Pronunciations

[Theozilla]

Being completely unfamiliar with One Piece, that's how I would read it, yes. I mean, it looks exactly like "Fluffy" without the first F.
And while I'm certain you could find exceptions, that is the general rule in English.

Yeah but it is a simply a spelling of a foreign name/word. I mean you know that the word Pizza is pronounced "pee-za". Same with the name Lucci. Sometimes foreign words are spelled with double consonants.

 

[ForceStealer]

That's different though. Pizza is actually how it's spelled in Italian because Italian uses the same alphabet. There is no reason to spell ユフィ as anything other than "Yufi."

 

[Starling]

Just because two languages use the same alphabet doesn't mean they'll know how to pronounce the words properly. Word english borrows from french don't always get pronounced the same way, for example. I mean, déjà vu, for example, isn't pronounced day ja voo in french.

 

[ForceStealer]

I didn't say that, I said makes sense that it was spelled in English the same way it's spelled in Italian. There's no reason for "Yuffie" to have been written that way, as in Japanese, it looks like ユフィ. That doesn't even follow conventions of how Japanese is usually romanized.
A double consonant in romanization implies that it was written like this: ユッフィ. Which would have changed the pronunciation in another way.

 

[Joker]

YOU TELL 'EM FORCE

(I'm seriously butthurt about Yuffie and Tidus I'm not even joking)

 

[Cthulhu]

I guess I got the pronunciation right the first go, since i'm Dutch and am not marred by you 'Murcans' vowel shifts and shit . Our E's are pronounced as your A's and shit like that.

 

[Octo]

Tidus is....Tie -Duss

Isn't it?

 

[Tetsujin]

Oh, sweet innocent child.

 

[Octo]

I'm just glad I don't give enough of a shit about Tidus or FFX in general

 

[Wolf_]

I always said mayko but I can live with mAko. What I can't deal with is tee-fah and yoofie. I always accepted Tifa was short for Tiffany.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

I will never accept that Tifa's "real" name is Tiffany. Or even "Tiffa".

And what about Nanaki? Stress on the first or second syllable? I've always pronounced it NANaki rather than naNAki.

 

[ForceStealer]

I always accepted Tifa was short for Tiffany.

But...back to my argument on the last page, I only would have thought that if it were spelled Tiffa.

As for Nanaki, growing up I said NaNAkee. But Japanese doesn't stress any syllables (which, in English, sounds more similar to stressing the first.)

 

[Ite]

It should be NAN-akee, just in terms of the style of his homeland, which is kind of a Tibet/Native American fusion. But I pronounce it n'NAkee.

Pretty sure I pronounce everything wrong except Heidegger. I'm okay with that because I never talk about this game out loud. Dear Squeenix please allow us to toggle Voice Acting on/off. Please.

Anyway, here's how I pronounce everything plot-related in FFVII (in order of appearance):

Spoiler

Barret /ˈbærət/ (trochaic, BEAR-it)
Mako /meɪkoh/ (trochaic, MAY-ko)
Midgar /ˈmɪdgɑː(r)/ (trochaic, MID-gahr)
Shinra /ʃɪnrə/ (trochaic, SHIN-rah)
Materia /məˈtɪəriə/ (iambic, mah-TEE-ree-YAH)
Tifa /tiˈfə/ (trochaic, TEE-fah)
Sephiroth /ˈzefərɒθ/ (trochaic, SEF-i-ROTH)
Aeris /ˈeəres/ (trochaic, HEIR-ess)
Reno /riːnəʊ/ (trochaic, REE-no)
Corneo /ˈkɔː(r)niːəʊ/ (dactylic, CORN-ee-yo) (even though it should sound like the Godfather, iambic, DON-cor-NAY-o)
Mukki /ˈmuːki/ (trochaic, MOO-kee)
Heidegger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br1sGrA7XTU (the irony!)
Tseng /'seŋ/
Hojo /ˈhəʊdʒəʊ/ (trochaic, HO-jo)
Jenova /ˈdʒennəʊvə/ (iambic, jeh-NO-vah)
Rufus /ruːfʌs/ (trochaic, ROOF-us)
Kalm /ˈkælm/
Nibelheim /ˈnɪb(ə)l'haɪm/ (trochaic, NIB-el-HIME)
Zangan /'zæn'gæn/ (spondaic, ZAN-GAN)
Yuffie /jʌfi/ (trochaic, YUH-fee)
Junon /dʒuːnɒn/ (iambic, joo-NON)
Gelnika /ˈɡelnɪkə/ (trochaic, GELL-nih-KAH)
Corel /kɔːrel/ (iambic, ko-RELL)
Cait Sith /'keɪtsɪθ/ (spondaic, KATE-SITH)
Dyne /daɪn/
Coates /kəʊts/
Gongaga /ɡɒnɡɑːɡɑː/ (iambic, gawn-GAH-gah)
Nanaki /ˈnænæki/ (iambic, na-NA-kee)
Bugenhagen /ˈbuːɡɪnhɑːɡɪn/ (trochaic, BOO-gin-HAH-gin)
Bugah /ˈbuːɡɑː/ (trochaic, BOO-gah)
Hargo /hɑː(r)ɡəʊ/ (trochaic, HAR-go) (these names need retranslating to "Bugen" and "Hagen", right?)
Lucrecia /ˈluːkriːsiə/ (dactylic with pickup, loo-KREE-see-yah)
Shera /ʃiːrə/ (trochaic, SHEE-rah)
Wutai /wuːtaɪ/ (iambic, woo-TIE)
Godo /ɡəʊdəʊ/ (trochaic, GO-doh)
Ifalna /ɪfˌælnə/ (iambic, if-AL-nah)
Knowlespole /nəʊlzpəʊl/ (spondaic, NOLLS-POLL) (yes yes I know)
Mideel /mɪdiːl/ (iambic, mih-DEEL)

