A dispute arises in the community of Genshin Impact. The English voice actor is criticized for the pronunciation of an Arabic name. Some call him a racist, while others defend him.
Tighnari is a character you meet in the latest update in the Sumeru region. The area is inspired by the Middle East. The character is voiced by the English voice actor Elliot Gindi, who pronounces the name in English rather than Arabic.
Some players label the pronunciation as racist. The developers have already faced criticism regarding the characters’ skin colors as well. Players are demanding more characters with darker skin.
A person named Oryx created a channel on YouTube, which contains only a single video. In it, he corrects the pronunciation of the name Tighnari. “It is damn not ‘Tie-nari'” is written on a board. Here you can see the video:
The video receives a lot of support in the comments:
- Sola Silvestre writes: “The English team responsible for the voice acting should talk to native speakers and ask how certain words are pronounced.”
- IvyTruong writes: “The dude created a channel just to correct MiHoYo. Major respect.”
- Aluin Kali writes: “As a German, I can understand that. Every German word in the game is so badly mangled that I need subtitles to understand what they are saying.”
- Y Qisq writes: “Thank you, we needed this!”
The voice actor defends himself
Elliot Gindi counters instead of accepting the criticism. His colleague Zach Aguilar, the voice of the Traveler, supports him. Both defend the pronunciation used in-game.
“Tighnari is not a name you hear very often,” Aguilar says in a stream to Gindi, after he asked how he would pronounce the name. He had never heard the name Tighnari before. Gindi agrees with him.
Aguilar himself is from the Middle East and his grandmother insisted that all children receive European names to avoid racism.
Other names and words have also been poorly pronounced in Genshin Impact. Therefore, according to Gindi and Aguilar, it is right to establish an English version directly and not to let users who do not speak Arabic even attempt it.
Angry players react by saying Gindi is “mocking players who want Tighnari’s name pronounced correctly”. Others defend him and say he is just doing his job.
What do you think about the dispute over the pronunciation of Tighnari? Would you prefer the Arabic or the English version? Are you on the side of the angry fans, or do you support the voice actor? Feel free to let us know in the comments here on MeinMMO!
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