Does Funimation really treat Dragonball that bad?

[Thanos6]

And back on the script accuracy, it's funny how people complain about Funi's inconsistencies but ignore Toei's own inconsistencies and all of the cases of Funi's lines being closer to the manga lines.

I'm going to call you out on this one. Other than the video games, name one-if-any instances where FUNi dub dialogue is closer or exactly accurate to Viz translated dialogue than Mr. Simmons' subtitle translation. Please, be my guest.

Not quite truer, but making more sense, was that they didn't have Trunks name the androids who made his life Hell when he first showed up. Even in the manga, he calls them Nos. 19 and 20. Only way it would've made sense in the dub would have been if they made up something about the Trunks who came to help fight was from another time line than the one who gave Goku his medicine.

Or if all the stress of meeting him caused him to misspeak.

[Adamant]

I can't imagine Son Goku being named anything else but.

They kinda renamed him "Gowku", though

(Yeah, yeah, let's crank that up to the English-speaking peoples' excessive inability to even attempt to pronounce Japanese words right)

Most people who only watch the JP Version even pronounce it the way FUNi does. It's onoy natural to speak with your own accent.

If his name was ごく, rather than ごくう, I might see where you'd be coming from. But, uh, it isnt. It's like me pronouncing the name James "Iah-mess" due to that being the logical pronounciation in my language. But, you know, I don't, since we actually go to the trouble of prononcing names at least somewhat close to how they're supposed to. There's a difference between accented pronounciation and wrong pronounciation, and I can't for the life of me understand why you English-speaking folks absolutely must say "ow" instead of "oh". It's not like you don't have the "oh" sound in your language, so what's up with that?

[Rocketman]

When was his name pronounced "Gow-ku"? I've only heard "Goh-ku".

[Adamant]

If you English-speakers had a sensical way of expressing in written language how something is pronounced, I would've been able to explain myself correctly .

Basically, you're pronouncing the o as the o in "no". It's supposed to be like the o in "on".

[Chuquita]

I know one thing's for sure. Been watching the Season Three set and have been noticing the narrator can't even say Vegeta properly (he says it as Vuh-gee-tuh).

I have heard that in other parts of Funi's dub before.

I'm betting its just an accent thing.
I pronounce it Veh-gee-duh if I'm not really thinking. I know its supposed to be a tah at the end.

[Majin Buu]

Well, I for one will never forgive whoever made the decision to change the music since the music is one of the things I love most about JPN DBZ, and I'll never forgive whoever decided to put those "remastered" DVDs in "widescreen".

I've come to respect Funi as a competent and respectable dubbing company. Just not when it come to DBZ.

[Jerseymilk]

When was his name pronounced "Gow-ku"? I've only heard "Goh-ku".

Ya I've never heard that either. In the dub or from fans.

[TripleRach]

When was his name pronounced "Gow-ku"? I've only heard "Goh-ku".

Ya I've never heard that either. In the dub or from fans.

Yeah, English speakers pronounce the vowel in "Go" correctly, pretty much.

The actual problem is the syllable stressing. In Japanese, every mora (like syllables, but linguistically different) is pronounced with the same length, and Gokuu's name is made of three morae: go - ku - u. But English speakers treat it like a two syllable word, go - ku, with an emphasis on the first one. And English naturally requires one syllable to be stressed, so it definitely takes conscious effort to break into Japanese pronunciation mid-sentence.

[Onikage725]

If you English-speakers had a sensical way of expressing in written language how something is pronounced, I would've been able to explain myself correctly .

Basically, you're pronouncing the o as the o in "no". It's supposed to be like the o in "on".

Like Rach said, the only mispronunciation occurring is in which syllable is stressed in English. The name itself is said correctly, there's just a heavier stress on the first syllable.

That's just a case of accent. By way of example, my own name has 2 syllables and I pronounce it with a slight stress on the first syllable, as do any native english speaker. In my line of work I meet people who speak a number of languages, most often Spanish and Polish. The Spanish speakers tend to stress the second syllable in my name, and the Polish speakers tend to greatly stress the first. None of them are saying my name "wrong." They just have an accent.

[Tsukento]

I have heard that in other parts of Funi's dub before.

I'm betting its just an accent thing.
I pronounce it Veh-gee-duh if I'm not really thinking. I know its supposed to be a tah at the end.

It's been a while since I actually sat down and watched the dub, though it seemed like everyone but the narrator was saying it as Veh-gee-tah or Veh-gee-duh. Was rather odd.

[Kendamu]

If you English-speakers had a sensical way of expressing in written language how something is pronounced, I would've been able to explain myself correctly .

Basically, you're pronouncing the o as the o in "no". It's supposed to be like the o in "on".

That's because the "o" in "on" in (American) English sounds more like an "aw." Kind of like the "awn" sound in the name "Dawn" or "Don."