I think that's everything. This thread will be super fun for me to reference when the remake comes out.

 

[Octo]

I've always said Nana- kai

and Barret....well thats just BA- rhett (as in rhett butler) rhymes with garret. I think.

 

[Clement Rage]

Ay-riss
wren-oh
Yuff-ee
Bar-ret.
Tee-fah
Loo-kreh-see-ya
Cawt Sith (like 'Sith lord)
Woo-tye-ee.
Byu-gen-hay-gen

In general, different pronunciations don't bother me. If this is supposed to be a different world, the characters aren't speaking Japanese any more than they're speaking English.

 

[NikolaiBroketheZoom]

That's another one my brother taught me to say wrong. We said "buh-RHETT", like Tourettes.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

It should be NAN-akee, just in terms of the style of his homeland, which is kind of a Tibet/Native American fusion. But I pronounce it n'NAkee.

Pretty sure I pronounce everything wrong except Heidegger. I'm okay with that because I never talk about this game out loud. Dear Squeenix please allow us to toggle Voice Acting on/off. Please.

Anyway, here's how I pronounce everything plot-related in FFVII (in order of appearance):

Spoiler

Barret /ˈbærət/ (trochaic, BEAR-it)
Mako /meɪkoh/ (trochaic, MAY-ko)
Midgar /ˈmɪdgɑː(r)/ (trochaic, MID-gahr)
Shinra /ʃɪnrə/ (trochaic, SHIN-rah)
Materia /məˈtɪəriə/ (iambic, mah-TEE-ree-YAH)
Tifa /tiˈfə/ (trochaic, TEE-fah)
Sephiroth /ˈzefərɒθ/ (trochaic, SEF-i-ROTH)
Aeris /ˈeəres/ (trochaic, HEIR-ess)
Reno /riːnəʊ/ (trochaic, REE-no)
Corneo /ˈkɔː(r)niːəʊ/ (dactylic, CORN-ee-yo) (even though it should sound like the Godfather, iambic, DON-cor-NAY-o)
Mukki /ˈmuːki/ (trochaic, MOO-kee)
Heidegger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br1sGrA7XTU (the irony!)
Tseng /'seŋ/
Hojo /ˈhəʊdʒəʊ/ (trochaic, HO-jo)
Jenova /ˈdʒennəʊvə/ (iambic, jeh-NO-vah)
Rufus /ruːfʌs/ (trochaic, ROOF-us)
Kalm /ˈkælm/
Nibelheim /ˈnɪb(ə)l'haɪm/ (trochaic, NIB-el-HIME)
Zangan /'zæn'gæn/ (spondaic, ZAN-GAN)
Yuffie /jʌfi/ (trochaic, YUH-fee)
Junon /dʒuːnɒn/ (iambic, joo-NON)
Gelnika /ˈɡelnɪkə/ (trochaic, GELL-nih-KAH)
Corel /kɔːrel/ (iambic, ko-RELL)
Cait Sith /'keɪtsɪθ/ (spondaic, KATE-SITH)
Dyne /daɪn/
Coates /kəʊts/
Gongaga /ɡɒnɡɑːɡɑː/ (iambic, gawn-GAH-gah)
Nanaki /ˈnænæki/ (iambic, na-NA-kee)
Bugenhagen /ˈbuːɡɪnhɑːɡɪn/ (trochaic, BOO-gin-HAH-gin)
Bugah /ˈbuːɡɑː/ (trochaic, BOO-gah)
Hargo /hɑː(r)ɡəʊ/ (trochaic, HAR-go) (these names need retranslating to "Bugen" and "Hagen", right?)
Lucrecia /ˈluːkriːsiə/ (dactylic with pickup, loo-KREE-see-yah)
Shera /ʃiːrə/ (trochaic, SHEE-rah)
Wutai /wuːtaɪ/ (iambic, woo-TIE)
Godo /ɡəʊdəʊ/ (trochaic, GO-doh)
Ifalna /ɪfˌælnə/ (iambic, if-AL-nah)
Knowlespole /nəʊlzpəʊl/ (spondaic, NOLLS-POLL) (yes yes I know)
Mideel /mɪdiːl/ (iambic, mih-DEEL)

