Shmup pronounciations, Myths and Legends

Aquas · Post by **Aquas** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 9:21 pm

Well, I refer to the HRAP2 to my friends as the "H-RAP TWO". Is that how you guys refer to it? I'm just throwing this out there.

Should we get a shmup pronounciation guide?

Gradius:

Grah-dee-us?
Gray-dee-us?

Mushihime:

(moo she he may?)

Etc.

Haha.

nem · Post by **nem** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 9:33 pm

Eye-car-uh-ga.

Aquas · Post by **Aquas** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 10:01 pm

Ih-kah-ruga.

Aquas · Post by **Aquas** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 10:01 pm

Ih-kah-roo-gah.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 10:06 pm

Ikarumba

Klatrymadon · Post by **Klatrymadon** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 10:10 pm

I've always said Gray-dius, but Grad-ius does seem to be the accepted form. Bollocks to that.

I can never bring myself to say Da-rye-us, either. Sounds too drawn-out. I basically pronounce it the same way that cunt off Pop Idol does...

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 10:28 pm

Bal-Sagoth wrote:I've always said Gray-dius, but Grad-ius does seem to be the accepted form. Bollocks to that.

I tend to say Gray-dius as well when I am talking english (not native to me of course), it´s sounds way cooler in my very humble opinion.

Hope that makes you feel any better about it.

shinsage · Post by **shinsage** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 10:47 pm

Bal-Sagoth wrote: I can never bring myself to say Da-rye-us, either. Sounds too drawn-out. I basically pronounce it the same way that cunt off Pop Idol does...

Dar-e-us sounds way better than Da-rye-us.

There is no incorrect pronounciation for Gradius. so, have at it.

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 10:58 pm

Actually, it's pretty easy to find out how Japanese shmups are pronounced: Just look at the kana.

グラディウス
ダライアス
ドドンパチ
雷電　（らいでん）
etc.

There's little room for discussion.

And this is the point where this topic should end, but alas - it will almost certainly go on, with speculations and interpretations and yadda yadda...

Circa2113 · Post by **Circa2113** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 11:02 pm

Ceph wrote:Actually, it's pretty easy to find out how Japanese shmups are pronounced: Just look at the kana.

ダライアス
グラディウス
ドドンパチ
雷電　（らいでん）
etc.

There's little room for discussion.

Exactly, it's phonetic.

LUNardei · Post by **LUNardei** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 11:02 pm

The japanese pronounciation is kinda similar to the italian one. So it's definitely Pizzaruga

shoe-sama · Post by **shoe-sama** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 11:58 pm

For the Romanized form of Asian languages, a is the short o sound, ei is the long a sound, and blah blah blah for other vowel combinations. You could figure pronunciations out after messing around a bit.

EatenByGrues · Post by **EatenByGrues** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 12:45 am

In Gradius V the announcer says 'Grad-ius' quite a few times in the background. You can't really get more official than that.

Also: Doe Don Pach-ee. though the announcer seems to drop the 'ee' when he says it. Sounds more like Don Patch. Not sure on this one.

Battle Gah-ray-ga?

shoe-sama · Post by **shoe-sama** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 12:51 am

Hey guys how about we stick to English and not obsess over how they're pronounced in Japanese?

Pirate1019 · Post by **Pirate1019** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 1:11 am

For me I simply pronounce them however is easiest on the tongue.

Gradius = Gray-dius
Darius = Dar-ee-us
Battle Garrega = Gare-eh-guh

Then again I rarely get to talk about shmups anywhere but here so pronunciation isn't what I care about.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 1:28 am

Both common pronunciations of Gradius have been used in-game so there's really nothing too official.

Aleste: ALESTA

The kana should be enough for pronunciation but I think many people (though not so much here) aren't familiar with it or the syllable pronunciations. But really, I feel folks ought to do their own research because this is all really simple-to-pick-up stuff.

Aquas wrote:Well, I refer to the HRAP2 to my friends as the "H-RAP TWO". Is that how you guys refer to it? I'm just throwing this out there.

Yup, everybody calls it yet.

shoe-sama · Post by **shoe-sama** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 1:48 am

People will look at you funny if you start saying GEEGAH WEENG or BOTSOOGOON or something.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 2:19 am

Rob wrote:Ikarumba

A new companion to "Guh-wang"?

