Subs or Dubs?

[Dracil]

You mean the "americanization" of names? They know that they are changing the pernunciation, they are usually trying to do it to make names "easier" to say for North American fans....or at least that is what they say when the fans get up in arms.

I would take that as an insult. Are they saying that NA fans are not smart enough to handle some simple pronunciations?

 

[Felron]

i agree compleatly, thats why i like subb, till i can speak jap.

 

[ChibiMethos]

Subbed or dubbed it doesn't matter to me as long as i can get my hands on all the episods of my current obession.

 

[SqueakyGerbil]

I would take that as an insult. Are they saying that NA fans are not smart enough to handle some simple pronunciations?

No, I am not saying that nor do I suspect they are either. To any anime fan, it isn't hard to pick up on the differences of how to pronounce any japanese names, but the companies aren't always releasing the anime for just the anime fans. They want a larger audience to want to buy the series (this goes for *any* series). That way they make more money and the average person isn't going to always be able to pick up the pronunciation.
In my first year japanese class I remember that it was a good month before the whole class had just the basic sounds down pat, yes there were people who picked it up very quickly but I would say about a quarter of the students kept trying to change what they were saying to a more "american-ized" sound.
By changing the names the companies (right or wrong) feel that they will be able to market it to a larger audience and in turn make more money.

 

[Dracil]

Yet, by not using the proper sounds, they're just making the situation worse and breeding ignorance because people will start thinking that's the proper way to say it, and that'll make subsequent learning of the correct way harder. I seriously don't see what's so hard about it... at the very basic, it's just 5 vowels, then append a consonant in front.

 

[SqueakyGerbil]

Yet, by not using the proper sounds, they're just making the situation worse and breeding ignorance because people will start thinking that's the proper way to say it, and that'll make subsequent learning of the correct way harder. I seriously don't see what's so hard about it... at the very basic, it's just 5 vowels, then append a consonant in front.

I never said it was a correct assumption. The problem with pronunciation (for english speaking fans) is easy to understand, there are quite a few differences that are actually hard once you really hear them (listen to a dub of Card Captor Sakura and listen to how the name "Sakura" is pronounced, then get a sub of Naruto and listen to how they pronounce it there......it is different and sometimes hard for someone who isn't very familiar with japanese or anime to say). Sometimes its easier to take the opinion that if it causes the companies to bring more anime over from japan, then it can be overlooked. They do keep closer to names then they did in the past so hopefully they will eventually decide to change.

 

[RyeMex]

SUBS! american voices in anime suck so bad -_-

 

[Felron]

rye you say it like a pro. ^^

 

[RyeMex]

hehe why thank you *small bow*