness.

[Pokewhiz7]

Peter Kelamis was very good at Goku.

[Herms]

In the manga Goku's speech is comparatively close to standard Japanese. The main characteristics of his speech are his use of improper/impolite first and second person pronouns, lots of contractions, and how he slurs ai or oi sounds into ee. None of these points are exclusively "hick" things (Kuririn, for instance, does the "ai/oi into ee" thing when flustered). Altogether it seems super-casual and uneducated, which I guess fits the "hick" stereotype, but it's not a style of speech specific to any region. In the anime though, Nozawa plays Goku up more as having a vague Tohoku accent. The Tohoku accent has a "country bumpkin" stigma around it, so the closest thing in US English would probably be a Southern accent.

[Piccolo Daimao]

To me, Goku with a Southern accent would just sound too odd and detracting.

[Pantalones]

Yeah, I can't picture Goku with a Southern accent...

Stuff like "ain't," "gonna," "wanna," and lots of "regular" contractions (can't/won't/don't/etc.) seem pretty appropriate for him though. Also turning "-ing" into "-in'", which I guess is probably the closest English-language thing to "always pronounces (ai/oi) as (ee)"... at least outside of giving him some sort of strong accent (I've heard some people with Southern accents pronounce the "ai" sound--like the I in "nine"--as something closer to "ah") or just making him pronounce things wrong.

[ulisa]

Well, given I'm still getting the hang of Goku's dialgoue in Japanese, as I haven't been studying it that long, I can't say for sure what would the best translation but I think the others have the right idea here: the speech pattern.

I personally was born in the "Deep South" as was most of my family. I think a lot, but not all, of the speech patterns used in casual conversation would fit Goku, given he doesn't care about changing it to more accepted speech like a lot of people in the South would do.

Most everyone has already mentioned the "ain't" and the dropping of the 'g' off of words and I agree. Depending on the person though, substituding words, such as "yonder" (usually pronounced YAWN-Der) for "over there" was common too. You sometimes became 'ya'll' or ya'lls' My cousin turned my nickname from 'Cat' into 'Catty' The letter y was a lot of times pronounced like a strong 'e' and an e, especially near the end of words was pronounced like a 'u'.

My grandmother always stressed the 'i' in pretty much every word. (i.e. my sister went from Jennifer to "Jen-Eye-Fer!)

I don't know if it would be useful in the anime or not, but everyone who has heard me when my accent is in full swing has said I talk VERY fast and my words tend to run together.

I think a lot of these could make Goku sound more 'hickish.' In some of the episodes of Kai, I heard Sean dropping an 'aint' here and there which was interesting to hear added in.

Ulisa

[thedarkuniter]

Personally, I believe Goku is perfectly fine in the Funimation and Ocean dubs of him. Like most of you guys mention, I honestly can't picture Goku with a Southern accent in English, that would be too silly. In the Kai dub, we hear bits and pieces of Goku's hickness, however, I believe what's perfectly translatable in the dubs is his personality.

[Rocketman]

Larry the Cable Guy, basically.

[Herms]

Like most of you guys mention, I honestly can't picture Goku with a Southern accent in English, that would be too silly.

Is there any particular reason you think that'd be silly, other than that it wasn't what was done in the various English dubs?

[johnboy1]

Is there any particular reason you think that'd be silly, other than that it wasn't what was done in the various English dubs?

That may partially explain it (and I'd argue that that's a perfectly valid reason), but I would also suggest that it has a lot to do with the way he looks. He's tall, ridiculously fit, and attractive. Hollywood stereotypes have largely relegated people such as this to the neutral, midwestern American accent unless they are explicitly foreign or the setting of the movie requires something different. Someone who sports an outlandishly noticeable nonstandard American accent (Southern, Cajun, Bostonian, Minnewegian, etc.) is often depicted as not being physically ideal, because their speech does not match the colloquial ideal. The southern guy will be obese and neckbearded with broken overalls. The cajun guy will be lanky, unwashed, and prone to eating unusual things. The Bostonian will have male pattern baldness, a bushy mustache and a beer gut. You get the idea.

[Savage68]

Goku's attractive?

[TheBlackPaladin]

Like most of you guys mention, I honestly can't picture Goku with a Southern accent in English, that would be too silly.

Is there any particular reason you think that'd be silly, other than that it wasn't what was done in the various English dubs?

