Pokemon Pokemon name pronunciation guide... Should they make one?

[Setosama]

In my spare time I've taken to listening to both the Johto and the Hoenn pokeraps, back when the dub actually had some decent voice work and catchy theme tunes to go with the show, comparable to the J-Pop songs of the original Japanese version... I don't remember hearing any debate about how the original 151 pokemon names were pronounced and a good lot of the names most people come to a consensus on how to say them but there are some which are pronounced wrong by various people and even some of the songs pronounce the names wrong... Sometimes they're pronounced right though.

Some examples of names I think are pronounced correctly in the Pokeraps are "Raikou" pronounced like "ry-koh" and NOT "ry-kew" WHICH IS WRONG if you know how it's name sounds in Japanese in which it's spelled the exact same way in Romanji. The other really BIG example of the songs pronouncing a name right is Rayquaza. I remember when I first heard them say "ray'-kuway-za" I was completely taken aback since it just SOUNDS wrong. Should be pronounced "ray'kuwah-za" like it is in the pokerap.

Some examples of names pronounced WRONG are Beldum (pronounced "bed-lum" in the pokerap), Groudon (pronounced "grew-don" in the pokerap) and Kyogre (which is pronounced "ki-yo-gray" in the song; but unless you know how it's name sounds in Japanese, odd's are you're pronouncing it's name wrong because it's spelling is VERY weird)...

Which brings to question: Does anybody think that perhaps they should release a new pokedex or something which states how to pronouce the names of all 649 of these creatures? or has this already been produced and I just don't know about it?

 

[DNA]

Why bother? Any official media made by Pokemon is inconsistent and full of holes anyway.

 

[Alan]

Actually, this book has pronounciation guiding for the first 491 Pokémon. I own it but there are many MANY errors. there is an updated version,but I don't know what was fixed. there should be an article on this book on bulbapedia that lists the fixes (Most notably, the original says Rotom and Delibird are legendaries. LOL)

 

[Chariblaze]

Some examples of names pronounced WRONG are Beldum (pronounced "bed-lum" in the pokerap), Groudon (pronounced "grew-don" in the pokerap)

How...?

PBR gave a pretty good guide to pronunciation (as in, the announcer), barring Arceus. But yeah, an official pronunciation guide would be nice.

 

[PMJ]

For a good time, send out Togetic in PBR

 

[Setosama]

How...?

PBR gave a pretty good guide to pronunciation (as in, the announcer), barring Arceus. But yeah, an official pronunciation guide would be nice.

I still say the name is pronounced wrong for the movie... (I understand why it's pronounced the way it is but doesn't matter. I still call him "ar-see-us" because "ce" does not anywhere in the english language make a "kee" sound.)

PBR pronounces Raikou wrong! It says "Ry-kuu" when it's supposed to be "Ry-koh"! It also has the god awful "ray-kway-za" instead of "ray-kuwah-za" =/

---

For a good time, send out Togetic in PBR

or fire a Draco Meteor and hear the announcer pronounce it WRONG!

 

[Zenith]

how can we know which ones are pronouncing it wrong if there's no consistent official word on any of them?

honestly I think people should should pronounce them however. as long as the other person can understand you it doesn't really matter.

 

[bacon]

Ray-Qaa-Zaa

For a good time, send out Togetic in PBR

Glorious

 

[Alan]

I can think of several Pokemon I pronounced wrong. for example I used to say mega-neeum. until I saw it said meh-ga y-nee-um on the anime. or Grow-tle I used to say Groh-tle. I think as long as you don't confuse people on who your naming, its all right.

 

[DNA]

It also has the god awful "ray-kway-za" instead of "ray-kuwah-za" =/

"ray-kwah-za" is actually an incorrect pronunciation. "ray-kway-za" is the correct English pronunciation. Or, to be weird, you can go one step backward and say "ray-koo-za", which is the correct Japanese pronunciation.

There isn't really a standard way of pronouncing most names. I myself did a project for my own personal use to find the etymology of all 493 Pokemon names that existed (and a few months after Unova was released, I expanded it), so because of that I tend to pronounce names based off of the etymology.

However, I believe I am the only person who says "skep-tile" instead of "sep-tile". I had 'skeptic' as my root word of choice for pronouncing it, and that's how I say it. (In my etymology project, though, I listed 'scepter' as well as 'skeptic'.) In fact, I believe Sceptile and Rayquaza are the only names that I pronounce wrong (right?) on purpose. The rest are just arguable.

Oh, what am I saying? They're all arguable. In fact, you should ignore everything I just said.

 

[Delta]

Groudon - Grou(nd) - don
Kyogre - K-igh-ogre
Raikou - R - igh - koo

Used to call Ampharos, Ampharados until a week ago and for the longest time used to call Starmie, Starmime, but that's a problem with me, not Pokemon.

...no they should not make one.

 

[Metalizard]

@DNA: I also say "Skeptile". I thought it was correct.... But I think Ray-quah-za is more correct (although I used to say "Ray-quay-za" a lot)...

btw, I hate people that say Girantina.

 

[DNA]

Look up the pronunciation of "Quasar".

btw, I hate people that say Girantina.

I go to a league and I see my fair share of mispronunciation. Lately I have become (sadly) desensitized to it. That's one of the things I hear, much like Groundon and Co(well, you know)rigus. It's "co-fa-GREE-jus".

 

[Juliacoolo]

I always try to pronounce in a way that's mild, favoring shorter vowel sounds. (Unless I know for sure it's pronounced otherwise)

Talking like they do in the anime disgusts me.

 

[Setosama]

Look up the pronunciation of "Quasar".

I go to a league and I see my fair share of mispronunciation. Lately I have become (sadly) desensitized to it. That's one of the things I hear, much like Groundon and Co(well, you know)rigus. It's "co-fa-GREE-jus".

is it REALLY supposed to be derived from "quasar"?

I think Rayquaza with "kwah" because of Montazuma. Looks Myan-ish to me.

Either way, I don't think I heard ANYBODY pronounce its name Ray-kway-zah before the deoxys movie... which isn't really all that great as far as pokemon movies go anyways. =/

Cof agrigus was a weird name to begin with. Don't know what NOA was thinking with that name change. but that's another story. XD

 

[DNA]

is it REALLY supposed to be derived from "quasar"?

Given how a quasar is a cosmic object, yes, I'd say it is.

 

[Cinesra]

Some examples of names pronounced WRONG are Beldum (pronounced "bed-lum" in the pokerap), Groudon (pronounced "grew-don" in the pokerap) and Kyogre (which is pronounced "ki-yo-gray" in the song; but unless you know how it's name sounds in Japanese, odd's are you're pronouncing it's name wrong because it's spelling is VERY weird)...

Maybe the guy who called it "grew-don" was Canadian? I pronounce Raikou as "rye-koh" just to not cause confusion with Raichu. A pronounciation guide would be nice, but unnecessary.

 

[Alan]

Another confusing one is Roserade. I called it Roser-aid for the longest time but then started calling it rose-raid.

 

[Xous]

I'm with the people who say "as long as you know which Pokémon they're referring to, it's fine." What I don't like is when people completely ignore the letters in a Pokémon's name and just pronounce it however they want. Palkia is not "Plakla." Unfortunately with a fandom with a younger audience it's hard to avoid such things.

 

[DNA]

Everyone around here pronounces Kyurem "Kairem". What's wrong with these people?

@Alan: I actually pronounce Roserade with 3 syllables still. Rolls off the tongue better, much like Roselia does.