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How to Pronounce Fi

How do you pronounce Fi?

  • Fee

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Fie

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Fay

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0

Xinnamin

Mrs. Austin
Joined
Dec 6, 2009
Location
clustercereal
So, like with many names in the Zelda series, Fi's name is pronounced in several different ways by fans. Normally, we just agree that it comes down to preference, but Fi's name is rather interesting. Some people say Fee, some say Fie, but it may be that neither is right. English-speaking Nintendo officials pronounce it as Fie, but localization can make mistakes. Let's break it down.

In Japanese, her name is ファイ, which romanizes as Fai. This would normally be pronounced roughly as Fie. What's funny though is that some translators pronounce the katakana as Fay. Looking at some other localizations, like French and Spanish, her name is Fay in those regions. But then again, we have other localizations being closer to Fie. It gets more confusing.

Translating that katakana and we find that ファイ is actually the Greek letter Phi: Φ
Recall that before we got Fi's actual spelling, we were spelling it as Phi. How is Phi actually pronounced? Well, people say both Fee and Fie on this one. I've looked around for a definitive answer on how Phi is pronounced, but all sources are telling me either goes, which doesn't help much.

Normally I'm inclined to go with whatever the Japanese pronunciation comes out as, but if Fi's name is truly derived from the Greek Phi, then I'm not so sure anymore. Japan has made their own translation pronunciation errors, like how they say ocarina like oh-carina. Silly language barrier.

Given all that, how do you guys think Fi's name is REALLY pronounced?
 
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Joined
Apr 16, 2010
I'm not aware of the other languages' translations (spellings and pronunciations), but I've always pronounced it as Fie, when - or so we thought - it was Phi, and now that it is Fi.
 

Ronin

There you are! You monsters!
Forum Volunteer
Joined
Feb 8, 2011
Location
Alrest
For a time everyone--including reviewers--seemed to spell it as Phi. Therefore, I more inclined to go with the Greek letter pronunciation (if I have it right, that is) of Fee.
 

zeldahuman

Graphic Designer
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Feb 22, 2011
Location
Akkala
I pronounce it Fee... but that's only because it was spelled Phi like the Greek letter before it was Fi.
 

Ventus

Mad haters lmao
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May 26, 2010
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Akkala
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Hylian Champion
I pronounce it as fie, rhyming with pie. Just looks to be that way, and makes more sense to me given other characters' names (e.g Link, Zelda, Ghirahim, Groose...and Fi). If the Japanese pronounce it Fee, I'm more than happy to go with that [yes, I'm a weeaboo sometimes], but for now it'll be Fie.
 

Ghosi

Schmetterling
Joined
Oct 4, 2010
Location
Z-axis
I pronounce it Fee, because my mother language is a say-what-you-write-language, meaning that the letter "i" would be pronounced "e". My explanation probably doesn't make any sense, but I pronounce it Fee and that is that.
 
Joined
Jun 16, 2008
Location
New York, US
I always thought it was fie. You see, when I first read a new word, I tend to instinctively pronounce it one way, regardless of how it's supposed to be pronounced, and then I'm stuck saying it that way because everything else sounds weird. That's what happened with Fi. But then, I also pronounce Phi the same way, and everyone was spelling Fi's name that way, so maybe that's also where it came from.
 
I

Infidel

Guest
I'm fairly sure I head Nintendo representatives pronouncing her name "Fee", so that is how I have pronounced it in my head.
 
Joined
Feb 23, 2011
I pronounce it as "Fie". Simply because it rhymes with the anglicized Greek letter "Φ", which I am used to (my dad taught me to pronounce Greek letters that way). The "fie" pronunciation is more of an American thing, as are many other words, phrases, and sounds that have roots stemming from Ancient Greece. With that, I believe the native [Ancient] Greek pronounced it as "fee". It is also believed by many that the pronunciation of "fee" sounds more feminine. As such, it may feel more suitable to use that pronunciation when referring to Fi. The Japanese are likely following the anglicized Greek pronunciation, which is why the katakana reads ファイ "fai". If it were pronounced "fay" wouldn't the katakana read as フエイ (fei)?

