"Kakarotto" vs Other Spellings

[Alucard]

In Funimation's translations (by Steven J. Simmons, as you all know), they call Goku's Saiyan name "Kakarrot". Now, I'm not saying that it's wrong, I just like to know why they call him that.

I mean, maby they were trying to emphasize the pun which is "carrot", but "Kakarrotto" is also connected to the pun, so what's up with that?

Anyway, on a personal note to Mr. Simmons (a.k.a. Daimao): tell me, if Goku's Saiyan name really is Kakarrot, then how come they don't call Vegetto "Veget" (or something like that)?

[Tanooki Kuribo]

In Funimation's translations (by Steven J. Simmons, as you all know), they call Goku's Saiyan name "Kakarrot". Now, I'm not saying that it's wrong, I just like to know why they call him that.

Kakarrot is Goku's Saiyan name. In every dub I seen (English, Spanish, Italian, German) and the original Japanese version, thats what they call him. The spelling sometimes is different but its the same name.

Anyway, on a personal note to Mr. Simmons (a.k.a. Daimao): tell me, if Goku's Saiyan name really is Kakarrot, then how come they don't call Vegetto "Veget" (or something like that)?

Well, in the original Japanese version Goku's Saiyan name (Kakarrot) has an "o" at the end, making it Kakarrotto, so if Vegeta and Goku become one there name would be Vegetto (VEGE from Vegeta and TTO from Kakarotto) or is to my understanding.

I know my spelling with certain people are off, but its difficult to compare an English version name with the original Japanese one.

[tarsonis]

The reason we hear an o at the end of Kakkarot is because the Japanese generally end words with vowels. If you listen to them pronouncing Trunks, sometimes you can hear it end with a 'u' sound, but his name is still Trunks obviously. As Tanooki pointed out, the dub names are sometimes inconsistent when following this type of pronunciation. Kakkarot vs Vegetto (without and with the ending vowel).

[Alucard]

Well, in the original Japanese version Goku's Saiyan name (Kakarrot) has an "o" at the end, making it Kakarrotto...

You've said it yourself, his name is Kakarrotto in the ORIGINAL Japanese version. So are you contradicting yourself, or what?

Anyway, Kakarrot is his name in the dub, and you didn't explain why they changed it.

The reason we hear an o at the end of Kakkarot is because the Japanese generally end words with vowels.

So why don't leave the o? The Japanese call him that, and you can hear them say it, so why don't just call him the way he is meant to be called, his real name?

[Tanooki Kuribo]

Well, your question was unclear and thats the way I decided to answer you with my understanding of your question. Sorry if it didn't help. No need to get nasty. Someone else here can probley answer your question better then I can.

[Alucard]

Sorry, I didn't mean to get nasty , I was just trying to make a point.

[tarsonis]

So why don't leave the o? The Japanese call him that, and you can hear them say it, so why don't just call him the way he is meant to be called, his real name?

How do we know Kakarroto is his real name? For all we know, it could actually be Kakarrot and Japanese speakers just end it with an o out of habit. When you look at a name like Trunks and how it's pronounced in the Japanese version, we see that names aren't pronounced like they're spelled.

[Alucard]

Well, I hope someone would tell us what his real name is, because this is starting to get on my nerves.

[Tanooki Kuribo]

The last thing I'll say about this, is that FUNimation's translation of Goku and Kakarrot is probley the right way to say these Japanese names in English. There was a company once who dubbed some of the original Dragonball and Goku's name was Zero... (www.templeotrunks.com/media/lost_dub)

So, FUNimations translation of Goku and Kakarrot aren't so bad.

Update:

Well, I hope someone would tell us what his real name is, because this is starting to get on my nerves.

What!? I give up! ::throws coumputer into the sky and blast it::

[Duo]

"Kakarrotto" sounds kinda of unnatural to say for an English speaker. Kakarrot is just fine, and only raises concern regarding "Vegetto". Why do you care so much anyway? It's not that important an issue.

[VegettoEX]

So why don't leave the o? The Japanese call him that, and you can hear them say it, so why don't just call him the way he is meant to be called, his real name?

