Maha/Macha Mystery

SA-kun · Post by **SA-kun** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 3:09 pm

Okay. I've been agonizing over this ever since .hack//MUTATION revealed the 6th Phase as Macha and then CC2's .hack site said it was Macha. If so, doesn't it look like it should be pronounced "Ma-cha" like it looks? Well, why is it very clearly pronounced "Ma-ha" elsewhere?

My friend has suggested that "Macha" is simply a play on the German "Macht." However, "Macht" is pronounced "Ma-(harsh gutteral sound)-t" if my German is correct. (Which, it probably isn't.) If Macha is a play on Macht, well, shouldn't it be pronounced "Ma-(harsh gutteral sound)-a"? And it makes no sense to just pronounce it as "Ma-ha" if the Japanese language can't say it "Ma-(harsh gutteral sound)-a." If they can't pronounce it, why not just leave it as "Maha"?

But what if it's not a play on Macht at all? What if it's just spelled "Macha" but the "c" is silent? That defies the law of any language I'm familiar with. What language has a silent "c" in the middle of a word?

It's just been bugging me for a long time and I've come across no explanation as to why it's suddenly spelled Macha and not Maha.

Invisible Egg! · Post by **Invisible Egg!** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 7:45 pm

The pronunciation of "c" in Hebrew is sometimes like that (German). For example: "la cheim", which means "to life", is not pronounced with the English "ch" sound.

One of the things about translation is that sometimes subtle changes are needed.

Also, in Celtic mythology, "Macha" is pronounced "mak-kha".

So "Maha" doesn't make sense to me either, but oh well.

Duskino · Post by **Duskino** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 11:33 pm

But isn't "Maha" the Japanese name and "Macha" the English name? Y'know, like an unnecissary change of name? o_O

Krono · Post by **Krono** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 11:48 pm

yeah, that's what I heard.... (what duskino said, that is)

SA-kun · Post by **SA-kun** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 12:47 am

Duskino wrote:But isn't "Maha" the Japanese name and "Macha" the English name? Y'know, like an unnecissary change of name? o_O

I go with CC2's English names, except for "Grunty" and now "Macha." CC2's been confusing me with their names. One name is obviously the Japanese name (Piroshi, Getchoseki, Maro) but then it somehow changed when it got here. Does it mean that CC2's English names were what CC2 originally intended, or what?

This whole thing is just confusing, and it's just.. I want to know what prompted "Macha" to appear on CC2's site.

ALSO, hasn't the spelling "Maha" (as well as the pronounciation) already been introduced here in .hack//SIGN episode 1?

Elk · Post by **Elk** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 1:21 am

Wasn't the creator .hack (or one of them) german? That could possibley be part of the translation. :\ *shrug*

Rhyste · Post by **Rhyste** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 11:07 am

Emma, the lady who wrote the Epitaph, was German. German C is messed up. T_T;; It always turns into a K-sound for me. TT;; "Buch Dich" is pronounced more like, "Bueck Desch." The Ch in German is even more messed up. It's not a direct CK sound, but it's not an ISH sound either, so you have to roll the two together. ><; And it's like, "Esh." >3

Sora · Post by **Sora** » Fri Jul 11, 2003 8:03 pm

Maha is, yes, Macha in the English version, which is why he's listed as such on the CC2 site in roomaji.

Exampling 'Piroshi' isn't a good example because even before .hack was released in the USA, in one of the 'Oshiete, Piroshi-san!' questions, an American fan asked something, and when Piroshi replied (in English), he called himself 'Piros'.

As far as Getchoseki, it may have been a later idea to have him as 'Moonstone' in the English version because that's just what his name means. Either way, these seem to have, on the most part, been planned beforehand by the translation team as well as CC2.

And, returning to an only somewhat offtopic note, 'L'chaim' (that's the proper US romanization of it.. I think.. Good lord, romanizing Hebrew gives me such a headache >_< ) has a different 'ch' sound than in German. Having taken both languages for a number of years, the Hebrew 'ch' sound (sometimes written as 'kh', though I haven't a clue why, as there is no 'ch-as-in-chair' sound in Hebrew) can sound a lot harsher than that of German, which I was taught has a softer sound, not nearly as gutteral, and almost closer to a 'sh' sound.

But here's the thing about Macha/Maha. The Japanese don't -have- a sound for chet (the Hebrew letter that makes the 'ch' sound), and so, pronouncing it 'Ma-ha' is the closest they can reasonably get. That's why, in Japanese, it would be written 'Maha', even if it was -meant-, for some unbeknownst reason, to be 'Macha'.