Is the "Z" in Dragon Ball Z supposed to be pronounced "zee" or "zed"?

[johnboy1]

Obviously, it's pronounced "zee" when localized to the Americas, but I mean originally. The katakana used for the "Z" in the title spell out "zetto" in romaji. Is that a Japanese approximation for the Receive Pronunciation of the letter, i.e. "zed"?

[Kakarot]

Zetto is just how the Japanese pronounce Z.

[SuperCyan2]

Zetto is just how the Japanese say the letter Z. The French say Zed, the Spanish say Zeta, the Portuguese say Zê, the English say Zed and so on and so forth. Even though the English and Canadian generally pronounce it as 'zed', in Dragon Ball's case they tend to just say the American way instead, much how like they also say Say-un than Sai-yan.

[NeoKING]

Depends on what part of the world you're in.

[Robo4900]

You say it as "Z". Which is to say, however you read that letter is how you read that letter in the title. Z was chosen because it's the last letter of the English alphabet, and it's pronounced something like "Zetto" in Japanese, so really, there's no real "Correct" prounciation out of "Zee" vs "Zed".

But, due to bias brought about by the Funi-lead dubs putting a huge emphasis on "DRAGON BALL ZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!", and the other dubs tending to follow the same mould, people generally assume the American way is correct.

Basically: Say it how you want; the "Correct" way is whichever way you pronounce the letter. It's as simple as that.

Is that a Japanese approximation for the Receive Pronunciation of the letter, i.e. "zed"?

No, I think that would be "Zeddo". I believe "Zetto" is just the Japanese word for the English letter. Though, I'm sure there's someone around here who knows better than I do, and can correct me on this.

[LostTimeLord]

I'm in the UK, and this always irks me because any time I mention "Dragon Ball Zed" people "correct" me that it's "Zee". Of course, we had the Funi/Ocean versions on TV (which I never saw until having watched the series subbed), so the American pronunciation stuck. The weirdest one was when someone backed up their correction with "you wouldn't call Jay-Z "Jay-Zed"". I suppose I'm supposed to call it "Doragon Boru Zetto" then. But hey, loads of people were snarky when the DBZ Kinect promo pronounced Saiyan correctly too.

[SuperCyan2]

But hey, loads of people were snarky when the DBZ Kinect promo pronounced Saiyan correctly too.

Don't forget IGN, too.

The thing is, these guys pronounced Saiyan correctly but FUNimation made up a pronunciation of their own by saying "Say-un" instead, so the FUNi fans think it's "wrong."

[Onibaku]

I've always pronounced it as Zee in my mind so i've always went with it