The PokéCommunity Forums

The PokéCommunity Forums (https://www.pokecommunity.com/index.php)
-   Previous Generations (https://www.pokecommunity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=200)
-   -   5th Gen Unova Pronunciation: You-Na-va? or Un-No-Vah? (https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=242777)

bwburke94 February 22nd, 2011 11:43 AM

As I believe I said before, Oo-NO-va is the closest to where it came from. Assuming it really is from Spanish and not Latin, there's some confusion. Also, no va means "doesn't go" in Spanish.

Baibanira February 22nd, 2011 2:11 PM

Oo-NO-va is exactly how I pronounced it.

fenyx4 February 22nd, 2011 2:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yuoaman (Post 6445897)
Anyone who doesn't pronounce the 'nova' part as 'no'-'vah' is wrong, anyway - seriously, that's just failing at English right there.

Which would be the majority of the anime voice actors..? Because I heard "nih" with each pronunciation, not "no"... :cer_laugh:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaori (Post 6451928)
After seeing it for myself in the the first B&W episode that aired in the US, Unova is pronounced: "You-Nih-Va". I guess I can work with that, but I was so used to pronouncing the "Nih" as "No". u_u It's like saying the first part of Universe with an A at the end, "Univa".

Where the heck did they get "Nih" from? I could understand if the region was spelled Univa, Unihva, or Unyhva, but come on! There is clearly a 'nOv' right there; how could they possibly get a low-I sound from that? I know Unova is a fantasy word, but we have to follow some sort of language convention, and since this is the English dub, I would assume the dubbers/localizers would be following English conventions for the most part unless otherwise specified. Unless Unova's vocal rendering is derived from a foreign language other than English, they're setting things up so that children viewing will have their vowel sounds possibly botched. >_> Vowels sound certain ways for a reason; they can't just go attributing the "ni" sound to the spelling "nova". Otherwise, I can equally start using pfjgqwww as a textual rendering for the letter A (pronounced "ay").
Ugh...this is why linguistics annoy me, especially the English language which is chock full of words devised by people who don't know their vowel and consonant sounds.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bwburke94 (Post 6472119)
As I believe I said before, Oo-NO-va is the closest to where it came from. Assuming it really is from Spanish and not Latin, there's some confusion. Also, no va means "doesn't go" in Spanish.

Anyway...the three immediate language derivations I can apply to the portmanteau Unova are English (united and nova), Spanish (uno and no va; uno and the English/Latin word nova), and Latin (unum and nova); or a combination of any of those italicized words:

-Provided the origin is English, "You-No-Vuh" would be a valid pronunciation, as the word "united" also begins with the pronunciation of "You".

-Provided the origin is Spanish, "Ooh-No-Va" is more fitting, as the Spanish word uno is pronounced OOH-no, not YOU-no.

-Provided the origin is Latin, "Ooh-No-Vuh" fits again, as the Latin word unum is pronounced OOH-num, not YOU-num.

Anyway, I'm not a language expert, and until we get an actual linguistic origin, pretty much any pronunciation is correct for Unova. And until then, we won't know which language rules the commercial announcer and voice actors are actually violating. if any. IMO, the voice actors definitely are by pronouncing "NO" as "NIH" (language fail T_T). Ugh...this is why I dislike linguistics.

Anyway, I pronounce it Ooh-NO-Va, as in my experience it's rare nowadays to hear a word that starts its spelling with "U" and is pronounced "Ooh". With Ulgamoth, I do a similar thing by leaving out the "Y" from the "U": UHL-ga-moth (uhl rhymes with null).

That poll really needs to be amended, due to the numerous pronunciation possibilities of Unova...

solarowl February 22nd, 2011 3:27 PM

I pronounce it You-No-Va, but in the english anime, they pronounce it You-nu-vah, saying the nu part quickly, making it sound somewhat similar to how it should be pronounced You-No-Va.

Guy February 23rd, 2011 7:10 AM

I had been pronouncing it as 'You-No-Va' since the English name for the region was revealed. Ever since the Black and White series premiered on Cartoon Network though, I've kept up the pronunciation as 'You-Nuh-Va.'

