Poll of the Day > Aeris is an example of messed up translation that worked

(+) Yeah! (+)

Now Arv understands you prefer aerith cause it goes along with your lithps and you probably had no choice to pronounce it aerith even if you tried to pronounce aeris.

---

Everyone loves Kurodo...

---

Marth is another example!
:D

---

I know now why you cry



---

Aerith sounds like the lispy equivalent of Aeris. Which bothers me. A lot. And makes me naturally prefer Aeris.

Plus, I played it back in 1997 and the game itself had her listed as "Aeris" so that's what I got attached to. (And can you blame me?)

I didn't get internet until 1999, and it was slow. Werent a lot of good gaming websites that talked about stuff.

Wasn't until Kingdom Hearts that people saw her called Aerith....and people wondered why. Then we learned about the translation error. But the damage was already done by then.

Millions of gamers had experienced her as "Aeris" in their hearts and minds. Got attached to her. Saw her die. Felt the pain. Made those memories.

And then to find out that her name was actually supposed to sound like the same thing....but with a lisp? It was kinda ridiculous. Hard to accept.

And even in 2020....many refuse to accept it.

She is "Aeris" for many of us. And always will be.

---

aerith > aeris

actually her name is translated as earisu, because the Japanese can't do the th sound

---

aerith just sounds like aeris with a lisp

---

Aerith is dumb af, Aeris all the way.

---

I think I always saw it as Aeris, but always heard Aerith...
---

Bulbasaur posted...

aerith > aeris

actually her name is translated as earisu, because the Japanese can't do the th sound

Aerith is just as wrong as Aeris in terms of translation. By literal meaning and intent, her name should be "Earth".

But that's stupid in English.

The sad part is, translating her name as Terra would have been perfect, but they already used that one in the previous game for "Tina".

In the absence of a literal translation, Aeris sounds better. And even if it loses the original meaning, it creates an alternative interpretation of its own, so it's still pretty valid.
---

SpeedDemon20 posted...

Marth is another example!
:D

But Maaars....

---

Greenfox111 posted...

But Maaars....

Five points!

---

I agree. No matter how many years go by, she is always Aeris to me.

Bulbasaur posted...

actually her name is translated as earisu, because the Japanese can't do the th sound

In Serial Experiments Lain there's a character called Arisu which is localized as Alice.
The difference between the Japanese is Kana vs Katakana and the addition of an e () before the other half of the name.
vs actually doing some googling and and show the same results for Alice.
Wish I knew better Japanese. Feels like Eris would have been a better translation, but that has a different spelling. Apparently the literal translation is Aerith.

---

I'll NEVER say Aerith. What kind of name is that anyways? Aeris at least sounds like an actual name.

Agreed. Aeris sounds much better than Aerith.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past instruction manual's back story is another example of a translation that was "messed up" for the better.

Judgmenl posted...

I agree. No matter how many years go by, she is always Aeris to me.

In Serial Experiments Lain there's a character called Arisu which is localized as Alice.
The difference between the Japanese is Kana vs Katakana and the addition of an e () before the other half of the name.
vs actually doing some googling and and show the same results for Alice.
Wish I knew better Japanese. Feels like Eris would have been a better translation, but that has a different spelling. Apparently the literal translation is Aerith.

Names should never be translated.

streamofthesky posted...

Agreed. Aeris sounds much better than Aerith.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past instruction manual's back story is another example of a translation that was "messed up" for the better.

Which name?
---

Aerith sounds like the lispy equivalent of Aeris. Which bothers me. A lot. And makes me naturally prefer Aeris.

Plus, I played it back in 1997 and the game itself had her listed as "Aeris" so that's what I got attached to. (And can you blame me?)

I didn't get internet until 1999, and it was slow. Werent a lot of good gaming websites that talked about stuff.

Wasn't until Kingdom Hearts that people saw her called Aerith....and people wondered why. Then we learned about the translation error. But the damage was already done by then.