So, it would actually be wrong of us to use that example because then, in America, we'd call him "Gawku." I'm not even sure how exactly to spell that in Japanese and still get the same "aw" sound.

[caejones]

What it is, he's talking about (I think) the style of the American "o". Actually, we don't have the "Oo" he's talking about... though aw or au comes closer than the o in "on"...
In British English, though, 'aw' hits it pretty dead on... maybe a little flat, but not by much.
The English "o", if you'll notice, has a tightening u" sound as it ends... it's kind of cone-shaped? Whereas the Japanese/latin o is less dynamic in its normal form.

And... I think I heard Yajirobe stress the 'u' in the Saban/ocean season 1 when he was listing the heroes to the media?

[Adamant]

It's not even that, because you do have the correct o-sound in your language, you just don't use it when pronouncing Goku's name. It has nothing to do with accents, it has to do with the mindset that "this word looks like it should be pronounced like this, so I'm going to pronounce it that way, even though it's a foreign word that's not pronounced anywhere close to what I'm saying".

I didn't intend to to make a huge discussion out of this with that innocent comment I made a couple pages ago, but seriously people: You're not pronouncing the name right. You're not even tryng to do so.

[Rocketman]

It's not even that, because you do have the correct o-sound in your language, you just don't use it when pronouncing Goku's name. It has nothing to do with accents, it has to do with the mindset that "this word looks like it should be pronounced like this, so I'm going to pronounce it that way, even though it's a foreign word that's not pronounced anywhere close to what I'm saying".

That's English for you. We chase other languages down dark alleyways, beat them with baseball bats, and then ruffle through their pockets for words to take for our own.

[Lavender Saiyan]

I didn't intend to to make a huge discussion out of this with that innocent comment I made a couple pages ago, but seriously people: You're not pronouncing the name right. You're not even tryng to do so.

And no one really cares, seriously. I'm not trying to be a jerk, but everyone pronounces it the way the Dub does. Even Mike and Julian. But really, it's the case with a lot of names. Just look at Piccolo for example. We pronounce the "pi" like "Pickle". Yet in JP it's more pronounced like pee-ccolo. As in peanut.

[Adamant]

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but everyone pronounces it the way the Dub does.

If everyone pronounces it like the dub (which isn't the case, even if you by "everyone" mean "everyone in America"), then everyone pronounces it wrong. It's really that simple.

Just look at Piccolo for example. We pronounce the "pi" like "Pickle". Yet in JP it's more pronounced like pee-ccolo. As in peanut.

Again, there's a difference between pronouncing something with an accent and pronouncing it wrong. Plus, the Japanese don't pronounced Piccolo the the way you suggest they do either, and the word is an English (or Italian or whatever) word in the first place anyway.

Take the name "Freeza" as an example (and yes, that name comes from English as well, I know). Silly way of spelling the name aside, the dub pronounces it correctly. With an English accent, yes, but still correctly. Not so the case with Goku's name.

[jjgp1112]

Really, I could give two-shits about pronunciation. Who cares?

[SonEric84]

I don't understand how we're pronouncing it wrong.

[Onikage725]

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but everyone pronounces it the way the Dub does.

If everyone pronounces it like the dub (which isn't the case, even if you by "everyone" mean "everyone in America"), then everyone pronounces it wrong. It's really that simple.

Just look at Piccolo for example. We pronounce the "pi" like "Pickle". Yet in JP it's more pronounced like pee-ccolo. As in peanut.

Again, there's a difference between pronouncing something with an accent and pronouncing it wrong. Plus, the Japanese don't pronounced Piccolo the the way you suggest they do either, and the word is an English (or Italian or whatever) word in the first place anyway.

Take the name "Freeza" as an example (and yes, that name comes from English as well, I know). Silly way of spelling the name aside, the dub pronounces it correctly. With an English accent, yes, but still correctly. Not so the case with Goku's name.

And the Japanese don't call him Wukong, so I guess noone's perfect at importing from other languages.

Seriously, by your logic, every character who's name is a word from another language or a pun of such is pronounced "wrong" in Japanese. Like Mr. Satan for example.

Of all the dubisms you could get riled up about, how the dub stresses the "o" in Goku is your problem? I'd think King Yemma would be a better start.

You may hate how Americans supposedly pronounce things however they want, but I hate how people from other countries make generalized racist comments like "you Americans," as if to lump an entire country of diverse people into one category. This is often based on some gripe they have with one minor thing (like, say, one vowel in a comic book character's name). You've never held a verbal conversation with me, or likely anyone here, so you don't actually have a damn clue how any of us here pronounce anything.

[Tsukento]

Hey, at least the FUNi dub didn't pronounce Gohan's name as Go-Han (as in hand) like a certain other English company did.