Translation Question: Huton

[Shadow12000]

So, why is this "Huton" and not "Futon". Everyone I know that knows even basic Japanese say that "Hu" is pronounced "Fu" and so that's what's generally used, kind of like how it would technically be "Si" but instead it's "Shi" or "Ti" but instead it's "Chi".

One person did make the argument that Japan did make their own Romaji system where it used Hu, Si, Ti, etc. and that due to the nature of FF14 using older style English and other European languages, that they may have chosen to use Huton to stick with that. My argument against that is we have the Mudra spelled "Chi" and not "Ti" despite that older style, so even if that was true, it's inconsistent.

Could someone from the translation team help clarify this decision?

[alexhatesmil]

What's usually transliterated as "fu" (ふ） isn't actually equivalent to the English "fu", and to Japanese speakers, the "f" sounds like the same initial consonant as "ha", "hi", "he", and "ho". (The reason we might hear an "f" instead of an "h" is because of how Japanese "h" is pronounced in conjunction with "u".)

As to why the translation team used Huton, my guess is that they wanted to avoid confusion with "futon", since I'd say most English speakers are familiar with futons. That's just a guess, though.

[Shadow12000]

I wasn't meaning it to be literally how we would pronounce fu, with a strong f. It's more of a half way between an H and an F, like an extremely soft F really. One could make the argument "people will say it wrong if they use a hard F like we normally do" but let's be honest, they're likely saying the -ton (pronounce "toe-n") as ton, as in the measurement (pronounced "tun"). So we more likely have a bunch of people going "ca-tun", "ray-tun" (some may realize it's rai as in right, some), "hew-tun" (or, god forbid, "huh-tun"), etc. I don't think punctual pronunciation should be a primary concern more than practicality based on the Hepburn Romaji system that's been more accurate for years now than the others.

Also, I hope that's not the case with the couch thing. I would hope they wouldn't care about if people were stupid enough to confuse a ninja technique with a piece of furniture.