Score.

[tj_dragonblade]

Hah! He ate, finally, the stubborn little f*cker!

Still can't figure out his name - too spastic for a Homura, Ukoku/Kenyuu/Nii or Eclipse; too angry for an Ares, too sullen for a Panther, just...not an Aku - but at least he ate!

...if 'hakuryu' is 'white dragon', I wonder what 'black dragon' would be...?

Comments

'I always wanted to be a pedant but I didn't have the Latin'

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Hockeroo. Yes. Brings back painful memories of the Rurou dub. English vowels are the curse of English. Every other language I've been exposed to has a delicate touch with its vowels, but English gives them the flat full-mouthed treatment, and pronounces them four different ways to boot. Keep your y's light, tripping on the tongue, and you can in time learn to say ryu and kyo as one sound.

Tenpoo almost makes me rethink my system of anglicization. I think it's in the same league as this (http://flemmings.livejournal.com/37044.html#cutid1). English phonics rule OK.

The name is Jiipu; Jippu is simply, well, wrong. It's written in katakana, being a foreign word to start with, since foreign words are always written in katakana. In katakana a long (ie sustained) vowel is indicated by a dash, and wouldn't it be nice if hiragana did the same because then the guy's name would be written Tenpo- with no pesky u's to confuse foreigners. The name's written ji-pu which turns into jiipu in our alphabet.

Re Hakkai: double consonants are held for two beats, and foreigners never ever ever hold their double consonants long enough. So you break the name after the first k, because otherwise you'll say those k's too fast. Hak-- count three, clean nails, check email-- kai. Do that and you'll have held the double consonant long enough. Seriously- you have to hold double consonants for what feels impossibly long before it sounds right to a Japanese and doesn't confuse them. Otherwise they hear 'Hakai' and wonder who you're talking about.

HTH.

Re: 'I always wanted to be a pedant but I didn't have the Latin'

[tj-dragonblade.livejournal.com]

I think it's in the same league as this.

*wipes away tears of mirth*

And that reminds me, in turn, of the many many discussions I've had with my four-year-old son over a character named Kaori on this snowboarding game he likes to play. The announcer presents her as 'Kay-or-ee'. Which makes me twitch. But when I say the name (and I'm sure I still sound far too close to 'cow-ree'), he'll tell me 'No, mom, it's Kay-or-ee'. And I have to explain, time and again, that yes I understand that's what the game said but honey, the game is wrong.

Anyway. Thank you, again, for the tips and insights. ^_^