Pronunciation of Japanese names (slight spoiler)

[GistOfSpirit]

I had a year's classes of Japanese so I remember a few things, although I couldn't hold a conversation. I'm saying that for context.

In the game, the name "Hongou" has appeared and it's pronounced the way I'd expect; the 'u' is meant to make the 'o' before it longer, not to be pronounced as "oo". Same way with other names ending in "ou".

I remember that the same relationship exists between 'e' and 'i'; meaning that "ei" should just be a longer "e". However, everyone pronounces the 'i' at the end of Junpei's name.

Is there a pronunciation rule I'm misremembering, a mistake in the voice direction or something else?

[Stoicism]

Hello. Japanese to English translator here. You are quite correct about the "u", but "e" and "i" do not have that relationship. They sound like "ay".

Edit: Wait, what is the spoiler in this post? :P

[GistOfSpirit]

Well, one might consider the name Hongou a spoiler. Very slight, but I wanted to play it safe.

Thanks for the answer, I guess I remembered it wrong! :)

[Ereh]

Then why many Japanese say "sen-seh" when they wanna say "sensei"? lol

[SimicEngineer]

Vowels are often muted at the ends of words, but IIRC that's a feature of the (stereo)typical Tokyo accent rather than being universal in Japanese speech.

[Stoicism]

More importantly, what bright spark decided to translate Junpei-kun as "Jumpy"... that's REALLY cheesy.

[GistOfSpirit]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Stoicism:

More importantly, what bright spark decided to translate Junpei-kun as "Jumpy"... that's REALLY cheesy.

I'm far from an expert but it makes sense to me. I don't think there's any equivalent of "-kun" in English. People do make nicknames though. William becomes Willie, Katherine becomes Katie, why not Junpei into Jumpy?

[Metadragon]

Hongou = Hong-go
Junpei Tenmyouji = June-pay Ten-mee-oh-jee
Akane Kurashiki = A-con-ay Coo-rah-shi-kee
Phi = Fy
G-OLM = Gah-lem (Think Lord of the Rings' Gollum and if your American Golem is typically pronounced Goh-lem because we speak more rhotically and put more emphasis on the first half of words but not here)

That should cover the basics. Virtue's Last reward has voice acting so it should clear itself up. And 999 on PC has voice acting as well apparently.

Opprinnelig skrevet av IndridCold:

I'm far from an expert but it makes sense to me. I don't think there's any equivalent of "-kun" in English. People do make nicknames though. William becomes Willie, Katherine becomes Katie, why not Junpei into Jumpy?

Theres no direct equivalent. Saying something like "Young man" or even "Young Lady"(though less common) from a position of more authority is the closest equivent. It can also be used to refer to someone you are close to but roughly a peer to. In Japan its a honorific but in English its more of a tonal shift in how you talk to someone.

Unless your speaking Japanese just know that "-kun" in Zero escape is basically meaningless in the english traslation as we already understand the relationships between the characters by reading their dialogue which has my above mentioned tonal change.

[Stoicism]

Opprinnelig skrevet av IndridCold:

Opprinnelig skrevet av Stoicism:

More importantly, what bright spark decided to translate Junpei-kun as "Jumpy"... that's REALLY cheesy.

I'm far from an expert but it makes sense to me. I don't think there's any equivalent of "-kun" in English. People do make nicknames though. William becomes Willie, Katherine becomes Katie, why not Junpei into Jumpy?

I understand logically why it was done. And I do appreciate the difficulty in translating things that don't have an English equivalent. It's just like, Jumpy sounds like a really nervous guy. Or a pet bunny that hops around. I would have maybe just shortened it to "Jun".

[AdvanceStrat]

Don't forget Akane ends up with the codename June.