Regarding Japanese Names

[Serebii]

Seems there is a lot of confusion about the Japanese Names of Pokémon here...either people not getting them right or realising that there ARE multiple translations of the name and ALL of them are fully accurate.

While there are Official Translations used, on several occassions (Shifty's Daatengu-->Dirteng, Plusle's Purasuru-->Prasle, Grovyle's Juputoru-Juptile) they lose the meaning or sound completely different to how they're supposed to

So below are the acceptable translations of the Pokémon...they are all accurate and ALL can be used

;munchlax;
Gonbe

;rukario;
Rukario, Rucario, Lukario, Lucario, Rukalio, Rucalio, Lukalio, Lucalio

;bonsly;
Usohachi

;manene;
Manene

;manyula;
Manyula, Manyuula, Manyuura, Manyura

;manafi;
Manaphi, Manafi, Manaphy, Manafy

And so on, so please stop saying that certain names are right while certain others aren't.

Thank You

 

[Shigaiko]

The Japanese are very limited on the sounds they're taught to say. (e.g. they have no 'l' in their language, so they use a 'r' sound instead - hence, Lukario vs. Rukario.) However, they do have an n sound, as well as multiple m sounds. I'm sorry, but how you can possibly assign 'Gombe' as another translation of 'Gonbe' is beyond me.

 

[TheRealWobbuffet]

I'm not going to argue, I just want to give an example of how a singular "n" can be an "m".

The word "Mammoth" is written in katakana Manmosu. In this case, the singular "n" is used as an "m".

So, while the most probably spelling of Gonbe is just that, Gombe is possible, just not a likely translation.

 

[Denjuu]

I've been a little confused with the pronounciation of Manene's name.

Is it...
(MON-eene)
(MON-en)
(MAN-en)
(MAN-eene)

 

[Gravy]

Manene is pronounced as 'Mah-neh-neh'. The 'Mah' part sounding like the 'ma' in man.

 

[Regret1017]

Wikipedia lists these translations:
Perrapu = Parrap
Buizeru = Buoysel
And I've heard Tamanta called "Spheray" and "Sphrae"

 

[Serebii]

Perrapu can be romanized to Perrap...but not to Parrap
Buizeru into Buoysel...I'm not sure with this one
And no for Tamanta. That would go in the US Name speculation thread.

 

[Jobbernowl]

Perrapu can be romanized to Perrap...but not to Parrap.

If the name Perappu was derived from the word "parrot" (which is very probable) then Parrap would definitely be a valid romanization. You see, from the Japanese namer inventors' standpoint, if they had to convert the word "parrot" to Japanese it would most likely be spelled in Japanese "perot" because the pronuncitation of the "a" in "parrot" is closer to the definitive "eh" than to the definitive "ah".
That being said, Perrapu can be romanized to Parrap with an "a" that is pronounced like the "a" in "parrot."

 

[Regret1017]

Parrap makes sense from what wikipedia gave: it's a palindrome, made from 'parrot' and 'rap', and Buoysel makes sense too - 'buoy', from that thing on its neck, and weasel.

 

[Altair]

I'm sorry, but why is it again that there are so many English translations?

 

[MetalMario]

You're forgetting that ゴンベ could be legitimately romanized as "Gombe," just as てんぷら is often romanized as "tempura".

I think the debate here has less to do with what are "acceptible" romanizations, and more to do with what we believe the designers intended their names to be. Each Japanese name has an official English spelling, but these are not always availible to us, so some people end up making assumptions, such as Parrap and Buoysel. While these are probably correct, they are, unlike Lucario when his debates were going on, unconfirmed. GF could still surprise us.

I believe that, when there's no official spelling released, we should use a mechanical romanization (ie. Rukario, Manyuura, Buizeru), but we should switch to the official spelling as soon as it's made availible. I believe that

Edit: Woah. I never finished this post. Today being the day after, I totally forget what I was saying.. o_0

 

[Metal Force]

manfai & lucario seem to have many different spelling

 

[VampirateMace]

The Japanese are very limited on the sounds they're taught to say. (e.g. they have no 'l' in their language, so they use a 'r' sound instead - hence, Lukario vs. Rukario.) However, they do have an n sound, as well as multiple m sounds. I'm sorry, but how you can possibly assign 'Gombe' as another translation of 'Gonbe' is beyond me.

Acturally it's not really a R or an L, but is is closer to R... They don't have less sounds, just diffrent sounds.

 

[cunn!ng]

I'm not sure if I'm the first to mention that, but I think "manyura" is correct since we don't spell "nyula" for sneasel, we spell "nyura".

 

[Eszett]

Both Manyula or Manyura are correct since L's are transliterated as R's in katakana. Japanese lacks the particular sound of a L, so to make amends for this it simply substitutes R when borrowing foreign words from languages with that sound.

 

[cunn!ng]

I know that, I have been studying japanese since june 2005 =)
We still don't know US name of manyura, & we call it by its japanese name. In Japan they say "manyura" because of lack of "L" in their language, so since we use japanese name of pokemon, we shoul spell "R", cause japanese spelling can't contain "L" in definition ^__^
For example, hitmontop's original name is "kapoera", & we can't spell "kapoela".

 

[Princess Sapphire]

I've been trying to learn Japanese for only a little while, and all I've managed is translating the katakana writting into the romanized names we're used to seeing by now. the only real trouble I have is translating the romanized names into english,and I have no idea how the japanese people do it. Every time I try to translate a name, I only get half of it right. The easiest example I can give is Squirtle's Japanese name: Zenigame (ゼニガメ in Katakana). The english name originates from squirt and turtle. Turtle in japanese is "kame", but squirt in japanese is "fukidasu", which has nothing to do with the name. So, I'm completely confused on how the english names are determined. I originaly thought that if I could read japanese, I would already have the english names and not have to keep waiting for them to be announced. half becouse I grow impatiant considerably quickly, and because I'm TIRED of waiting! If there's ANYONE here who can translate katakana to english, PLEASE help me figure it out. 'Couse sooner or later, it's going to drive me mad more than my brother does on a daily basis.

 

[Joe_Pokemon20000]

Well, some names of Pokemon in Romaji have double A, I as in Serebii, O as in Koori, U, N and E. O is OH if another letter is added. For double consanents, use a ッ in Katakana or っ in Hiragana. As in Manafi use a ふ or フ and add a small ァ, ィ, ェ or ォ (Fa, Fi, Fe, Fo). I might knew that already.

ON TOPIC: That is SO many confusions.

 

[Serebii]

Just need to remind you all of this again, since Buizeru & Perappu have got names on merchandise of Buoysel & Perap