Was Aeris a mistranslation?

[KentaRawr!]

:3 Let's see how this goes.

I, personally, believe it was NOT a mistranslation. This is mostly due to my hearing the name "Aeris" prior to knowing of Final Fantasy 7, but never have I ever heard of someone with the name Aerith. However, this is about translation, not silly stuff like that.

To my understanding, there is no thick "th" sound in the Japanese language. There is, however, a very "S" type sound, which can be translated as a "th" sound as well. Though, I'm no expert at Japanese, so don't quote me on this. But one thing I've noticed when watching trailers of both the US and JP versions of the game Phantasy Star Universe, the name "Ethan" is pretty much changed to "Esan" when introduced to the Japanese voice actor's vocal chords, since in the Japanese language, there is no hard "th" sound to represent his name well enough, the closest thing being the "S" sound.

So that's my thinking on this. :3 What about you?

[Aerith's Knight]

I believe that both sound the same, but to prevent americans and europeans saying her name with a -th instead of a -s sound, they translated her to Aeris.

the name is still Aerith, but it is pronounced Aeris

I dont really care either way, but Aerith has the possibility of placing an 's behind it

Sephiroth is also called Sephiros in AC(i always watch it in japanese)

[Shotgunnova]

Dunno...not a linguist. All I know is that, with my American backwoodsy drawl, "Aerith" sounds as sublimely stupid as "Argath Thadalfus." As far as appropriate usage, either gets the point across.

[PuPu]

Seeing as how the Kingdom Hearts games calls her "Aerith," I'd say the FF7 version of "Aeris" was a mistranslation.

Well, one of them has to be wrong. Seeing as how they've called her "Aerith" in all the Kingdom Hearts games and "Aeris" in only ONE game of FF7...

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

Square decides the English spelling of their characters' names before their games ever see release outside Japan, and from the beginning, their official spelling for the character in question has been Aerith.

But it was Sony, not Square, that translated FFVII itself into English. And as just one example of what an extremely sloppy localization they provided, they misrepresented Aerith as "Aeris."

Video game series have an unfortunately tendency to preserve mistakes such as these, but fortunately, Square bucked the trend in 2002, when they took Kingdom Hearts as an opportunity to fix Sony's error. And she's been known as Aerith worldwide, as originally intended, ever since.

[KentaRawr!]

But what that must mean is that she's known by a slightly different name in Japan, as there is no strong "th" sound available in the Japanese language's alphabets to perform it correctly, so an S sound is put there instead. So what this would mean is that she is known as Aerith everywhere, but Japan.

However, the fact that Sony did the translation for FF7, and Square did the translation for Kingdom Hearts, definitely does say something. It does open the possibility for me that Square decided that everyone outside of Japan would put their tongue between their teeth when saying this character's name.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

In Japan, they would pronounce her name "earisu," because that's what's comfortable for them. But if they were going to write out that same name in Roman letters, they would write Aerith. That's the name they're saying, regardless of regional nuances.

[KentaRawr!]

But then how is it written in Hiragana or Katakana? The sound isn't represented in their alphabets to my knowledge, so they must write it in a way that also makes that phonetic alteration to the name, right?

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

エアリス
Earisu

Sounds like "air-ith."

[KentaRawr!]

Why is there a symbol or collection of symbols representing a sound that won't be said? o_O

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

There's nothing stopping Japanese people from pronouncing the "th" sound as we would in English. The structure of their language only inclines them towards doing it their way.

Similarly, the capital of France is named Paris whether you pronounce the S or not. It's not Paris in some places and "Pari" in others.

[KentaRawr!]

Meh, okay.

[Basic123s]

Dunno...not a linguist. All I know is that, with my American backwoodsy drawl, "Aerith" sounds as sublimely stupid as "Argath Thadalfus." As far as appropriate usage, either gets the point across.

Between Aeris and Aerith, I'll take Aeris thank you very much. I mean...that extra TH...has...a weird buzz to it. Only Daffy Duck could say something ridiculous like Argath Thadalfus. >_>

[Vermachtnis]

Dunno...not a linguist. All I know is that, with my American backwoodsy drawl, "Aerith" sounds as sublimely stupid as "Argath Thadalfus." As far as appropriate usage, either gets the point across.

Between Aeris and Aerith, I'll take Aeris thank you very much. I mean...that extra TH...has...a weird buzz to it. Only Daffy Duck could say something ridiculous like Argath Thadalfus. >_>

Excattally what I think. Aerith sounds likes what someone with a lisp would say.

[ReloadPsi]

If the Squenix localisation staff don't end up in bus shelters begging for cigarette butts in the next few years then there is no justice in the world.

Aeris sounds less awful than Aerith, but both are stupid names anyway. Anyone who calls their kids something like that (lulz she a persn in gaem i liek) should have their children taken into foster care. Naming someone Bruce after a Bruce Springsteen or Bruce Dickinson or Bruce Forsyth is fair enough, but I think copying fictional names is pretty damn nasty. My deepest condolences go out to baby Sephiroth.

Okay, rant's over.