Dragonball Season 1 Discussion

Rocketman · Post by **Rocketman** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 12:08 am

KaiserNeko wrote:Well, the thing is, it's pronounced with a hard-O sound in Japan, like it's supposed to. In English, we're used to pronounced Son that way we do Sun, so that's the way Sean said it.

I trust Americans more than Japanese on how to pronounce English words.

KaiserNeko · Post by **KaiserNeko** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 12:08 am

Rocketman wrote:
KaiserNeko wrote:Well, the thing is, it's pronounced with a hard-O sound in Japan, like it's supposed to. In English, we're used to pronounced Son that way we do Sun, so that's the way Sean said it.
I trust Americans more than Japanese on how to pronounce English words.

Except in this case, Son (孫) is a Japanese word. ;P

Post by **VegettoEX** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 12:10 am

KaiserNeko wrote:Except in this case, Son (孫) is a Japanese word. ;P

It's not even/just a word (OK, ignoring the "Journey to the West" origins)... it's the character's freakin' name.

Saying "Son Goku" as "Sun Goku" would be like saying "Piccolo" as "Piccala".

KaiserNeko · Post by **KaiserNeko** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 12:12 am

VegettoEX wrote:
KaiserNeko wrote:Except in this case, Son (孫) is a Japanese word. ;P
It's not even/just a word (OK, ignoring the "Journey to the West" origins)... it's the character's freakin' name.

Saying "Son Goku" as "Sun Goku" would be like saying "Piccolo" as "Piccala".

True! Makes me feel a little awkward that we pronounced it wrong in our Blooper special... c.c

DragonBalllKaiHD · Post by **DragonBalllKaiHD** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 12:12 am

VegettoEX wrote:
KaiserNeko wrote:Except in this case, Son (孫) is a Japanese word. ;P
It's not even/just a word (OK, ignoring the "Journey to the West" origins)... it's the character's freakin' name.

Saying "Son Goku" as "Sun Goku" would be like saying "Piccolo" as "Piccala".

Should we pronounce Son as "My son"?

Rocketman · Post by **Rocketman** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 12:12 am

So why isn't it transliterated as "San" or "Sahn" or whatever gives a more accurate pronunciation?

VegettoEX wrote:Saying "Son Goku" as "Sun Goku" would be like saying "Piccolo" as "Piccala".

Except "piccolo" is an English (well, technically Italian) word too, and is pronounced as written.

Post by **VegettoEX** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 12:17 am

Rocketman wrote:So why isn't it transliterated as "San" or "Sahn" or whatever gives a more accurate pronunciation?

You're not paying attention. It's an "o" sound. "Son" rhymes with "moan" or "bone" or "stone". It's romanized exactly as it should be, since all (most) romanizations of Japanese have a pretty strict rule-set for pronunciations. The "o" is going to be read the same no matter which Japanese word you're romanizing.

Rocketman wrote:Except "piccolo" is an English (well, technically Italian) word too, and is pronounced as written.

OK, fine. It would be like saying "Kaio-Ken" as "Kay-o-ken". ZING!

KaiserNeko · Post by **KaiserNeko** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 12:18 am

Rocketman wrote:So why isn't it transliterated as "San" or "Sahn" or whatever gives a more accurate pronunciation?

VegettoEX wrote:Saying "Son Goku" as "Sun Goku" would be like saying "Piccolo" as "Piccala".
Except "piccolo" is an English (well, technically Italian) word too, and is pronounced as written.

Yes, we pronounce it like we would in English, as we should a word that is Japansese. Once we attribute a word's origin, it's our responsibility to pronounce it within the context and rules of that language. Even if we have a word in English that is identical in spelling to a word in Japanese, the moment we know it's Japanese we should be pronouncing it as such.

Edit: Also, just to make sure people get it, the O in Son for Son Goku is pronounced like the O in Home, Bone, or Phone.

The Time Traveller · Post by **The Time Traveller** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 12:56 am

Son is just On with an S... It's that easy!