Well for one thing, the world that "Dragon Ball" takes place in is not the United States, so who's to say that there are people who speak with Southern English accents? However, I'll admit that that's not a super strong arguement for two reasons.

1) The same thing could be said for ANY of the "real" languages of the world, Japanese included. If Akira Toriyama and Toei REALLY wanted to go the extra mile, they would have made up a fictional language and had the actors speak that. Obviously, that would be overkill, not to mention very impractical.

2) In all previous English dubs, "Farmer With Shotgun" (or "Farmer With Laser Blaster" depending on which version you watch ) spoke with a Southern English accent.

However...let's say that the only reason we'd think that would be silly is because it wasn't what has been done before in the various English dubs. Is that not a good reason?

It might have worked if that's what we started out with. If Goku had a Southern accent from Day 1 in our English dubs, it would have been easier to accept because we had nothing else to go on. Suddenly giving him an accent, especially if they kept the same voice actor, would be weird even to the fans like us who would understand the reasoning behind the change. For fans who don't know the reasoning, it would be WILDLY strange. On the English end, we have come to recognize Goku as a character who doesn't have a Southern English accent. So at this point, suddenly incorporating an accent would raise many, many eyebrows.

Plus...I don't want to speak definitively about this subject because I don't know, but I don't think any of the other foreign language dubs picked up on this either. I'm not saying that makes it okay, I'm just saying that the English dub is not the lone offender here. Does he have any hick-like tendencies in the other dubs? I don't know for sure, but I don't think he does.

Finally, I don't think he has to sound like a complete, total hick for the character to be appropriately translated. Notice in that last sentence that I used the word "character," not "dialogue."

Goku's attractive?

Savage68...for some reason, I think that comment sounds very funny next to your profile picture (a picture of Goku looking straight forward, with a smile, with the wind blowing in his face). It's like Goku's saying, (slow, seductive) "....Oh really....I'm attractive...?"

[johnboy1]

Goku's attractive?

In the context of Toriyama's artstyle, I would certainly think so. If he was meant to be ugly, there'd have to be something incredibly off about his design. Toriyama is not a subtle man.

[thedarkuniter]

Like most of you guys mention, I honestly can't picture Goku with a Southern accent in English, that would be too silly.

Is there any particular reason you think that'd be silly, other than that it wasn't what was done in the various English dubs?

Pretty much like TheBlackPaladin said, if the dubs started Goku off with a Southern accent, we wouldn't known any different and easily would accept it. However, this late in the game, it'll raise eyebrows for most people and they'll start complain how Goku sounds different, heck, they're complaining how different many voices sound in the English dub of Kai. However, what's translatable, is his personality. It's not hard to make Goku sound like a happy-go-lucky person in any language.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Like most of you guys mention, I honestly can't picture Goku with a Southern accent in English, that would be too silly.

Is there any particular reason you think that'd be silly, other than that it wasn't what was done in the various English dubs?

Pretty much like TheBlackPaladin said, if the dubs started Goku off with a Southern accent, we wouldn't known any different and easily would accept it. However, this late in the game, it'll raise eyebrows for most people and they'll start complain how Goku sounds different, heck, they're complaining how many voices sound in the English dub of Kai. However, what's translatable, is his personality. It's not hard to make Goku sound like a happy-go-lucky person in any language.

Or, for that matter, a happy-go-lucky guy who is a tad cocky, hungry for any opportunity to fight, and whose intelligence is questionable at best. As far as I'm concerned, by the time we hit the Kai dub, those aspects of the character are totally there.

[Herms]

However...let's say that the only reason we'd think that would be silly is because it wasn't what has been done before in the various English dubs. Is that not a good reason?

Well, the question in this thread was about the "closest approximation" in English of the way Goku talks in Japanese. So no, that's not really relevant. If all the English dubs had called Goku "Zero" like in the Harmony Gold dub, a new dub calling him "Goku" would probably likewise raise eyebrows among dub fans. But that wouldn't make "Zero" the closest English approximation of Goku's name.

[Puto]

Not really. All English dubs called Ten Shin Han "Tiеn," yet I doubt it'd feel all that weird if a new dub called him by his original name.

[TripleRach]

Larry the Cable Guy, basically.

That's Chichi.

Gokuu is more subtle, like Bill Engvall or something.