Are you saying 'Ninja Gaiden' correctly?

58 Comments by Justin McElroy Nov 6th 2007 12:30PM
Filed under: Culture

Today's new pronunciation video from MTV Multiplayer is a threefer, with Team Ninja's Tomonobu Itagaki explaining (in Japanese no less) how you pronounce his name, "Ninja Gaiden" and "Helena" from Dead or Alive 4.

What's wonderful is that these are all phrases that you could have the chance to use in your everyday life, such as "2008's game of the year award goes to Ninja Gaiden 2," or "Come on up and get your award Tomonobu Itagaki!" or "Excuse me, Helena, but your breasts are obscuring my view of the acceptance speech."

Tags: itagaki, mtv, ninjagaiden, tomonobuitagaki

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

F. Rocker or Fernando R.?: Nov 6th 2007; 12:36PM

Well, thats how I pronounce both, because in spanish thats the way its pronounced.

dsub: Nov 6th 2007; 3:25PM

That's how I pronounced both, because I know how to read and pronounce words. I never understood why people said "Gay-den" perhaps it's because of the gAIDen, but everyone knows that bonzai isn't pronounced bon-zay, so all it takes is putting two and two together.

Megaqwerty: Nov 6th 2007; 11:29PM

...as it is in every other single Romance language.

David: Nov 6th 2007; 12:37PM

Spanish is great for Japanese learners because the vowels make the same sounds!

F. Rocker or Fernando R.?: Nov 6th 2007; 12:46PM

Yes... for example:

In spanish the I is pronounced like the E in Ensligh, and the soun of the vowel dont change with differents workds... like, for example... "exIt and I am..." the I is pronounced differente in the two sentences and in spanish the vowel dont change never.

HectorTheValiant: Nov 6th 2007; 12:37PM

I love Helena...my best character by far in DOA4

Followed by Hitomi!

McWeen: Nov 6th 2007; 12:39PM

I always pronounced Gaiden correctly but I definitely got Helena wrong. Kind of a funny video even though I don't think it was meant to be.

DangerMouse: Nov 6th 2007; 12:42PM

it's Gay-Den.

modified: Nov 6th 2007; 12:53PM

No, it's Guy-Den

Andy S.: Nov 6th 2007; 2:13PM

No, it's "Shih-NO-bee".

GamerCrusader: Nov 6th 2007; 12:42PM

Video not accessible? wtf..

Blast Processing Megadrive: Nov 6th 2007; 2:43PM

MTV's videos are accessable only to American IPs.

s256: Nov 6th 2007; 5:36PM

THANKS MTV

=\

s256: Nov 6th 2007; 5:37PM

I mean..

IT IS PROXYTIME!! \o/

SoulBlade: Nov 6th 2007; 12:44PM

For those who don't care to watch him:

Americans say it as: "Ninja GAY Den"
The correct way: "Ninja GUY Den"

KiraXD: Nov 6th 2007; 12:51PM

ahhh thank you.. (then ive been saying it correctly all these years woot)

James: Nov 6th 2007; 1:09PM

So I've been saying it right, ossom.

And isn't Helena just... Helen...a?

Anticrawl: Nov 6th 2007; 1:56PM

I’m an American and I’ve never heard anyone pronounce it “Ninja Gay-den” in my life. That’s fucking hilarious though, not sure what kind of moron friends you have.

MasterInsan0: Nov 6th 2007; 2:12PM

I used to pronounce it GAY-den until I started watching Anime. After a while I sorta switched to GUY-den without thinking about it, probably cuz of more exposure to Japanese.

KiraXD: Nov 6th 2007; 12:49PM

ugh no audio here at work... so what is it?
g-EYE-den or GAY-den? (from my little knowledge of japanese mostly being common phrases used in anime.. and my love for GL and the (Dai [pronounced DIE] gurren brigade i assume its pronounced G-EYE-den...

Neebs: Nov 6th 2007; 12:54PM

I used to say it gay-den, but I've taken to Guy den.

HineyWipe: Nov 6th 2007; 1:02PM

I've always called it "Ninjuh Guy-Den". Does that mean I am Japanese?

Ah, Helena (Elayna). French though?

Shibathedog: Nov 6th 2007; 1:03PM

I can't wait to show some of my friends this who insist that I say it wrong. I knew it!

Vince: Nov 6th 2007; 1:17PM

it always bugs me when people don't understand that most languages use syllabic pronunciations. tomonobu itagaki and ninja gaiden should be easy to pronounce correctly ,but so many people get it wrong.

