#and now I had to use Tartaglia AND Kokomi and Kazuha as examples

[dkniade]

Wriothesley and Neuvillette: Accents in Pronunciation and Phonetic Spelling of Names in Hanzi and Katakana

Feat. Tartaglia, Kazuha, Kokomi, Wriothesley, and Neuvillette, from Genshin Impact

(Listing characters like this is usually for reader-inserts yet here we are! Let’s have them sit in a circle and introduce their names or something haha— Just kidding.)

I initially wanted to deduce approximate name pronunciations for Wriothesley (in English) and Neuvillette (in French) based on how their names are written in Chinese and Japanese. I started with Italian and Japanese examples to show how phonetic stylization in Japanese (katakana) and Chinese (hanzi) work, but I ended up asking a French-speaking friend instead. I also included “approximate guides” to clarify the official English dub’s pronunciations for comparison purposes, but will not be doing “approximate guides” for the Chinese or Japanese dubs.

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Please note that while this does talk about pronunciation, each accent varies and each language has phonetic restrictions, thus I’m not claiming that there’s one single “correct” pronunciation, but rather proximity to the root language. I’m also not criticizing the voice actors as I understand they’re often told to pronounce names in certain ways due to the voice directors.

I can speak Mandarin Chinese, some Japanese, and a bit of French. I know some very basic phonetics in general, but I don’t speak Italian. (That point will soon be relevant). In this post, when I say Chinese, I mean Mandarin. The French pronunciation is thanks to my French-speaking friend Exanguine Hart (exanguine_hart on Instagram).

In-game pronunciations are taken from the respective “Hello” voicelines except for Neuvillette’s name (which is from the 4.0 quest dialogue) and Wriothesley’s name (which I did not find an in-game pronunciation for), in addition to their Japanese and Chinese illustrated character introductions. For simplicity’s sake, however, I will refer to names from official non-game media as “in-game”. (Since I’m only doing the pronunciation of their names and no plot details I doubt it’ll be a spoiler…? I don’t know the plot myself anyway.)

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Something interesting:

The good thing about Genshin Impact having Chinese and Japanese voiceover/subtitles is that in terms of character name pronunciation, (non-Chinese & non-Japanese) names are typically written phonetically and not by their original spelling. Meaning even if the official English pronunciation is not as close, there’s a higher chance that the Chinese and Japanese phonetic pronunciations are closer to the original language.

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Every character in Chinese hanzi and Japanese katakana (Japanese phonetic writing system for non-Japanese words) has one syllable. In other words, four hanzi or katakana characters = four syllables in Mandarin or Japanese.

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CELESTIAL NARWAL CHAPTER:

Italian: Tartaglia* (approx. “tar-TA-lia” or “tar-TA-iya”)

In-game Chinese: 达达利亚 / Dadaliya

In-game Japanese: タルタリヤ / Tarutariya**

In-game English: Tartaglia (approx. “Tar-TA-glee-ya”)

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*His name comes from one of the stock characters in the (I believe…) early form of Italian theater, the Commedia Dell’arte. Of course the pronunciation varies a bit depending on the accent… The former opera singer/video game music enthusiast MarcoMeatball pronounces it in Italian in his reaction video about Tartaglia (and his boss themes). Again, I don’t speak Italian… Please correct me if there are inaccuracies about this.

**His voice actor pronounces the タル part in his name in such a way that the two phonemes join into one and the name is moreso three syllables.

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In comparison, it could be hard to tell how to read a Japanese name from kanji since Japanese kanji often have more than one reading. And often how it’s read in Chinese is either somewhat or very different from Japanese, depending on which Japanese reading it is (on’yomi or kun’yomi).

