Final Fatnasty VII question

[Guest princessmelissaisbetterthanyou]

Umm...this is so confusing to me. I've been playing games since I was a kid, but FF7 was the first RPG I ever really got into. Well, she was called "Aeris" in that game, but "Aerith" in Kingdom Hearts, right? But now she's called Aerith once again in the upcoming DVD thingy. What's the deal with the name change?

[Liam]

Isn't it one of those "depends on what country" kinda things? Like Jushin/Jyushin Liger/Lyger?

[Benji]

In the western versions of the game it was Aeris, it was originally Aeris, it's change in translation from the original meaning 'flower', she is now known in the western gaming world as Aerith also now, it's one of those silly things that they seemed to do for no reason, like Shinra/Shin-Ra and Mako/Makou. I personally use the original Japanese game terms.

[Guest princessmelissaisbetterthanyou]

Mako is now Makou? Yuck. I like Mako better. Same with "Shin-ra". That sounds super dumb.

[Kaney]

Benji is correct. I always preferred Aeris anyway, I hate people saying it's Aerith. Thats just too hard to pronouce >_>

Although I wasn't aware of 'makou'. I noticed you used that in your diary Benji, I thought you were just making a subtle reference to Mr McFarlane

[Liam]

I personally use the original Japanese game terms.

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Elitist cunt >_>

[Guest princessmelissaisbetterthanyou]

I personally use the original Japanese game terms.

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Elitist cunt >_>

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[Clawson]

I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be Aerith in VII but the translators just fucked it up.

I guess if they do a remake of VII on PS3 then it'll be Aerith.

[Benji]

I personally use the original Japanese game terms.

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Elitist cunt >_>

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My brother does the same thing. It's annoying because I have little to no idea what he's on about.

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It's not that hard to tell the difference, Shin-Ra isn't pronounced any different.

I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be Aerith in VII but the translators just fucked it up.

I guess if they do a remake of VII on PS3 then it'll be Aerith.

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You don't translate names, it was just a matter of, like Kaney said, it feels extensive on the western tongue to pronounce Aerith over Aeris.

[Skummy]

"Aerith" is supposed to be pronounced exactly the same as "Aeris", though, so it makes no difference anyway.

[Guest princessmelissaisbetterthanyou]

"Aerith" is supposed to be pronounced exactly the same as "Aeris", though, so it makes no difference anyway.

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[Skummy]

"Aerith" is supposed to be pronounced exactly the same as "Aeris", though, so it makes no difference anyway.

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How? One has a "th" and one ends in "s"! I don't get it...?

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It's the Japanese pronunciation, apparently. I don't know enough about it to go into detail, but this is what I've picked up along the way:

Apparently the "th" in Aerith is pronounced as "s" in Japan, so they changed the name to Aeris on the US release so that it would have the correct pronunciation.

[Guest princessmelissaisbetterthanyou]

Ha Ha! I gotta call him to laugh.

[stokeriño]

It's because they don't have a sound for "th" in Japan. Like how German doesn't have a "w" or a "j" sound, replaced with "v" and "y" respectively. The only reason they have for writing it as Aerith is to make it look cooler, and less Japanese. Because, after all, English is cool to them. Or, as you say, the original 'Aeris' spelling could have been a mistake. It's not like the translators were offered any indication the other way...

When pressed to pronounce something with a "th" in it, their pronunciation defaults to "s". Hence when they say "thank you" it sounds like "sank you".

As for the Mako/Makou thing, 'Makou' would be the accurate translation of the Japanese kana, as the 'u' is added onto the 'o' to lengthen it into an "oh"-type sound (like in "slow"), whereas 'o' on its own is a shorter, sharper sound (like in "hot"). The 'u' would have been originally left off in the English translation because we don't need it to pronounce the name correctly. Apparently they then changed their minds, or are just trying to annoy people. >_>

Edit: I am amused by the typo in the thread title. Final "Fatnasty" sounds like a thoroughly unpleasant gaming experience.

Edited September 6, 2005 by stokeriño

[FunkAsPuck]

As far as I know, it was meant to be Aerith as it was an anagram of "I Earth" which fits in with Aeriths role in the FFVII universe.

It was corrected for Kingdom Hearts and stays the same in Advent Children as far as I know. Other than that, I still prefer Aeris, but I like the fact that Aerith has its own meaning.

[Guest princessmelissaisbetterthanyou]

As far as I know, it was meant to be Aerith as it was an anagram of "I Earth" which fits in with Aeriths role in the FFVII universe.

It was corrected for Kingdom Hearts and stays the same in Advent Children as far as I know. Other than that, I still prefer Aeris, but I like the fact that Aerith has its own meaning.

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[Skummy]

As far as I know, it was meant to be Aerith as it was an anagram of "I Earth" which fits in with Aeriths role in the FFVII universe.

It was corrected for Kingdom Hearts and stays the same in Advent Children as far as I know. Other than that, I still prefer Aeris, but I like the fact that Aerith has its own meaning.

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The "I Earth" thing was never officially confirmed, it was one of many examples of Final Fantasy obsessives trying to read far too much into the symbolism of the game, considering they could also have chosen "I Heart" or "I Hater".