Mikail said:
you guys have to remember.. Wakka said Tee-dus, have you herd his accent lately???? I seriously think its Ty-dis.. At least thats how like everyone says it.
Wakka's accent has no bearing on how he pronounces Tidus's name. And I have proof to support the fact that it is, in fact, pronounced "Tee-dus". (Well, technically "Tee-da", but I'll get to that in a minute XD)
Click me.
The above is an actual screenshot from square-enix.co.jp, the official Japanese site for Squeenix. If you would like to verify this for yourself, go here:
http://www.square-enix.co.jp/finalfantasy/index.html ...then scroll to the bottom, click "Final Fantasy X," skip the intro, click "Character," then click on the little icon of Tidus. The image I've provided has not been altered in any way, except cropping it so that it wouldn't kill your browsers.
Now, let's take a closer look at that Japanese under the word "Character."
Click me, too!
This, as you may be able to imagine, is what Tidus's name looks like written in Japanese (specifically, in Katakana). I know most of you don't read Japanese, but don't panic! That's what I'm here for.
See that first symbol? It's "te". (Pronounced: "teh" like in "
television") The symbol right next to it is "i". (Pronounced "ee", like the sound in the name "Christ
ine") To verify that I have not lied to you about what the symbols mean, look at
this Katakana chart that I've borrowed from
this website. Now that you can be sure I've given you the correct symbols, let me back up the pronunciation I've offered you with information from Wikipedia Online Dictionary.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_language#Vowels
Now, when those sounds are put together, ordinarily they would make the sound "tei" (sounds like the "ta" part of "tape"); however, the "i" is smaller than the "te", which means it makes the "ti" sound. This was actually the hardest fact for me to gather evidence for, because until very recently the Japanese have only used "chi" to stand in for "ti". However, proof HAS been found; head on over to
this website, search for "ti", then read 'em and weep. The smaller "i" next to the "te" turns it into "ti" (pronounced like "tea"). We have now established that the first half of Tidus's name in Japanese is pronounced "tee".
But we're not done yet! Before I move on to the next symbol, do you see that line in between the "ti" and the symbol I haven't covered yet? In Kanji, this symbol would be "ichi," which means "one" (you know, the number). However, in Katakana, all it means is to double the vowel from the preceding symbol. Therefore this is no longer "ti" but, instead, "tii". An example of this line (never did learn what the name of it was o.o!) in use is on the page I provided for "ti", if you don't believe me.
Now for the last symbol. It is the symbol for "ta" (check the Katakana chart I provided) with dakuten (") next to it. This turns the symbol into a "dakuon" symbol, and the sound is no longer "ta" but "da". If you don't believe me, feel free to check out
this image, which I borrowed from the same site I got my Katakana chart from earlier. :3
Therefore, Tidus's name is "Tiida" (pronounced "tee-dah"). There was no "s" sound in his original name, because in Japanese there is no sound for just "s". What confuses me is if the creator wanted the name to be "teedus", why didn't he make it "tidasu", since in "su" the "u" is usually silent... Ah well, I'm rambling.
In any case, I've never HEARD his name pronounced in Japanese, because I do not own a Japanese version of Kingdom Hearts. (His name was never said in Final Fantasy X or X-2 because you can change his name, and it would be kind of funny to hear everyone call him Teedus if you named him Bob.) So I can't say for sure if the Japanese pronounce his name with an "s", even if one isn't written there. But "s" or no "s", the first part of his name is indesputably pronounced "tee", and not "tie".
Funnily enough, although I went to great lengths to prove to you all that his name is pronounced "teedus", I personally prefer to call him "Tye-dus". To each his own.