I think that's everything. This thread will be super fun for me to reference when the remake comes out.

I just went cross-eyed reading that.

 

[Mayo Master]

We said "buh-RHETT", like Tourettes.

That was actually what came to my mind

 

[ForceStealer]

I imagine "Barrette" would be closer, the hair clip.

My last name is Barrett, so I never had a problem with that one

 

[Theozilla]

That's different though. Pizza is actually how it's spelled in Italian because Italian uses the same alphabet. There is no reason to spell ユフィ as anything other than "Yufi."

Well, I don't disagree that spelling her name as Yufi would have been an acceptable way of romanizing her name, but sometimes romanization doesn't always follows the standard English language rules exactly, just like with the previous Monkey D. Luffy example (Luffy's name is really a perfect example of how Yuffie's named was romanized, as both of their names end with フ&#12451.

It happens with real life people as well, for example Yasuhiro Nightow (the mangaka of Trigun, Gungrave, and Blood Blockade Battlefront) could/should romanize his name as Naitō but he doesn't. Or Makoto Tezuka (son of Osamu Tezuka) will often romanize his name as Macoto Tezka.

Anyways I've always just pronounced the characters names how Square Enix pronounces them (probably because AC/C was my first FFVII media expsoure).

 

[Flare]

(I'm seriously butthurt about Yuffie and Tidus I'm not even joking)

Well I watched AC before I got to ever play the OG for VII, so I didn't get the 'Yuffy' pronunciation that some of you guys got. But I always pronounced Tidus's name as 'Tie-dus'. I still do. 'Tee-dus' doesn't sound right to me!

As for a few of the others;
'Boo-gen-ha-gen' with hard g's.
'Set-tra' with the C as an s sound (unlike Tolkien's c's )
'El-meer-ra' for Elmrya.
'If-fal-na' for Ifalna.
'Jee' for the Gi tribe, incidentally, unlike the hard g sound I use for Bugenhagen.

That's all I can think of for now.

Edit after reading more: I always pronounce Nanaki as 'Na-NA-ki' with the stress on the second syllable, Licorice.
Also, 'Knowlesple' or whatever it was... I pronounced it 'no-less-pole'.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

My kids used to pronounce hobgoblin as "boblokin". I thought they were referring to a person - Mr Bob Lokin.

 

[ForceStealer]

I always said the Gi Tribe with a hard G. And El-mee-ra is an interesting one. I know that's a real name, does it sometimes sound like that?

@Theozilla, that's fine I guess. And I'm not arguing that her name IS You-fee, I'm just saying the localization team kinda screwed up the romanization as I don't know how any (American) kid got You-fee out of that spelling. (I know Sony did VII's localization.) Seems a bigger flub to me than the Aeris/Aerith thing, considering those are exactly the same letters in Japanese. And as I recall, Nightow specifically chose that spelling for himself, so that's a little different. Also it's still spelled phonetically.

I always said Tee-dus because I heard my friends talking about him before I ever played X.

 

[NikolaiBroketheZoom]

The whole "Yuffie-rhymes-with-fluffy" thing was news to me. I have no idea why me and my brothers all pronounced it "you-fee" because in hindsight it does look like it rhymes with "fluffy". We're American, for the record. I think it's because my older brother pronounces EVERYTHING wrong (he pronounces calculator "COCK-you-later" like why, why would you), so he pronounced Yuffie wrong as a child but was accidentally right.

 

[ForceStealer]

I have a friend like that. Pronounced damn near every word in that game wrong, but happened to be right on You-fee. But wrong on Tih-fa, Chock-uh-bo, Red 8, Claude, the works.