The Warlock Bobbidi

The S · Post by **The S** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 3:29 pm

Olivier Hague wrote:
The S wrote:See, that's where it gets confusing. You've got people b.s.in' about people using Japanese phonetics like Torankusu and Seru, and the like, but then they say that "Bibidi", "Babidi", and "Buu" are more correct, even though it's using the same standard.
Erm. You do sound confused. ^^;

This is how it goes:

Katakana spelling / pun (word the name is based on) / alphabet spelling (from official merchandise)
Suno / snow / Sno
Pikkoro / piccolo / Piccolo
Radittsu / radish / Raditz
Furi-za / freezer / Freeza
Zabon / zamboa / Zarbon
Neiru / snail / Nail
Ginyu- / gyûnyû / Ginew
Torankusu / trunks / Trunks
Seru / cell / Cell
Kibito / tsukibito / Kibito
Babidi / bobbidi / Babidi
Buu / boo / Boo

So yeah, I think that using "Torankusu" and "Seru" (i.e. the left column) when writing in our alphabet doesn't make any kind of sense.
But no, I'm not saying that "Babidi" and "Buu" are more correct. I'm saying that "Babidi" and "Boo" (i.e. the right column) are more correct.

You can't take merchandise into consideration. Otherwise we'd all be calling Son Gokuu, Son Gokou, which would be pronounced ending in a long "o" sound.

Olivier Hague · Post by **Olivier Hague** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 7:19 pm

Chibi Mystic Gohan wrote:Well, I can't read Japanese text here at school (it comes out as little squares), but I assume you're talking about an enlonged mark (what the heck are those called?!) as opposed to an additional "u" in the word, right? Because as far as I know, it's the exact same thing in Japanese.

It would sound the same, yeah. But the kana spelling is different.
I mean, your argument was that you believe Toriyama made it a point to keep the exact words from the "Cinderella" song... and yet, there's a difference right there.

I would assume I am correct because Toriyama has stated that the names are from the movie, as opposed to other names (like Freeza), where he has said they simply derive from them.

He uses the same kind of wording in both cases (whether he slightly changes the pronunciation/kana spelling or not), really, so I don't think we can draw any conclusion based on that...

The S wrote:You can't take merchandise into consideration. Otherwise we'd all be calling Son Gokuu, Son Goku, which would be pronounced ending in a long "o" sound.

Er... You're thinking of the "Son Gok0u" spelling, right?

Well, yeah, that one is quite odd, indeed. But it's also fairly consistent and common, so... I don't know. Maybe they do have a reason for spelling the name like that, who knows?
Myself, I call him "Gokû" (it's Japanese, after all)... but still, I'm intrigued by the "Gok0u" spelling. I'd really like to know how/why they came up with that one. It almost looks... French. Weird.
In any case, it's just that: a spelling. It doesn't change the pronunciation. And you can bet whoever came up with that alphabet spelling was fully aware of the actual pronunciation (which is what makes the whole thing quite odd).

And I'm not saying that we should blindly follow the "merchandise spellings"... Sometimes, they're not even consistent. Sometimes, English words are involved, and mistakes become obvious ("Red Ribon" indeed).
But does that mean we shouldn't even take it into consideration? Some other times, it really works. More often than not, actually, in my opinion.

Again, I like what they did with "Saiyan" and "Nameccian", for example. You can't tell me you think that was random.

I also like "Juckie Chun". "Jackie Chan" with both "A"s replaced by "U"s.
It works. It would indeed be "jakki-" in kana either way.

And "Coora". After all, the name isn't just derived from the English word "cooler", but also from the Shizuoka dialect "kuura" (食うら) (that's why it's spelled "kuura" instead of "ku-ra", in katakana). So we have an odd "u" instead of "-" in the kana spelling because of that "kuura" word, and in a similar manner, we have an odd "R" instead of an "L" in the alphabet spelling because of that "kuura" word.
It works beautifully. Was that done on purpose? I don't know. That won't stop me from adopting that spelling though.

The S · Post by **The S** » Fri Jun 09, 2006 11:23 pm

Er... You're thinking of the "Son Gok0u" spelling, right?

Er... yeah. The boss' name filter must have kicked in without me knowing it.

The Tori-bot · Post by **The Tori-bot** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 5:36 am

The S wrote:
Er... You're thinking of the "Son Gok0u" spelling, right?
Er... yeah. The boss' name filter must have kicked in without me knowing it.

Son Gokou.

It's not that hard, is it?

The S · Post by **The S** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 11:43 pm

What did you do different than myself? I typed Son Gokou, and it came out without the "o". Look, up above, I did it again. Just watch, it'll be "Son Goku".

Olivier Hague · Post by **Olivier Hague** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 11:48 pm

Try quoting his message and you'll see.

Post by **desirecampbell** » Sun Jun 11, 2006 9:50 am

The S wrote:What did you do different than myself? I typed Son Goku, and it came out without the "o". Look, up above, I did it again. Just watch, it'll be "Son Goku".

Firstly, I really like the name filter - it changes most spellings into a single format for people aren't confused about 'who's Pikkon'? But it's nice that's it's easily circumvented if we're talking specificaly about taht name.

On the topic at hand: Spelling Japanese names in English is no small feat. Especiially when they're derived as puns from English words.

I personally think the best method is not to try and reproduce what the Japanese pronounciation is, but to reproduce what they were trying to say.

veshira · Post by **veshira** » Sun Jun 11, 2006 11:39 am

Olivier Hague wrote: Er... You're thinking of the "Son Gok0u" spelling, right?

Well, yeah, that one is quite odd, indeed. But it's also fairly consistent and common, so... I don't know. Maybe they do have a reason for spelling the name like that, who knows?

It is weird, but I'm sure there's some sort of rule behind it (well, until someone knows more about Japanese that I do tells me I'm wrong.

) I say this because there's a Pokemon, called Raikou, and it's spelled Raikou but pronounced like it's ra-i-ku-u, in both the English and the Japanese version.

Tatsunoboshi Horoko · Post by **Tatsunoboshi Horoko** » Sun Jun 11, 2006 11:56 am

Raikou is supposed to be the correct spelling of that name. It's name is supposed to represent 雷（らい/Rai/Thunder）and 皇（こう/Kou/Emperor or Lord.）Of course, if you wanted to get picky, you could always do something with the hanging u. I don't remember that monster being called "Raikuu" in the original anime (the English anime would be no surprise as they mess up names all the time) but the original anime? Maybe I would have to go back and watch that special again, but to my knowledge they say it correctly.

veshira · Post by **veshira** » Sun Jun 11, 2006 4:51 pm

Tatsunoboshi Horoko wrote:I don't remember that monster being called "Raikuu" in the original anime (the English anime would be no surprise as they mess up names all the time) but the original anime? Maybe I would have to go back and watch that special again, but to my knowledge they say it correctly.

I'm just going off what someone told me, so it's probably wrong. Thank you for the correction.

The S · Post by **The S** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 11:12 pm

Olivier Hague wrote:Try quoting his message and you'll see.

Ah. What a sneaky devil!