Post by **Herms** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 1:00 am

Li'l Lemmy wrote:What's wrong with Dodon Ray? Someone more knowledgeable should feel free to step in and correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought I that Dodon Ray was an approximate translation of Dodonpa.

The pa in "Dodon-pa" means "wave". It's actually written with the same kanji as the ha in "Kamehameha", but the pronunciation changes in this context (the same way kame/turtle is pronounced game in Umigame/Sea Turtle's name). I suppose Funi went with "Dodon Ray" to set it apart from the Kamehameha wave. Either way it's not that much of a difference.

SHINOBI-03 wrote:And yes, it was "Dodonpa" the first time Tao used it

Random fact: in the Japanese manga, the first few times Tao Pai Pai uses the Dodon-pa, he just calls out "Dodon", without the "pa" (but when actually talking about the attack, and not performing it, he calls it the "Dodon-pa"). It's not until Chaozu's fight with Kuririn that people start shouting out the full "Dodon-pa" when they use the attack.

JulieYBM · Post by **JulieYBM** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 1:04 am

The Time Traveller wrote:Son is just On with an S... It's that easy!

That sounds like 'Sahn', rather than 'so' + 'n'.

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 2:32 am

JulieYBM wrote:
The Time Traveller wrote:Son is just On with an S... It's that easy!
That sounds like 'Sahn', rather than 'so' + 'n'.

It's a little lower than the "ah" sound. Maybe it's a regional thing as to how you pronounce "on" and how I pronounce "on."

Like Mike said, the "Son" in "Son Goku" rhymes with a word like "moan" rather than a word like "gone."

Pain · Post by **Pain** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 3:40 am

This Has Been:Pronounce That Name Right, You N00b!, with VegettoEX and the Daizex Gang!

DemonRin · Post by **DemonRin** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 4:18 am

I always say that "Son" is pronounced exactly like the word "Shone" (As in "the sun Shone through the clouds") just without the H.

Shone - H = Son.

jda95 · Post by **jda95** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 4:52 am

DemonRin wrote:I always say that "Son" is pronounced exactly like the word "Shone" (As in "the sun Shone through the clouds") just without the H.

Shone - H = Son.

Well, people can pronounce 'Shone' differently as well.....

NeptuneKai · Post by **NeptuneKai** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 5:10 am

I pronounce Son as in the sun is shining in the sky. I know it's not correct but that's how I roll. If people can say things like Her.cule and Fa.sha then I can pronounce Son as I like.

Levlik · Post by **Levlik** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 5:16 am

If you ask me, the way I hear it in Japanese sounds more like "Sawn" (As in sauna) than straight-up "Sone". I think it's more of a matter of accents anyway. Kind of like how some people pronounce the word "orange" like "ore-inge" and some, including myself, pronounce it "are-inge". I don't think it's right to compare the pronunciation of that to the whole "Kaio" "Kayo" ordeal where it's just outright mispronunciation.

Chibi Mystic Gohan · Post by **Chibi Mystic Gohan** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 5:56 am

Levlik wrote:If you ask me, the way I hear it in Japanese sounds more like "Sawn" (As in sauna) than straight-up "Sone".

Uh, that'd just be "san" (like Goku-san!).

gallagtor · Post by **gallagtor** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 6:04 am

The Time Traveller wrote:Son is just On with an S... It's that easy!

It's "Sone." Rhymes with bone, phone, tone. C'mon guys, he's the main character.. I can't believe there are so many people pronouncing it incorrectly.

If it rhymes with fun or lawn, you're saying it wrong.

jda95 · Post by **jda95** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 6:05 am

Levlik wrote:If you ask me, the way I hear it in Japanese sounds more like "Sawn" (As in sauna) than straight-up "Sone".

It really depends on how you want to pronounce it. Yes, Japanese sounds like 'sawn', but then again, most people don't pronounce Goku as Go-ku-u. I pronounce it as the Japanese do, but if it's more natural to pronounce it as 'Sone', it isn't really wrong.