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pronouncing the name "Rayquaza"

Y

Yamato-san

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as some of you might know, Rayquaza's pronunciation in the Japanese version is レックウザ "Rekkuuza", but its name is officially spelled "Rayquaza" in all parts of the world. Going on its Japanese origins, this spelling probably doesn't make much sense, and it is pronounced exactly as it's spelled in the western version of the franchise (Rey-kwah-zah, or Rey-kwey-zah). Some probably assume that it's off because the Japanese have limitations in their pronunciation (which I think is just bullshit... if you play with katakana, especially the half-sized symbols, just right, the pronunciation of western words can be made remarkably close, with I guess just a few liabilities for an accent), but I think the Japanese pronunciation might've been exactly what was intended.

First off, the "Ray" part... considering there's a "ray" in the English language, people probably associated it with that the moment they first saw the name, but given the English language and its tendency to vary the pronunciation of vowels without so much as a hint, if I said it could be pronounced "Reh" instead of "Rey", that probably wouldn't be too hard to swallow, would it? So, skipping the ッ half-sized "tsu" (a little beat sound used in Japan, commonly represented in romanization through a double consonant, which I doubt several westerners are even aware exists), let's move onto the "Quaza", which is where the main difference between the Japanese and western pronunciations stem.

When most people see a "qu", it's probably a given for them to pronounce it as "kw". However, what they fail to realize is that there are several exceptions to this rule, especially in other cultures. In particular, I've noticed that in Aztec names, they tend to be spelled with a "qu", but are pronounced as just your typical "K" sound. Rayquaza's design itself looks like it might've taken a few cues from Aztec mythology (particularly the famous Quetzalcoatl), so I wouldn't be surprised if this is precisely what they were going for. The following "a" being pronounced as "uu" in Japan still kinda baffles me, but an intention of an "uh" pronunciation might work, albeit stretching it.

So in short, I think Rayquaza was really intended to be pronounced as "Reh-kuh-zah" by Pokemon's western audience. If anybody would like to add their thoughts on the matter, feel free to do so.
 
I believe your pronunciation is reasonable.

I used to call it "Ray-KWAH-zuh," until seeing Destiny Deoxys, in which I believe it was oddly enough pronounced "Ruh-KWAY-zuh." I consider the anime/movies the highest canon when it comes to pronunciations after the creators of the names themselves, and there have been no contradictions or retcons (like Bonsly had, for example) that I know of, so I'm going with that as the correct way to say it. But that doesn't mean I like it.
 
Ray-kwaay-zuh, Ray-kwaww-zah, Rey-kuh-zuh, long green lizard thing that flies...all of those are acceptable as long as people know who youre talking about...beyond that I don't care.
 
What you're saying is reasonable apart from the uu--->a, which is just weird. I don't know how anyone could have expected that to work. All the same it's just a weird and complicated way to romanize it.
 
I've alwas pronounced it "Ray-kaa-zaa" (making the 'u' silent) until I heard the way it was pronounced in the seventh movie. Then again, I rarely get the damn names right according to the dub. They always pronounce them in what I consider a funky way.

Just like "Suicune". I've always thought it's to be said "Suikun" which I later found out is what the Japanese do, but the dub put emphasis on "cu" making it sound like "Sui-COON". Bah D:
 
I go with the "quay" crowd. Sure, you can make a very close approximation of a non-Japanese pronunciation with katakana, but the fact is, there's a limit of five characters for Pokémon names. レックウザ is exactly that, and so simply romanizing that as "Re-k-ku-u-za" is the same as saying that there's something wrong with Feraligatr or Victreebel's pronunciation because they don't have an o and l, respectively. They had to fit the ten-character limit in English games, so there you go.
 
TTEchidna said:
I go with the "quay" crowd. Sure, you can make a very close approximation of a non-Japanese pronunciation with katakana, but the fact is, there's a limit of five characters for Pokémon names. レックウザ is exactly that, and so simply romanizing that as "Re-k-ku-u-za" is the same as saying that there's something wrong with Feraligatr or Victreebel's pronunciation because they don't have an o and l, respectively. They had to fit the ten-character limit in English games, so there you go.
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if that's the case, why didn't they go with レックェザ "Re-k-kw-e-za"?
 
After reading this, I think it should be pronounced "Reh-kuh-zah"

But I've been pronouncing it "Ray-kwah-zah" for 5 years now, so I prolly won't be able to change now =P

However, in english it was always intended it to be pronounced "Ray-kwah-zah"

If it was somehow important I'd teach my kids to say "Reh-kuh-zah" tho XD
 
I have pronounced it "Reh-quay-zuh" since Destiny Deoxys came out and confirmed the correct English pronunciation; I kinda think that if it were translated from Japanes to English it would be "Rekkuueza" in Japanese or something along those lines.....

Broken down by syllables it would be like.....:
Re- = Ray-
-kkuue- = -quay-
-za = -za

...
 
As with any other English Pokémon name, you just pronounce it however you think sounds best. I freely alternate between "ray-KWAY-zuh" and "ray-KWAH-zuh".

Let's also consider the name "Arceus", just as an example. I know full-well it is intended to be pronounced with a soft "C", but I pronounce it "AHR-key-uhs" or "ahr-KAY-uhs" anyway, because I personally think the soft "C" makes it sound like it's derived from the word "arse", which I believe is British slang for "buttocks".
 
Glitchipedia said:
I personally think the soft "C" makes it sound like it's derived from the word "arse", which I believe is British slang for "buttocks".
Click to expand...
Indeed it is ;-) Wait - doesn't everyone use "arse" like this?!
 
Oh of course, I forgot you spelt it wrong :p Just like you do colour and defence and sulphur and foetus!
 
Please note: The thread is from 17 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
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