Millions of gamers had experienced her as "Aeris" in their hearts and minds. Got attached to her. Made those memories. [SPOILERS FOR ALL TWO PEOPLE ON GAMEFAQS WHO NEVER PLAYED ONE OF THE MOST CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED GAMES OF ALL TIME THAT IS OVER 20 YEARS OLD]Saw her die. Felt the pain.[END SPOILERS]

And then to find out that her name was actually supposed to sound like the same thing....but with a lisp? It was kinda ridiculous. Hard to accept.

And even in 2020....many refuse to accept it.

She is "Aeris" for many of us. And always will be.

---

Back in my day the translator just did whatever the fuck they wanted and we had to accept it as canon regardless

Ya bunch of spoiled wee gits

---

Aerith is better

---

Aeris just sounds weird. You don't say "Sephiros".

Alice is better than either.

---

miki_sauvester posted...

Aeris just sounds weird. You don't say "Sephiros".

cause that isnt his name in the game

---

GreenKnight127 posted...

Aerith sounds like the lispy equivalent of Aeris. Which bothers me. A lot. And makes me naturally prefer Aeris.

Plus, I played it back in 1997 and the game itself had her listed as "Aeris" so that's what I got attached to. (And can you blame me?)

I didn't get internet until 1999, and it was slow. Werent a lot of good gaming websites that talked about stuff.

Wasn't until Kingdom Hearts that people saw her called Aerith....and people wondered why. Then we learned about the translation error. But the damage was already done by then.

Millions of gamers had experienced her as "Aeris" in their hearts and minds. Got attached to her. Made those memories. [SPOILERS FOR ALL TWO PEOPLE ON GAMEFAQS WHO NEVER PLAYED ONE OF THE MOST CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED GAMES OF ALL TIME THAT IS OVER 20 YEARS OLD]Saw her die. Felt the pain.[END SPOILERS]

And then to find out that her name was actually supposed to sound like the same thing....but with a lisp? It was kinda ridiculous. Hard to accept.

And even in 2020....many refuse to accept it.

She is "Aeris" for many of us. And always will be.

Nah I remember weeaboos saying Aerith even back in the 90s.
---

aeris sounds better by far, but it's a pointless thing

there's a character in Baldr Force i interchangeably call Liang, Ryang, and Rian because romanizing a katakana name for a chinese character leads to these kinds of approximations

---

agesboy posted...

aeris sounds better by far, but it's a pointless thing

there's a character in Baldr Force i interchangeably call Liang, Ryang, and Rian because romanizing a katakana name for a chinese character leads to these kinds of approximations

Rian sounds the best out of those.
---

I agree. Aeris sounds better. fuck Aerith. one of the reasons I am not sure if I will like the FF7 remake is cause it's voice acted and I won't be able to ignore the name change.

Metalsonic66 posted...

Aerith is better

I think agree with this. But maybe that's because I grew up hearing this. I don't really like the sound of Aeris as much. After going through this topic. But I guess it's for the same reason most seem to like Aeris. I just grew up hearing it differently...
---

BlackScythe0 posted...

Aeris at least sounds like an actual name.

No it doesn't.

---

Blighboy posted...

Back in my day the translator just did whatever the fuck they wanted and we had to accept it as canon regardless

Ya bunch of spoiled wee gits

YOU SPOONY BARD!



miki_sauvester posted...

Aeris just sounds weird. You don't say "Sephiros".

Sephiroth is also a real word. Aerith is not.

Same reason why we don't call Cloud "Kuraudo".



Revelation34 posted...

Nah I remember weeaboos saying Aerith even back in the 90s.

That's extremely unlikely. No one in North America would have had any reason to say it that way (until Kingdom Hearts came out in 2002), and even the deep in the weeds tape-trader otaku who basically tried to become Japanese by osmosis still would have called her Earisu (which is what her name is in Japanese, no lisp).

