Japanese Things In English – 英会話・英語 アミック
2018/09/28
My students always laugh when they learn how the names of popular Japanese media have been translated into English.
Some are extremely literal—the famous 1997 Studio Ghibli film, for example, is Mononoke-hime in Japanese and Princess Ehime in English. The names of most Dragon Ball characters in the English adaptation have stayed faithful to their Japanese origins, too: Kuririn is Krillin, Freeza is Frieza, Buruma is Bulma, Bejita is Vegeta, Torankusu is Trunks, and so on.
However, importers of other Japanese media have taken much more creative license with their naming; here’s a list of 10 Japanese media things and their English counterparts:
| Thing | Romaji | English |
| Film | Hauru no Ugoku Shiro | Howl’s Moving Castle |
| Pokemon | Lizardo | Charmeleon |
| Children’s show | Sūpā Sentai Shirīzu | Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers |
| Game show | Fūun! Takeshi-jō | Most Extreme Elimination Challenge |
| Anime | Hagane no Renkinjutsushi | Fullmetal Alchemist |
| Film | Kaze Tachinu | The Wind Rises |
| Pokemon | Pippi | Clefairy |
| Mario character | Kinopio | Toad |
| Manga | Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan |
