What the correct way to say Kamehameha?

Anonymous Friend · Post by **Anonymous Friend** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 9:08 pm

I don't know if this is a Dub problem or what, but how should it be pronounced? When people are referring to the technique I've heard it as Kuh-may-huh-may-huh and when they're using it in battle it's Kah-may-hah-may-hah. I've also heard Kah-mee-hah-mee-hah.

So, with all the anime and games and everything floating around how should it be said?

chibi_goten · Post by **chibi_goten** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 9:13 pm

''Ka-me-ha-me-ha''

Maybe ''Ka-may-hah-may-hah''

I guess you could probably break it up anyway you wanted to spell it out really. In all honesty though ''Ka-me-ha-me-ha'' always seemed to make sense to me.

tarsonis · Post by **tarsonis** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 9:13 pm

There's two pronunciations that I would deem correct:

Kah-mee-hah-mee-hah

or

Kah-may-Hah-may-Hah

But it's definitely not kuh-may-huh-may-huh, which sounds like what was used in the Ocean Studios dubs of the episodes.

Li'l Lemmy · Post by **Li'l Lemmy** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 9:50 pm

Anonymous Friend wrote:I don't know if this is a Dub problem or what, but how should it be pronounced? When people are referring to the technique I've heard it as Kuh-may-huh-may-huh and when they're using it in battle it's Kah-may-hah-may-hah. I've also heard Kah-mee-hah-mee-hah.

It's definitely a dub issue. Someone feel free to correct me on this, but I think the attack was always pronounced the same way in the original, no matter who learned it-- with the notable exception of Goten's Kamekameha, of course. It ended up being pronounced faster and faster as the series moved on, but that was about it.

Ka-Mey-Ha-Mey-HA!! is how I always heard it.

All this went to hell in the dub. The most notable example I can think of is in the old Ocean version when Gohan is raising his hands to fire repeated Masenko blasts at Vegeta; rather than actually saying Masenko, which I guess the writers thought nobody would understand, young Gohan shouts "Kameha-meya!!"

Mr.Piccolo · Post by **Mr.Piccolo** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 9:58 pm

Try Kahh-maye-Haah-maye-ha or Kuh-maye-uh-maye-uh. I say it like this. I hope this helps.

*goes back to Final Fantasy III*

-Rick

Post by **VegettoEX** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 11:11 pm

The only big thing to keep in mind is that the only syllable that gets any kind of emphasis over the other ones is the final "HA!"

It's *not* ka - MAY - ha - MAY - HA, or for that matter, ka - MAYA - MAYA.

The "me" part of it is a short sound; it doesn't really sound like the word/month "May". It's more like a "meh" sound (as in, "Bruce Faulconer is extremely meh."). Strangely, Cell (Norio Wakamoto) makes a point to say the "me" part with a long sound ("mee").

We said it in the latest podcast a few times, if you're interested

.

Ya' know what? Just click and listen for yourself.

Super Sonic · Post by **Super Sonic** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 11:22 pm

The reason they used to not pronounce the "h's" was probably because the great king of Hawaii's name was pronounced the same way.

Mystic Jack · Post by **Mystic Jack** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 11:29 pm

I think the uh.... kamayamaya was just a quick way for saying kamehameha. To be honest, just go with Mike's I can't think of a better way to put it.

Olivier Hague · Post by **Olivier Hague** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 11:12 am

VegettoEX wrote:Strangely, Cell (Norio Wakamoto) makes a point to say the "me" part with a long sound ("mee").

Wakamoto tends to make strange long sounds. ^^

The Tori-bot · Post by **The Tori-bot** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 12:17 pm

Olivier Hague wrote:
VegettoEX wrote:Strangely, Cell (Norio Wakamoto) makes a point to say the "me" part with a long sound ("mee").
Wakamoto tends to make strange long sounds. ^^

Yeah, it's really weird in Final Bout. Cell's Kaa-meh-hah-meh-HA sounds like, "Koh-mee-hey-mee-hehhhh!!" It's really weird.

(Hehe, I answered the question and gave an opinion in the same sentence! Yay for me!

)

Mr.Piccolo · Post by **Mr.Piccolo** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 1:53 pm

VegettoEX wrote: It's more like a "meh" sound (as in, "Bruce Faulconer is extremely meh.").

Had to sneak in the Faulconer sting, eh?

-Rick

Li'l Lemmy · Post by **Li'l Lemmy** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 2:00 pm

VegettoEX wrote:Strangely, Cell (Norio Wakamoto) makes a point to say the "me" part with a long sound ("mee").

Oh, right . . . I forgot all about that. Like when he was trying to blow away SSJ2 Gohan, and I remember thinking to myself, "Why is he saying it that way?"

Maybe it's an inflection of his dialect? I don't know much Japanese, but I find it hard to believe there's nothing more behind this one different instance of the attack's pronounciation other than that it "just happened".

Mr.Piccolo wrote:Had to sneak in the Faulconer sting, eh?

Could be worse. I think as far as Mike's concerned, he was being generous with that "meh".

Olivier Hague · Post by **Olivier Hague** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 2:15 pm

Li'l Lemmy wrote:Maybe it's an inflection of his dialect?

That's just Wakamoto chewing the scenery, as usual.