How do YOU pronounce Gradius? :)

[captpain]

duh-RYE-us

hmm... interesting...
i've always pronounced it as 'dah-ree-us' ie: gray-dee-us...
only recently i heard your version when .SM said it

"dah" =/= "gray"

"day" = "gray"

[themachinist]

gradius like radius
raiden like maiden

[kozo]

raiden like maiden

That's one that gets me when I hear it from a friend. I have them all trained to say "rye-den", but that is the language geek in me coming out, not the Japanophile. And, they've all played Metal Gear Solid 2, if not MGS4, so they have no excuse.

Next task: fixing Ryu's "RYE-oo" into "ree-OO."

Then again, there is a point where foreign words are mispronounced so much that it becomes a loan word. Fiancee, karaoke, plaid...goes the other way into other languages, too.

/tangent

[captpain]

I am a huge fat meganerd but people saying RYE-you bugs me in real life.

[themachinist]

you know it's kind of funny because i've taken some japanese language classes in college but i still like to pronounce raiden and ryu wrong due to playing those games as a kid before hand. just got used to it you know.

[BrightSuzaku]

Pronunciations: "rye-den", "gray-dee-uss", and "da-rye-uss". Although I'm bad for using "dare-ee-uss", too.

I find "grah-dee-uss" so weird to say. Although that variation uses the Japanese "a" sound, and the "a" sound in "gladius"... I cringe whenever I hear "ray-den", actually.

No questions on how to pronounce R-Type, right? Lawls. Although, ESP Ra.De. is a weird title. I actually say "esp rah-day", despite knowing that it's just pronounced "esp-rayd". On occasion, I catch myself saying "ee-ess-pee rah-day", too.

I know someone that calls Dodonpachi "dawn-dawn-pah-chee", despite the romanized spelling that says it's "doe-dawn-pah-chee"...

And, for the record, guys, it's "spays ihn-vay-derz". LOL

[kozo]

you know it's kind of funny because i've taken some japanese language classes in college but i still like to pronounce raiden and ryu wrong due to playing those games as a kid before hand. just got used to it you know.

I understand, and I do it too with other names, even native Japanese names and words. My tutor was a crazy, flirtatious Japanese girl, so I learned more slang and curses than real words.

Re: R-Type, the kana make it look like it could almost be spelled "All-Type" instead (aaru-taipu.)

[MathU]

I've always pronounced it just like the Roman/Gaul sword, as I thought that was the original intention, and the 'R' was just an artifact of transliteration. I think it's obvious either way, and pronouncing it Gray-dee-us is pretty weird.

Now 'Darius' is a bit more contentious. I thought they were alluding to one of the Persian kings originally, so I used to pronounce it like you would them. Interestingly, if you use the actual Classical Age Greek pronunciation it's very similar to the correct one.

These pronunciation polls always reveal something interesting to me. I would have thought the 2D shooter community (let's be honest, a necessarily Japanophile community these days) was more knowledgeable about simple Romanization pronunciation rules.

[null1024]

Grey-dee-uhs.
Never thought otherwise either.