Just they way of saying foreign words, mainly because they don't have a character to represent the sound of "d". In Japanese, that name would actually be romanized as Claudo most probably.
Some other examples you can use for refference, in romaji form:
Sumisu = Smith
Raito = Light
tawaa = tower
misu = Miss
Maikeru = Michael
When using foreing words, Japanese use Katakana and such. Google for more information.
Last edited by Munsu; Mon, 03-19-2007 at 06:16 AM.
Yup, Bud's got it explained perfectly. But Cloud would be romanized as Ku-ra-u-do (クラウド), as the Japanese Hiragana (or Kata) does not have sounds starting with C, L, and F (except for "fu").
Here are 2 tables of Hiragana and Katakana characters, for those who are interested. I made these 2 tables, together with the romanji back when I just started learning how to write in Japanese.
Hiragana
Katakana
"Our hearts are full of memories but not all of them reflect the truth. The heart isn't a recording device. Even important memories change with time. They warp or fade, leaving us with but a shadow of what we hoped to remember." 天の道を行き、全てを司る。これは僕の世界。
Lol, how can I have said Claudo? That's horrible.Originally Posted by Psyke
Last edited by Munsu; Mon, 03-19-2007 at 08:17 PM.
More like "Mee-hai"
From my anime experience, they also don't have a genuine "J" sound.
Psyke, you got a higer res version of those to tables? i would really appreciate it.
edit: nvm imageshack was acting dumb, thx
Mee-hai? That doesn't make sense, and Michael doesn't have a "J" sound.
Well that's how they always pronounce it. I'm pretty sure that's a "Michael" in Monster.
And "J" is often pronounced like a "Y" (e.g. Joshua from Chrno Crusade)
That's because they were trying to emulate German names and pronuciations in Monster.
Then what about GunXSword? There was a Michael in that too.
it is maikeru, soukou no strain has a michael too, and its pronounced maikeru
As I said, they are using the German pronuciation. If that's the case, then the romaji representing the katakana used is Mihaeru instead, and it's pronounced different than the English Michael. In the end, it's the same name but it shows what's the intended pronuciation of the name given is and the country of origin for the intended name.
As Psyke said, Katakana is used to help Japanese pronounce foreing words and names, so as long as it sounds correct it should be all good.
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