Talk:Sireen

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Shouldn't his name just be romanized as "Siren"? Searching around some Japanese sites suggests to me it does. Geewunling 12:48, 24 January 2010 (EST)

Possibly. Looking around, I see that サイレーン is used to refer to the Sirens, as in the mythological creatures, whereas サイレン, without the vowel extender, is used to mean the noisemaking device which derived its name from those creatures. However, since the two words are spelled identically in English, spelling the Transformer's name "Siren" would leave no indication of the different pronunciation.--Apcog 15:21, 24 January 2010 (EST)

If it was a reference to the mythological creatures, then it should be Romanized as "Seiren", which is closer to the original Greek. But since the name is clearly taken from the noisemaking device (the character being an emergency vehicle), "Sireen" is a better Romanization. —Interrobang 16:35, 24 January 2010 (EST)

I fail to see how "Sireen" is a better romanization, since it's not a word. Not to mention everytime I see it I read it as "Si-r'ii'n" instead of an elongated 'e'-sound. Wouldn't be the first time either the literal makes place for logic/obviousness. Geewunling 01:20, 25 January 2010 (EST)

It's a modification of "Siren" made by elongating the "e" sound in the Japanese transliteration of the word. It's not just "siren", as in the noisemaker, or a reference to "Siren" the mythological creature. I'm not sure why you don't get this. —Interrobang 01:36, 25 January 2010 (EST)

Probably because it doesn't appear, this way, to be a word in any language. It looks like a misspelling of a REAL word. -- Semysane 02:18, 25 January 2010 (EST)

Do you guys get confused with names like "Cheetor", "Scorponok", or "Scattorshot"? They're not real words, how can this be? —Interrobang 03:34, 25 January 2010 (EST)

Which phonetic system is being used here? The Japanese (which doesn't pronounce 'i' like that) or English (which doesn't pronounce 'ee' like that)? Either way it's wrong. Assuming it's meant to be Anglicised, it should be "Sire'en" or maybe "Sirehn" or something similar that both maintains and briefly holds on the short 'e' sound. - Magnus Maximus 05:46, 25 January 2010 (EST)

Since it isn't an actual English word, why not use "Sairēn"? - Starfield 12:49, 25 January 2010 (EST)

I know this is old but what about just "Sirēn" (or the suggested "Sairēn")? --Sabrblade 09:27, 10 August 2013 (EDT)

Sairēn looks best since nothing else really conveys the pronunciation as well. --flicky1991 12:04, 10 August 2013 (EDT)

Any objections, or should the move commence? --Sabrblade 20:16, 10 August 2013 (EDT)

Objection. "Sairēn" is utter Japanophile "piisukuraftu" horseshit. No. --M Sipher 00:05, 11 August 2013 (EDT)

I still want to know why it isn't just "Siren".--Khajidha 00:26, 11 August 2013 (EDT)

Because it isn't pronounced that way. As Apcog said above, the kana for an ambulance siren is different from what is used for this guy's name. I guess they could have been going for the other meaning he mentioned, but... well, why? Whatever happens, though, it definitely shouldn't be at Sireen. --flicky1991 05:07, 11 August 2013 (EDT)

New suggestions: "Sirehn", "Sireyn", "Sirein", "Sirain", Sirayn" (ugh, that elongated short "e" vowel sure isn't making any of these look pretty), "Sirēn" (though, this one might also confuse the two phonetic systems like "Sireen" does). --Sabrblade 06:44, 11 August 2013 (EDT)

Resetting the indent because I'm not replying to anyone in particular: All the other English websites I could find use "Sireen". I think the common usage should trump phonetic accuracy, because essentially Sireen has become his English name in the absence of an official translation. If some guidebook published in the future calls him "Sirayn" then fine, but I think until then we should stick with what he's commonly called in the English part of the Interweb. --abates 07:44, 11 August 2013 (EDT)

To be fair, the ubiquity of "Sireen" is largely due in part to the original fan translation of the name mixing the two phonetic systems, and hardly anyone catching on to it. How many of the people who use that spelling on their websites probably think the name is pronounced "sigh-reen" instead of the more correct "sigh-reign"? As long as the name remains as is, so does the confusion.

I wouldn't be pressing the matter so much if "Sireen" actually were an official English spelling used in something official, but despite ubiquitous fan use, and it is not (now watch as future TCC/IDW fiction sneaks in the character with his name spelled "Sireen" just to shut me up :P). --Sabrblade 18:51, 11 August 2013 (EDT)

"Sireen" is what a professional translator, as in his primary source of income was to take Japanese text and make it readily understandable to English-speakers, came up with to best approximate the iffy pronunciation without making it look like shit. With Japanese's rather "precise" alphabet and English's "what the fuck ever, rules? ppfffffft" alphabet, when the Japanese intentionally fudge foreign words they have to fudge anyway even when they're using them "straight", well, accuracy is a very relative thing.

Bluntly, I'm getting just a bit sick of this kind of pedantic hair-splitting over something that you basically HAVE to be a bit imprecise on. Especially when we DO have a pronunciation guide up-top and can easily put in Notes "the actual Japanese name does not readily phonetically romanize". --M Sipher 19:45, 11 August 2013 (EDT)

A lot of our problems, as I see it, come from people getting really worked up about supposed syllable extensions that don't make any meaningful difference to English speakers. (Personally, if I wanted to emphasize that his name had a "held" short E at the end, I'd probably spell it "Sirenn".) -LV 23:46, 11 August 2013 (EDT)