The same reason we don't run around calling the characters "Torankusu" (トランクス) and "Seru" (セル). The limitations of the Japanese syllable structure come into play when trying to create puns based off of words that don't come from that same language.

The "o" at the end of kakarotto (カカロット) is extraneous and unnecessary, simply due to the way the Japanese language is.

Another perfect analogy is that of Raditz, radittsu (ラヂィッス). You don't honestly walk around saying "Raditzu", do you?

The reason that Steve, Julian, and myself personally use the spelling of "Kakarrot" (with the double "rr") is to give a nod to the English word it's blatantly a pun on, being "carrot".

I don't know why this has to be some major conspiracy theory...

[Alucard]

Oh, I see. Thanks a lot for your explanation. I wasn't sure if it was an unnecessary letter like the u in Torankusu or not. I appear to have mistaken.

But I don't you have do it just to emphasize the pun, it's already obvious. Kakarrotto is pretty similar to carrot. Anyway, I'm deviating from the subject.

Maybe it's true that his name is Kakrrot, or maby not... I'm not so sure right now, because I've seen "Kakarotto" at kanzentai.com, and they appear to know their way around Japanese. So I think I'll just stick with Kakarotto. Thank you.

[Nyoibo]

Kakarrot is Goku's Saiyan name. In every dub I seen (English, Spanish, Italian, German) and the original Japanese version, thats what they call him.

Actually in the Italian dub Goku's Saiyan name is Karot (with a long "a").

[Chuquita]

I've heard of Karot before, but not with a long "a".

I like to use Kakarrotto myself. But that's just a personal preference.

[Mr. Announcer]

Oh c'mon, kakarot is probably the best way to say it. If they had really wanted an 'o' at the end of that they wouldn't have used ッ　for emphasis. It woulda just been kakaroto if you were supposed to pronounce th o, by putting that emphasis there they're coming down hard on the T which makes that the intended ending sound. This isn't just for the sake of the pun either, this is also done often when romanizing normal japanese words like the ending 'desu' in which the u is pretty much silent, therefore 'dess'. In any case, since it's a completely different language it shouldn't really be assumed that there's a right or wrong way to write it in english as long as it's pronounced the same.

[Tsukento]

I'm quite possitive the Mexican-Spanish dub used Kakarotto, seeing as how they've also said ki, Saiyajin, Namekuseijin, and even go as far as calling Piccolo by the name Pikoro. >_>;

[VegettoEX]

Maybe it's true that his name is Kakrrot, or maby not... I'm not so sure right now, because I've seen "Kakarotto" at kanzentai.com, and they appear to know their way around Japanese. So I think I'll just stick with Kakarotto. Thank you.

"Kakarotto" is simply the most absolutely literal romanization you can get of カカロット (ka - ka - ro - tto).

The fine folks from Kanzentai are on this forum, and I can pretty much guarantee you they won't tell you a darn thing differently from what's already been explained .

[Kula]

I don't know if this occurred in the Funi dub, but in the Ocean dub, it's inferred by Vegetto that the 'o' at the end of his name comes from the 'o' in Goku. Maybe that was just Ocean's way of explaining it.

"What do you call a Vegeta and a Goku? Vegetto sounds about right''

[VegettoEX]

I don't know if this occurred in the Funi dub, but in the Ocean dub, it's inferred by Vegetto that the 'o' at the end of his name comes from the 'o' in Goku. Maybe that was just Ocean's way of explaining it.

"What do you call a Vegeta and a Goku? Vegetto sounds about right''

It's pretty much all they can do. Since they are logical and don't have the extraneous "o" sound at the end of their name, they can't say what's actually said in the original dialogue... that it's from bejiita and kakarotto:

ベジータ (bejîta) + カカロット (kakarotto) = ベジット (bejitto)

Early FUNimation merchandise used the spelling of "Vegit", I believe. They later decided upon "Vegito", which makes absolutely no logical sense according to the romanization of "Vegeta" they decided to go with. No idea why they didn't just use "Vegetto". Bandai was smart enough to use it in Final Bout back in 1997 .

[Nyoibo]

The one translation that went totally off was the Italian one. They called Vegetto, Vegeku (Vegeta + Goku). So we had Gogeta and Vegeku...