Forum - View topicNaruto names pronunciation clear-up
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BoygetsfireD
 Posts: 475 Location: earth |
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Is there anyone on here who knows a lot about Japanese pronunciation, or who has (heaven forbid
 ) watched the fansubs of Naruto who could post the original pronunciations to Naruto characters' names?
I personally do not watch Naruto, and I probably wouldn't care about the names' pronunciation anyways, but I know that there are many people on here who do, so it would be nice if we could get a semi-definitive answer on here. |
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Yashouzoid
 Posts: 411 |
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From what I've heard, the dub pronounces the names correctly.
Including Nahru-toe. |
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outlawwolf
 Posts: 645 |
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japanese pronounciation of the names as they should be and already are.
Naruto: Na-ru-to Sakura: Sa-ku-ra Kakashi: Ka-ka-shi Sasuke for those who don't know japanese pronounciation is special because for the most part, the u in su is ignored and just pronounced as an s whenever it is in the middle of a name or something like that so... Sasuke: Sa-s-ke Same goes for Zabusa, Haku, Gara, Ino and just about everyone else. It's very simple and really doesn't need much discussion. If those who complained actually took the time to listen, they would hear that they are pronouncing the names correctly. |
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Ohoni
Posts: 3421 |
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Uchiha is pronounced Uchiha, not Ucheeeha.
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outlawwolf
Posts: 645 |
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Now for Uchiha
Uchiha: U-chi-ha. vowels are stand alone and some hiragana are more than just two letters that make a sound like shi and chi. Sound it out and compare. They are correct, your just a fansub loving nitpicker. |
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11417 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Well, from what I heard in like, the second or third episode, they did elongate the 'ee' sound in Uchiha, which technically is incorrect. However, I no longer have access to Cartoon Network, so I'm not sure how they say it now. I remember they said his name correctly in that same episode at some point, but I tend to think inconsistency is just a norm for new dubs like this one and that they'll eventually fix it. To copy and paste from another post, I like to use this as sort of a beginner's guide to Japanese pronunciations: a = short 'ah' as in 'dawn'' e = short 'eh' as in 'Met' i = short 'ee' as in 'feet' o = short 'oh' as in 'boat' u = short 'ooh' as in 'rude' Please note that if you see Romaji (Japanese words written in English) that most vowels you see will carry a short sound. Don't emphasize them or make them longer than they actually are. However, there are also ways to write the longer vowel sounds: aa = long 'ah' ei = long 'eh' ii = long 'ee' ou = long 'oh' uu = long 'ooh' Basically, just take the sounds of the short vowels and draw them out twice as long. For the most part, I think they said a majority of the names correctly to as far as I got to hear it (which wasn't very far, though). But, as I pointed out in the little "inconsistency" bit, they also had a few mispronunciations here and there such as Kakashi, Uchiha, kunoichi, and maybe shinobi (don't remember if they even said it). Of course, the level of how much one even cares for the aesthetics in these pronunciations is entirely subjective. Different people will care more or less than others. "Believe it!" 
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6897 Location: Kazune City |
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They messed up "Konohamaru" a little bit, but I'll give them some leeway since it's a 5-syllable name and it's for a minor character. They said it "ko no HA ma roo", when it should be said without undue emphasis on any one syllable. I can forgive them that much. I haven't watched past the second episode, so I haven't heard some names, but most of them sound pretty much on target, or at least in the "not butchered" range.
Sure, the "r" sounds aren't quite right, but I'm not going to fault them there either. The Japanese "r" differs from the English "r"; our "r" is formed by holding the tongue at the back of the mouth and moving the tip against the roof of the mouth a little bit, while the Japanese "r" is formed by tapping the tongue against the front part of the mouth, just above the top teeth. I can't represent the difference in writing, but the "r" in the original "Naruto" or "Sakura" should sound like a mix between an "r" and an "l" with a little bit of "d" thrown in there. (This is why they have trouble discerning English "r" and "l.") But again, since this is such a subtle phonetic issue, I don't fault the dub for not staying 100% faithful to the original. It would be nice, of course, but all in all, my sub purist/fansub-watching/Japanese-studying Otaku sensibilities were not offended by the Naruto dub. |
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TranceLimit174
 Posts: 960 |
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This isn't exactly a pronounciation question, but it took me about 80 episodes to catch on to this. Naruto constantly says "Datebayo!" or something close to that. I remember reading here that in the English dub uses the "Believe it!" phrase as a substitute. However in the show he seems to say it at some very odd times (ex. in Japanese he'll say something like "I'm tangled in the bells" followed by "datebayo"). It doesn't seem like the fan-subs translate the phrase and it's hard to put the phrase "Believe it!" after a sentence like that and have it make sense. So I was wondering if anyone knew what the meaning of "datebayo" is or if it's just it was just a made up phrase.
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patch
 Posts: 677 Location: New York, NY |
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The later. 
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outlawwolf
Posts: 645 |
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I do believe that you mean to say latter. |
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patch
Posts: 677 Location: New York, NY |
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Of course... Believe it! 
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Zoe
 Posts: 898 Location: Austin |
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Just a note, the phrase isn't actually "dattebayo." The actual phrase is "-ttebayo" which gets stuck onto various verbs. |
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Zalis116
Moderator
Posts: 6897 Location: Kazune City |
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True: since "da" is the casual form of the verb "to be" and the main verb in Japanese appears at the end of the sentence, it is very common to hear "dattebayo." I'll make up an example of a bad over-literal translation involving "dattebayo":
"I this class's #1 strong ninja am ~ttebayo!" where the Japanese sentence will end with "da." (lol, don't ask--this is a direct representation of Japanese structure) It should also be noted that "tteba" isn't unique to Naruto--it's used by many anime characters to express some kind of frustration, disapproval, or just an effort to call out another character's attention. From To Heart: Akari: Nee, nee, Shiho tteba~! (translated as, "Oh come on Shiho!) --I don't remember the scene too well, but she's tell Shiho to hurry up and/or reacting to Shiho teasing her. Naruto just adds the "yo" at the end to put some more power on the phrase ("yo" is sort of like an exclammation point that adds more emphasis to the sentence before it). In any case, it doesn't mean "Believe it!", and in fact doesn't really have any meaning, which is probably why the fansubbers don't translate it. I think it's a nice touch for the English dub. |
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TranceLimit174
Posts: 960 |
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Well I don't know what the translators thought, but it seems like it would be a very difficult thing to represent in English. Even though I think the "Believe it!" phrase is used a little too much I still like it. After all, it is a show for kids and it's a nice little catch phrase. I believe someone on this forum said it wouldn't be long after we started seeing Naruto posters with that phrase on them, and I believe it because the week after the show premired the kid I babysit kept spouting it out as well as jutsu names. I think the dub is really good but the "-ttebayo" phrase is really catchy and I actually like that more.
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Ro-zu
 Posts: 20 Location: Neverwhere |
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Tony K. So Japanese vowels are pronounced the same was as German vowels then? I find that interesting.
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