Are the Japanese voices monotoned?

[OWmyDragonBallz]

I am not exactly sure what people mean by this, but I have come across very few people who claim that the voices sound plain and monotone. Does that mean that the actors never change the pitch of their voice? And what are your thoughts.

[DBZAOTA482]

Of course they aren't. Their acting is just too natural for nodtalgiatards.

[coola]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLTF8kPUF_c With all respect, but, i cannot see how someone could call this monotone

[Son Gohan 1995]

Monotoned? The japanese cast is far from monotoned.

[Lord Beerus]

The Japanese VA's sounding monotone? First time I've heard that. And quite frankly, that claim is absurd.

[TheBlackPaladin]

I don't have any idea how someone could call the Japanese voices monotoned. If they're ever doing anything wrong in the acting department, it's the (very rare) instances here and there of over-acting.

[FortuneSSJ]

Let me guess, and the English Dub is the only way to watch Dragon Ball for this people?! Another stupid claim.

Unfortunately, Kaio's voice actor right now is monotone thanks to his poor condition. But that's it.
When he's in good condition he's great. The cast overall is awesome.

[Herms]

Well, Japanese is an atonal language, in contrast to Vietnamnese or the various Chinese languages where different tones are used to distinguish between words that are otherwise homophones. But I assume that's probably not what those people mean by "monotonal".

[Ree]

I dont think so but then I dont understand the language

and can we PLEASE not call people "nostalgiatards? if you say that youre no better than the hardcore dub fanboys.

[theoriginalbilis]

The Japanese version is at times, a lot more restrained and subtle. Well about as restrained as a show about giant space monkeys that blast fireballs can be, I guess. Definitely not monotoned, just reserved in the right places. The only real cases I can find for the Japanese cast being "monotoned/boring" would be some of the video game line reads, where they sound like they're just going through the motions.

[TripleRach]

Of course they aren't. Their acting is just too natural for nodtalgiatards.

Please do not use language like this. There are much better ways to phrase what you're saying.

[Cipher]

They're just less exaggerated/more natural than, say, most of what we've gotten in FUNimation's dub (I assume that's what they're being compared to?) even when using unrealistic voices.

Some of that is probably endemic to the Japanese language as well, which tends to lack syllabic emphasis and stay a little flatter in general, not that it can't express all the universal emotions through tone, etc.; just that it might be harder to pick up on for those unfamiliar with it?

[MCDaveG]

Well, Japanese is an atonal language, in contrast to Vietnamnese or the various Chinese languages where different tones are used to distinguish between words that are otherwise homophones. But I assume that's probably not what those people mean by "monotonal".

Really? I heard from my girlfriend that is not completely true, as they distinguish between homophones like ''hashi'' - meaning bridge or chopsticks - by puting emphasis on the last -shi syllable, which is said with downward of upward emphasis.
One japanese teacher also said to me, that this creates a minor problem (minor, like only scholars will deal with this phenomenon mostly) in modern singing. Tough you can mostly deduce the meaning by the overall sentence.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

[irreality]

Japanese is not a fully tonal language. It uses pitch accents that vary by dialect to distinguish certain words. (i.e. variations in pitch on the stressed syllable). But, you will still be understandable if you vary it in a way you wouldn't be in Chinese, where variations in tones are like interchanging letters.

For example, with the hashi example you mentioned below, the emphasis for each word are different in Osaka vs. Tokyo because they have different regional accents and thus different pitch accents.

[MCDaveG]

Japanese is not a fully tonal language. It uses pitch accents that vary by dialect to distinguish certain words. (i.e. variations in pitch on the stressed syllable). But, you will still be understandable if you vary it in a way you wouldn't be in Chinese, where variations in tones are like interchanging letters.

For example, with the hashi example you mentioned below, the emphasis for each word are different in Osaka vs. Tokyo because they have different regional accents and thus different pitch accents.

Ah, yes, that's probably what I meant! Thanks for info and correction

[LuckyCat]

Japanese is not a fully tonal language. It uses pitch accents that vary by dialect to distinguish certain words.

Well, if we want to get technical, English isn't a tonal language either. Though, it sounds like the OP is referring to a group of people who are criticizing based on lack of understanding of Japanese while throwing the word "monotone" around incorrectly.

The Japanese VAs use a wide range of pitches, which would by definition be polytone.

[kei17]

I think Herms mentioned the narrowly-defined "tone" that only refers to changes in pitch within single syllable. The standard Japanese language doesn't have it.

However, the Kansai dialect is partially tonal. When you pronounce a monosyllabic noun at the beginning of a sentence without a particle, the word can take on a tone that is the same as those in Chinese.

There's no characters who speak the Kansai dialect in the DB universe, though. The only usage should be "nande yanen" that Tenshinhan said.



To me as a native Japanese speaker, English speakers often sound pretty monotoned.

[TheGreatness25]

Maybe when these people are reading the subtitles, in their mind, they read it mono-toned. That's the only way I can see a claim like that. It's a very far reach to try to insult a great cast.