Zeph. February 23rd, 2011 7:51 AM

I was under the impression that it was pronounced You-no-vah because there was an O in it. You know:

UnOva

Or have the basics of the english language just been ignored?

cookie_lovr February 26th, 2011 4:05 PM

You-No-Vuh is correct. always will be

GardevoirNess February 26th, 2011 6:48 PM

Not int he poll, I thought it was pronoounce You-No-Vah

Buttetsu Batou February 26th, 2011 7:02 PM

Unova
 
You know Va? Makes sense right?

ManhattanTheStarr February 26th, 2011 7:05 PM

I'm starting to get used to the You-Nuh-Va pronunciation of Unova. It almost sounds like United States of America all squeezed up. :B

Don Daddio February 27th, 2011 12:41 AM

i pronounce it you-no-va....just sounds right to me

Kevin February 27th, 2011 6:56 AM

Wow I always thought it was You-No-Va...
It sounds better in my opinion, so that's how I'll pronounce it.

Adam. February 27th, 2011 8:14 AM

I pronounce it as You-No-Vah based on how I pronounce the acronym, USA. Although, now I'm getting used to pronouncing it to how it is said in TV adverts and the Anime.
On the other hand, everyone pronounces everything in their own way based on how they interpret the word themselves so I wouldn't go screaming at someone if they didn't say Unova properly...

conesorcups February 27th, 2011 8:30 PM

You-No-vah is how I pronounce it. Un-No-Vah is just kinda weird, but it depends on preference. It's like that tomato tomata thing :)

OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire February 27th, 2011 9:36 PM

Lol it's Tomato, Tomatoe not Tomata xD
Anyways I still think that it's pronounced You-no-va like the commercial narrator says...

soϲks February 28th, 2011 11:55 PM

I usually pronounce everything wrong, but I'm fairly confident that you-no-va is the way to go with this. It just feels more right than the other pronunciations.

MrGriszell March 1st, 2011 12:23 AM

i usesd to say it isshu lol no but really i thought it was youuuuuunnnoooooova. but i guess the correct way of saying is alright

lamby101 March 2nd, 2011 2:46 PM

You-no-vah doesn't sound right. I think it should be Un-no-va but to be honest I'm not too bothered, it won't affect my enjoyment of the game :)

Andrew McKenzie March 4th, 2011 4:29 AM

I highly doubt something spelt as UNOVA would be pronounced as "un-oh-va"

"You-no-va" just seems right in my mind.

And usually words like these don't pronounce the "u" and "n" together unless it's words like: "unless" and "unforetunate".

"You-no-va" sounds better to me so I'll call it that.

travisjb1990 March 19th, 2011 2:09 AM

I pronounce it You-Na-Va. That is how they say it on the show and in commercials so that is how I pronounce it.

MeerFall March 19th, 2011 2:20 AM

I always called it U-nov-ee-ah

so i have no idea :S

Aimseed March 19th, 2011 2:25 AM

I've always thought it was you-no-va.

Mujahid March 19th, 2011 2:38 AM

It's from UNited states OV America right ?..So it should we You-no-va.."U" should be pronounced as in "United"

Binary March 19th, 2011 3:36 AM

I don't know. Un-No-Vah sounded right to me all this time.
Well I guess I'm going to start saying You-Nee-Vah or something. :/

Bluerang1 March 19th, 2011 6:39 AM

They actually say U-no-va in the Anime. They say it the same as most of us but we stretch out the "no" where as they say it quickly.

We say: U-know-va
Anime: U-no-va

See the difference? xD


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 8:35 AM.


Like our Facebook Page Follow us on Twitter © 2002 - 2018 The PokéCommunity™, pokecommunity.com.
Pokémon characters and images belong to The Pokémon Company International and Nintendo. This website is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo, Creatures, GAMEFREAK, The Pokémon Company or The Pokémon Company International. We just love Pokémon.
All forum styles, their images (unless noted otherwise) and site designs are © 2002 - 2016 The PokéCommunity / PokéCommunity.com.
PokéCommunity™ is a trademark of The PokéCommunity. All rights reserved. Sponsor advertisements do not imply our endorsement of that product or service. User generated content remains the property of its creator.

Acknowledgements
Use of PokéCommunity Assets
vB Optimise by DragonByte Technologies Ltd © 2023.