To sum it up, I guess Fi's name joins the series' many other pronunciations that are left up to the player.
 

blubb

Ash Gala Wonderful!
Joined
Mar 9, 2010
Location
49.9°N 8.2°E
I pronounce it "fie" as in "pie" or "high" too because that's what the Japanese form ファイ agrees with (it's not フィー "fee" or フェイ "fey"). Also in German she's called "Phai" and because we mostly write as we speak, that rhymes with "eye" too.
If we wanted to be strictly etymological and assuming that her name is really derived from the letter Φ, then we'd have to pronounce it [pʰi] in Ancient Greek phonology (with an aspirated English "p", so like the word "pee", just a bit shorter - as opposed to a plain "p" like in "spit"). The shift from an aspirated "p" to an "f" sound happened much later.
 
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Locke

Hegemon
Site Staff
Joined
Nov 24, 2009
Location
Redmond, Washington
It translates to Phi, which is pronounced Fee or Fie in English so Fay doesn't enter into it. I've heard Nintendo reps unanimously use Fie, so that's what I go with. We don't go around calling the Fused Shadows the "Crystallized Stone of Shadow" just because that's what the Japanese call it. With exceptions of important misrepresentations (e.g. "Seal War" is a better translation than "Imprisoning War", as the focus of the war was on 'sealing' the Sacred Realm, not 'imprisoning' Ganon), we play a localized game and the localized names and pronunciations are the standard.
 

Xinnamin

Mrs. Austin
Joined
Dec 6, 2009
Location
clustercereal
Seems I was a bit messed up in my initial post about the katakana pronunciation. That is what happens when I'm trying to figure out phonetic sounds with Austin through text. I fixed some of the things I had initially written.

So you guys seem to be saying that the true pronunciation of the Greek Phi is Fee? Seems like just a lot of localization confusion now lol

For the record, I pronounce her name Fee, for the sole reason that I think it sounds nicer and I'm still confused on if a true "official" pronunciation exists.
 

blubb

Ash Gala Wonderful!
Joined
Mar 9, 2010
Location
49.9°N 8.2°E
So you guys seem to be saying that the true pronunciation of the Greek Phi is Fee? Seems like just a lot of localization confusion now lol

I'm not a pro linguist, but this is basically how it works:
Actually it depends on what language stage of Greek one is referring to because the same letter was pronounced differently throughout the ages. (For the sake of clarity I will stick to IPA pronunciations now and not ambiguous English transcriptions)
In "very ancient" Greek (~3000 years ago), the letter Φ was most probably pronounced [pʰei], similar to "pay"
In Ancient Greek like it was spoken 2500 years ago, it was, as I said, pronounced [pʰi] or [pʰiː], closest English word is "pee"
In Modern Greek of today it's simply [fi], similar to fee. The change from [pʰ] to [f] is believed to have happened already quite some time ago (~100 AD-ish)
And I think I can also explain the [fiː]/[faɪ̯] difference in Modern English: The word was probably imported into English (at least) twice, once before all English long [iː] vowels shifted to [aɪ̯] (thus also affecting the pronunciation of Φ) and once afterwards (where the long [iː] stayed unchanged).

So... we have a wide variety of possibilities to choose from! But I still think that [faɪ̯] is the pronunciation intended by the developers because that's what all the unambiguous translations of the game agree on (Japanese "Fai", German "Phai", Spanish "Fay"). Just the English one could theoretically be ambiguous but as [faɪ̯] is also one of the natural possibilities to pronounce "Fi", it's IMO the "most correct" one. With that I'm not saying that others who prefer "Fee", "Fay" or even "Pee" or "Pay" are wrong.
 

Aero_Dynamic

エアロダイナミック
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Aug 29, 2010
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For the record, I pronounce her name Fee, for the sole reason that I think it sounds nicer and I'm still confused on if a true "official" pronunciation exists.

I agree, between the choices, "Fee" is the better sounding pronounciation.
 

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