Re:Pronouncing non-English names for English speakers
by MereInterest on Monday July 26, 2021 @10:05AM
(#27959481)
There's a apocryphal story about a translator at an anime convention being asked why he changed a name in the English dub, using an L sound, where the name in Japanese used an R sound. The translator's response was a very flat "Because 'Alucard' is 'Dracula' spelled backwards."
I also love the double mind-fuck of "karaoke":
EN: pronounced "owe-kee"
JP: "oh-keh"!
EN: but "oke" comes from the English "orchestra" (kara-oke = empty orchestra)… so really should be pronounced "or-keh"? Are we mispronouncing a Japanese mispronounciation of OUR OWN WORD??
(and then of course the Greeks chime in, OG)