(Source: @finalfantasyvii on x.com)
I am hopping mad about this. I don't even go here! I'm just a gal with a few drops of Irish blood and a normal amount of respect for Gaelic phonology.
Let's look at the facts:
- Cait Sith is an actual figure from Celtic mythology whose name is pronounced in Irish Gaelic as [kat̪ˠ ˈʃiː], or "caht shee".
- In the original Japanese release of FF7, this character's name was spelled "ケット・シー", pronounced "ketto-shī"—essentially the same as the Gaelic pronunciation given the rules of Japanese phonetics.
- Despite this, the English voiceovers will say "Kate Sihth" like an idiot asshole seeing "Siobhan" and saying "see-ob-an".
This is such a slap in the face of anyone from a Gaelic-speaking background. "Actually your language doesn't mean shit. English is the hegemonic language so the English pronunciation takes precedence. Go fuck yourself, good night." This feels like the sort of thing that could only happen if the localizer was English and drew upon their deep-seated national loathing of the Irish.