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SLEEPING DRAGON CHAPTER:

In-game Japanese: 珊瑚宮心海 / Sangonomiya Kokomi (approx. “Sahn-goh-NOH-mi-ya Koh-koh-MI”)

In-game English: Sangonomiya Kokomi

Alternate Japanese*: 珊瑚宮心海 / Sangomiya Shinkai

In-game Chinese reading: 珊瑚宮心海 / Shanhugong Xinhai**

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JAPANESE MAPLE CHAPTER:

In-game Japanese: 楓原万葉 / Kaedehara Kazuha (approx. “KAE-deh-ha-rla KA-zu-ha”)

In-game English: Kaedehara Kazuha

Unofficial Alternate Japanese reading*: 楓原万葉 / Kaedehara Man’you

In-game Chinese: 枫原万叶 / Fengyuan Wanye***

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*and the one my Japanese keyboard recognizes to output the kanji…

**Chinese pinyin “x” approximately sounds like a light “sh”. Note that Shinkai and Xinhai sound similar, and Man’you and Wanye are also slightly similar compared to their official readings. This is because the alternate Japanese readings are in on’yomi which (to oversimplify it) is Japanese reading based on the Chinese reading back when the characters were first introduced in Japanese. If anyone can explain it better, feel free to elaborate…

***“Feng” ends in a nasal sound. The next syllable is “Yuan”. The “g” and “y” sounds are not connected in one sound.

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FONTAINE

Written with the help of some scenes from 4.0 for name pronunciation. Consulted Wikipedia about “Wriothesley” and asked my friend Exsanguine about “Neuvillette” instead. Here are some possible pronunciations:

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HELL’S GUARD DOG CHAPTER

English: Wriothesley (approx. “RYE-seh-slee”)*

In-Game Chinese: 莱欧斯利 / Laiousili

In-Game Japanese: リオセスリ / Riosesuri

Unofficial Japanese: ライセスリ/ Raisesuri

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*according to Wikipedia.

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IUDEX OF FONTAINE CHAPTER

French: Neuvillette* (approx. “nuh-vee-YET”)

In-Game English**: Neuvillette (approx. “NER-vi-let” or “Nur-vi-LET”)

Unofficial English***: Neuvillette (approx. “New-vil-LET”)

In-Game Chinese: 那维莱特 / Naweilaite

In-Game Japanese: ヌヴィレット/ Nuviretto

Unofficial Chinese****: 纳维耶特 / Naweiyete

Unofficial Japanese: ヌヴィエット / Nuvuietto

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*my French-speaking friend Exanguine’s guess

**First pronunciation is Lyney’s when the Traveler first meets Neuvillette. Second one’s Paimon’s in the same scene but only because she’s asking a question hence the upwards tone.

***My initial guess with my very limited French knowledge

****Both my unofficial Chinese and Japanese stylizations are based off of the French pronunciation

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Summary of Some Possible Pronunciations

CELESTIAL NARWHAL CHAPTER

Italian: Tartaglia (approx. “Tar-TAH-lya”)

In-game English: Tartaglia (approx. “Tar-TAH-glee-ya”)

In-game Chinese: 达达利亚 (Dadaliya)

In-game Japanese: タルタリヤ (Tarutariya)

SLEEPING DRAGON CHAPTER

Japanese reading: 珊瑚宮心海 (Sangonomiya Kokomi)

In-game English: Sangonomiya Kokomi

Alternate Japanese reading: 珊瑚宮心海 (Sangomiya Shinkai)

In-game Chinese reading: 珊瑚宮心海 (Shanhugong Xinhai)

JAPANESE MAPLE CHAPTER

In-game Japanese reading: 楓原万葉 (Kaedehara Kazuha)

Alternate Japanese reading: 楓原万葉 (Kaedehara Man’you)

In-game Chinese reading: 枫原万叶 (Fengyuan Wanye)

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HELL’S GUARD DOG CHAPTER

English: Wriothesley (approx. “RYE-seh-slee”)

In-Game Chinese: 莱欧斯利 / Laiousili

In-Game Japanese: リオセスリ / Riosesuri

Unofficial Japanese: ライセスリ/ Raisesuri

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IUDEX OF FONTAINE CHAPTER

French: Neuvillette

Unofficial English: Neuvillette

In-Game Chinese: 那维莱特 / Naweilaite

In-Game Japanese: ヌヴィレット/ Nuviretto

Unofficial Chinese: 纳维特 / Naweite

Unofficial Japanese: ヌヴィエット / Nuvuietto