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 2:57 am

BulletMagnet wrote: A new companion to "Guh-wang"?

Wait, that's not how it's pronounced!?

EatenByGrues · Post by **EatenByGrues** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 5:42 am

Hey how do you pronounce Dai Ou Jou?

Die Oy Joy? Die Oo Joo ?

Gungriffon Geona · Post by **Gungriffon Geona** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 5:52 am

Rob wrote:
BulletMagnet wrote: A new companion to "Guh-wang"?
Wait, that's not how it's pronounced!?

I always thought it was "Guh-waynj".

Arznei · Post by **Arznei** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 6:33 am

Die old jew.

jp · Post by jp » Fri Mar 30, 2007 6:46 am

I always pronounced Ikaruga:
Ih-kah-ru(roll the r so its more of a d sound)-gah.

junkeR · Post by **junkeR** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 1:35 pm

jp wrote:I always pronounced Ikaruga:
Ih-kah-ru(roll the r so its more of a d sound)-gah.

I can't seem to roll my r. j?

So, Aleste sounds like:

Ah-LEST-Ah

right? I say:

Ah-LEST-A (the last A sounding like 'way' or 'nay')

SpooN · Post by **SpooN** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 2:56 pm

Not that I'm an expert but the guys from japan can't really pronounce the games the way they write them because all of their syllables end with a vowel ('n' is the only exception and they tend to drop 'i' and 'u' sometimes).

If a game name is meant to be roman sounding the japanese pronunciation would be mostly wrong no matter how the creators or whoever calls them.
Gu-ra-dii-u-s(u) is just wrong for Gradius, a word which is obviously already a pun (or butchered version) of Gladius.

But most people from english speaking countrys are not able to pronounce the vowels "correct" in words like Gradius so if that is the case for you, you should just stick to your way to call them because everything else is futile. (no offense, I can't produce a correct 'th' myself...)

FRO · Post by **FRO** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:12 pm

Ceph wrote:Actually, it's pretty easy to find out how Japanese shmups are pronounced: Just look at the kana.

グラディウス
ダライアス
ドドンパチ
雷電　（らいでん）
etc.

There's little room for discussion.

And this is the point where this topic should end, but alas - it will almost certainly go on, with speculations and interpretations and yadda yadda...

Except some of us have zero knowledge of Japanese & might be a tad insulted at a statement like this. I consider myself well spoken with a good grasp of the English language, having learned phonetically rather than by some other method.

That said, I pronounce the names based on my limited knowledge of Japanese pronunciation & my best phonetic interpretation.

Grah-dee-us
Dare-ee-us
Ik-ah-ru-gah
Don-Patch
Ah-lest-eh

and so forth. Some of the other names (like Mushi) I wouldn't attempt because I'd probably butcher them beyond all recognition.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:54 pm

If memory serves, pronunciation in Japanese is relatively simple, at least compared to English, since they only use a single sound per vowel...as for accents and emphasis and stuff like that, though, I know nothing.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 10:36 pm

junkeR wrote: So, Aleste sounds like:

Ah-LEST-Ah

right? I say:

Ah-LEST-A (the last A sounding like 'way' or 'nay')

Yup, the last sound is an "ah." However, there's no clear stressed syllable, since JP is a "machine gun language" with every mora evenly stressed. That's why some say hiroSHIma and some say hiROshima, and both are considered okay.

J-Manic · Post by **J-Manic** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 12:53 am

When I pre-ordered Raiden III, the guy that helped me pronounced it as Rai-den instead of Ray-den. I kinda looked at him weird. I've always pronounced it as Ray-den.

Which one is the correct way to pronounce it?

shinsage · Post by **shinsage** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 1:04 am

J-Manic wrote:When I pre-ordered Raiden III, the guy that helped me pronounced it as Rai-den instead of Ray-den. I kinda looked at him weird. I've always pronounced it as Ray-den.

Which one is the correct way to pronounce it?

Rai-den.

Same for Ninja Gaiden.
When I was young I called it Gay-den, it took me years to adjust to Guy-den. I felt broken.