[incognitoinnominate]

I think aeris is the original japanese name It translates better in japanese. But everyone seems to say it was changed to that (mabee to sound like the constallation aries) to make the game more familliar to uk and us players. Th is not a sound in japanese, but her name could of had an f instead.

In japan they have different speech system (duhh), there is no L or V or W, ph, ch or th. (and some others)
The letters are like sounds, ending in a vowel, such as Ka or Te.
the alphbet is structured like this.

a i u e o
ka ki ku ke ko ___ kya kyu kyo ___ ga gi gu ge go
sa shi su se so ___ sha shu sho ___ za zi zu ze zo
ta chi tsu te to ___ cha chu cho ___da di du de do
na ni nu ne no ___ nya nyu nyo
ha he hu he ho

And so on. to make ga from ka it is simple just add 2 " .
か(ka) to が(ga)

The translation for sephiroth
セフィロス se-fu-i-ro-su. But say it fast.

Oh yeah, english and us words are written in Katakana. The normal script is in Hirigana. Katakna was made to put foreign words in japanese, it is slightly easier to write in. The ka and ga are in katakana. here they are in hirigana.
カ(ka) to ガ(ga)

Just ignore the kya bit, it's hardly ever used and i can't be bothered to explain.

Here are names in japanese, with the literal translation.

クラウド ストライフ ku-o-u-do su-to-ra-fu cloud strife

ヴィンセント ヴァレンタイン v-i-n-se-n-to v-a-re-n-ta-n vincent valentine
(L and R is the same in jap, the smaller letters mean smaller sounds)

エアリス ゲインズブール e-a-ri-su ge-i-n-zu-bu_ru aeris gainsborough
(The dash ー means lengthen the sound)

ルーファウス神羅 ru_fu-a-u-su shinra
(shinra is in kanji. Kanji is another letter set for complex things like love 大塚愛)

宝条 ho-jo (hojo is also in love. ahem kanji. I don't think he ever loved lucretcia. There ia another kanji arangement pronounced hojo, and it means fertility. A bit of a pun for japanese players on the sephiroth jenova thing.)

ルクレツィア クレシェント ru-ku-re-tsu-i-a ku-re-tsu-e-n-to lucrecia cresent (I always thought that sounded like a street)


That's all for today folks. Tell me if you want more or anything translated. (not too much thogh i'm just learning and only know the above kanji.)