Pronounce

Hypothesis for, and analyses of, the various locations and backstory of the Suikoden world.
Dura Sinai
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Post by Dura Sinai »

I think it is time for another Japanese lesson, huh.

Japan adopted Chinese characters more thana millenium ago. During the Heian period it was expected for noble males to not write in japanese phonetic characters but rather the Chinese characters.

However because a phonetic language already existed, this means that the pronounciations of the same characters are quite different. This is why Japanese kanji cna have a near ridiculous number of pronounciations per character which is not the case in Chinese.

In addition, modern Japanese does not use all of the characters from China. Only about 2000 are in common print with about a thousand more which you may see in more advance writing on occasion. Chinese has far, far more and thus the difference in the characters used at the end of Suikoden..

I do find it odd though how many people cannot pronounce the game's name considering the romanization is one of the less odd ones. There are no bizarre syllables that we don't have in English so it should roll off the tongue just fine.
Iris
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Post by Iris »

Teer Mick-Dowl

Ree-oh

Kris
Ghetto
Hugo

Laz-low

Farowsh/Frey-ah-door/A-dill
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tactless
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Re: Pronounce

Post by tactless »

Komataguri wrote:
SinaiBeach wrote:Sorry i have no idea where to put this topic but how do you pronounce Suikoden actually? i was just wondering.
Su-ee-koh-den


IIRC
I don´t have neither the time or patience to read everything,but the reaon this pronounceation is correct is because of the japanese sounds for letters,which I now perfectly cuz they´re -almost- like spanish.
so it is Soo-ee-koh-den
"Whoa! I can´t wait to learn the art of dozzing off at my feet!" - Nalleo
Leebot

Post by Leebot »

If you want to get really accurate with the pronounciation, a couple quirks:

The "oh" sound isn't quite like the long O sound in English. To get the Japanese sound, you kind of have to cut off the English long O halfway through (at the end it normally fades into an "oo" sound; cut this part off).

The "e" is similar to this, but instead, take the English long A sound and cut off the end, where it fades into an "ee" sound.

Also, Japanese words generally don't have any particular syllables accented, so try to give the word the same accent through it all.

Of course, this is all nit-picking and most English-speakers wouldn't know the difference. Japanese would likely notice it, though.
sunstar25
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Post by sunstar25 »

Thankfully in the recent incarnations, the voice overs do give us the pronounciation we needed on some names. Otherwise, we'd have a hard time on how to pronounce some names on characters or locations.

For example if we didn't have voice overs, some people would be confused on how to pronouce some of these:

() =Mispronouce (())= Actual pronounciation

Obel = (Oh-Bell) ((Oh-Bull))

Miakis = (My-uh-Kis) ((Mee-uh-kees))

Armes = (Arms) ((Arm-iss))

Lyon = (Leon) ((Lee-Ohn))

Freyjadour (Frey-Ja-Dow-ur) ((Frey-uh-door))

I don't blame anyone if they can't pronounce L'Renouille (Le'-Ren-Oo-Ee)
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patapi
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Post by patapi »

sunstar25 wrote:Freyjadour (Frey-Ja-Dow-your) ((Frey-uh-door))
I'm surprised that there are voice-overs in the game for this mouthful name!
Raptorg

Re: Pronounce

Post by Raptorg »

i've always pronounced it as how japanese words are pronounced..

Su-I-Ko-Den

or if you pronounce it fast

suwikoden
something like that..
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KC_MCDOHL
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Re: Pronounce

Post by KC_MCDOHL »

Aw, that sucks. So it IS Su-ee-ko-den?? I heard that was incorrect. Most people, I believe, prounounce it Su-ko-den, with a silent 'i', and more emphasis on the 'O', so its more like Su-KO-den. But I've never said it like that either, I say it the same way but with less emphasis on the 'KO'. I just say it fast like 'Sookodin' lol and I'm gonna keep saying it that way because its wjat I'm used too :P
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Noraibah
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Re: Pronounce

Post by Noraibah »

The full name is 'Qin Xiang Shui Hu Jzuan'. The Mandarin Chinese and Japanese word for the term 'water' is very closely related.The Mandarin Chinese pronunciation is 'sh'eiye' and the Japanese term is either 'sui' or mizu. 'Mizu' is related to the Korean term for water as well.Although still relatively 'distant' compared to Mandarin Chinese due to linguistic and cultural differences. The 'Manchurians' and 'Koreans' claim to have the same ancestor such as the Mongols of northwest east Asia or in modern terms Central Asia.
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