It wasn't until the 2000s that Squeenix started adding the TH to try and force the name to be closer to "Earth", to reestablish the originally intended metaphor of "ground and sky" with "Earth" and "Cloud". In spite of it completely failing to do that because Aerith isn't actually a word, and after 5 years and multiple games worth of using "Aeris" as her name.
---

I never use the default names anyway. Like who wants to play a game for a hundred hours with a dumbass name like Cloud; fuckin' nobody, that's who.

Red_Frog posted...

I never use the default names anyway. Like who wants to play a game for a hundred hours with a dumbass name like Cloud; fuckin' nobody, that's who.

actually, probably most people

---

Revelation34 posted...

Nah I remember weeaboos saying Aerith even back in the 90s.

Weird. I don't recall a single person saying "Aerith" until years after Kingdom Hearts released in 2002.

The internet was a MUCH smaller place in the 90's, and stuff like this didn't make the rounds unless you actively searched for it. And not many people searched for it, because they were too busy looking up porn, and [SPOILERS FOR A GAME THAT IS OVER TWO DECADES OLD AND ONE OF THE MOST TALKED ABOUT TITLES EVER MADE WITH MANY SPOILERS ABOUT THIS EXACT THING IN TOPIC HEADLINES THAT GAMEFAQS DOESN'T MODERATE]ways to revive Aeris[END SPOILERS, FOR THE TWO PEOPLE IN THE WORLD WHO HAVEN'T HEARD ABOUT THIS MOMENT IN GAMING!]

Kingdom Hearts is what exposed people to the translation error. And that was almost 5 years after FF7 released. So that was 5 years for most gamers to get attached to "Aeris" since it was the default name given to her within the game itself. I mean, all the other names checked out, why would anyone be doubtful about Aeris? They accepted it. It was canon for all intents and purposes.

It is what it is.

Many people prefer Aeris. Even if it's "wrong". It's "right" in their hearts and minds.

Kinda like how some people prefer to pronounce Cait Sith. LOL

---

Red_Frog posted...

I never use the default names anyway. Like who wants to play a game for a hundred hours with a dumbass name like Cloud; fuckin' nobody, that's who.

people who don't self-insert, generally

---

Actually it could have been early 2000s too. It was definitely before Kingdom Hearts came out though. Just maybe one guy being a weeaboo.
---

People who prefer to call her aerith speak with a lisp anyway so its natural to them and come on Arv knows lot of gamers have lisps

---

agesboy posted...

people who don't self-insert, generally

To be fair, I don't think I've used my name for a character/save file since the NES era, and yet I almost always change names rather than using the default when that's an option.

That probably started with Final Fantasy IV, when I'd name myself "Oh shit!" so that one of the first dialogues in the game would have the character speaking go "Oh shit! I've always paid my taxes! No need to arrest me!", or something like that.

But also because "Cecil" was quite possibly the stupidest name for a main character in the entire history of video games, and I wasn't going to be caught dead playing as "Cecil".

And then, of course, FFV had a main character named Butz. So clearly Square was just fucking with us.
---

dumb names are always a good excuse to deviate from the default

https://starecat.com/content/wp-content/uploads/the-best-pokemon-name-in-the-world-oh-shit-he.jpg

---

Marth should just be Mars in the next Smash bros

---

ParanoidObsessive posted...

YOU SPOONY BARD!

Sephiroth is also a real word. Aerith is not.

Same reason why we don't call Cloud "Kuraudo".

That's extremely unlikely. No one in North America would have had any reason to say it that way (until Kingdom Hearts came out in 2002), and even the deep in the weeds tape-trader otaku who basically tried to become Japanese by osmosis still would have called her Earisu (which is what her name is in Japanese, no lisp).

It wasn't until the 2000s that Squeenix started adding the TH to try and force the name to be closer to "Earth", to reestablish the originally intended metaphor of "ground and sky" with "Earth" and "Cloud". In spite of it completely failing to do that because Aerith isn't actually a word, and after 5 years and multiple games worth of using "Aeris" as her name.

Some magazine , EGM, maybe called her Aerith in there write up, or strategy guide. I remember reading it as a kid and thinking they where awful dumb for getting her name wrong several times.
---