GRANTED: Nov 6th 2007; 1:30PM

yeah but who knows on what syllable the emphasis goes.

mike: Nov 6th 2007; 1:19PM

I learned how to say it correctly fromt he movie "the wizard" when I was a kid. However I still pronounce it ninja gayden cause it sounds better and others do it too so why not? Just like I learned how to say ubisoft and still dont care and will remain calling it U-B-I Soft

Rob Accomando: Nov 6th 2007; 1:20PM

when I was young and niave I would say "gay-den". I was shocked when I found out otherwise. Still say it the wrong way though. Oh, and Icarus was, "IK-KARR-US"

Kevin D: Nov 6th 2007; 1:32PM

Dude, the 80's called and wants their hairstyle back..lol

fadeoutagain2784: Nov 6th 2007; 1:47PM

Dude, the 90's called, and they want their joke back.

MasterInsan0: Nov 6th 2007; 2:15PM

Dude, 2001 called, they want their sarcasm back.

ThornedVenom: Nov 6th 2007; 2:30PM

Dude, I called today, GTFO.

mike: Nov 7th 2007; 2:28AM

dude im calling from my delorean, great scott!!

Hirsbrunner: Nov 6th 2007; 1:39PM

You say Gay-den,
I say Guy-den.

Let's call the whole thing off.

Sean: Nov 6th 2007; 1:39PM

I lost it when that music started, it got all dark and it showed his face. "TOH-MOH-NO-BOO" "EE-TAH-GAH-KEE"

samfish: Nov 6th 2007; 1:44PM

I've been pronouncing it corectly eversince I sawsome video with...N'Gai Croal say it guy-den.

But Ninja gay-den?
Why, it's a den of homosexual ninjas! SCANDAL!

Darcrequiem: Nov 6th 2007; 2:01PM

Itagaki should have his own TV show. The guy is so eccentric its hilarious. I don't even like "reality TV" but I'd watch an Itagaki based show.

redspear: Nov 6th 2007; 2:02PM

Gay Den?
Guy Den?

Well at least the Gay Den could have chicks.

Blast Processing Megadrive: Nov 6th 2007; 2:46PM

No, that's Les Den.

HoPhoSho: Nov 6th 2007; 2:02PM

Oops, I always thought it was NIN-JUH GAR-DEN

Blast Processing Megadrive: Nov 6th 2007; 2:47PM

That's the spin-off where you have to keep your plants happy... TO THE EXTREME!!

Fredrik Augustsson: Nov 6th 2007; 2:17PM

Maybe someone could make a short video clip for Tomonobu explaining that "Xbox" is not pronounced "ekkusubokkusu".

Mr Khan: Nov 6th 2007; 2:21PM

I've only known it was "Guy-den" since i saw the commercials for the PS3 remake, which is the only time i ever actually heard the name pronounced in an official capacity

All my friends, even those who are fans of the series, call it "Gay-den"

Zsavior: Nov 6th 2007; 2:29PM

Ninja Guy-den I always knew, but Helena is of Greek origin not French, so if you want to name a French girl Helena and then call her Elena fine. But don't tell people they are wrong for calling her Helena in the first place when that is the etymology of the name.

megaStryke: Nov 6th 2007; 2:40PM

The character herself is French, so her name is the spoken with the French pronunciation.

tmacairjordan87: Nov 6th 2007; 2:40PM

maybe i can't say ninja gaiden correctly, but i can say douchebag and overrated correctly (which is what that itagaki fellow is)

jioklo: Nov 6th 2007; 2:45PM

Stop linking to these MTV videos. Nobody outside of the US can watch them, which is a pretty large portion of your audience.

dvnt: Nov 6th 2007; 2:46PM

What? People actually pronounce it "gay-den"? I have never heard it that way. Seems rather ignorant to me.

Jess Q.: Nov 6th 2007; 2:59PM

In Japan, though, it is "ekkusubokusu." And Playstation is "puresutashon" (or something very similar). He's not incorrect in Japan. ;p Plus I think Americans are the only ones who just have to pronounce words from other languages correctly, even if it's out of the blue. Like how everyone has to pretend they speak Spanish when a Spanish name is said on the news. "Alllehhaaaaandrooooo Rodureeeguezzz." Eyeroll.

David Keating: Nov 6th 2007; 3:00PM

I studied Japanese, and it always bothered me how people butcher the terms. It's as though most Americans just look for any excuse to say "GAY" whenever they can. Glad Itagaki set the record straight.

You know what MTV should do next? Ryu (in both Street Fighter and Ninja Gaiden.) Americans say Rai-yoo, but it's just one syllable in Japanese, or "Ryoo." It always grinds my gears when someone mispronounces that one.

Fredrik Augustsson: Nov 6th 2007; 3:13PM

I have a japanese Xbox and nowhere on the box does it say "ekkusubokkusu" neither in romaji nor katakana. Personally i don't care because it's kinda silly to expect people from all over the world to know the correct pronunciation of every language. What bugged me was that Itagaki took his time to criticize americans for their pronunciation of a japanese word when japanese people rarely get the right pronunciation of any foreign language word.

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