With the Aeris/th debate long over, Square Enix is now tackling yet another age-old debate surrounding one of its most popular mainline Final Fantasy entries.
Taking to X to settle all the discussions, the official Final Fantasy 7 X account announced, “Cait Sith is pronounced ‘Kate Sihth.'”
With this statement, the Japanese giant just ended a 26-year-old war.
We saw many of you were asking so we hope this helps! #FF7R pic.twitter.com/ZC4WAu9IpE
— FINAL FANTASY VII (@finalfantasyvii) October 3, 2023
For those who didn’t grow up idolizing brooding, spiky-haired blonde protagonists with a penchant for long and broad yet very impractical-looking swords, let us tell you about one of the most influential JRPGs of all time.
Final Fantasy 7 was released all the way back in 1997 on the original PlayStation at a time when voice acting didn’t exist yet. Several spin-offs, a sequel movie, and a handful of spin-offs later, Square Enix finally gave fans what they wanted – and then some. Final Fantasy 7 Remake, which came out in 2020, is the first in an ongoing three-game remake of the 1997 title, with the second one, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, confirmed for a February release on the PlayStation 5.
The FF7 Remake is more or less a modernized re-telling of the OG title but with certain twists. The playable characters are the same, including Cait Saith.
Following a brief cameo in FF7 Remake, FF7 Rebirth sets up the cat-like creature for a bigger role. Many assumed for the past decades that Cait Sith, a character based on a cat-like creature prominent in Scottish folklore, the cat-sìth, is pronounced as “ket shee”, like, you know, banshee, the anglicized version of Ban Sith.
With this revelation, Square Enix joins the likes of Capcom in using different pronunciations from the real-world names they’re based on – Romanian speakers criticized the “false” pronunciation of Dimitrescu as Dimitreesk in English as it should be “dimi-tres-ku” as the name has Romanian origins.
As is with anything on the internet these days, there’s backlash regarding the pronunciation, but it isn’t aimed towards Square Enix. It appears that native Gaelic speakers are taking offense to the indifference shown by the general public towards their feelings regarding the pronunciation. Many understand why Square is going with the “easier” route as the Gaelic language isn’t exactly the easiest to pronounce for everybody. But, to completely disregard why they’re upset at Square Enix for keeping the spelling and giving the character a Scottish accent only anglicize the pronunciation is the root of their issues. To some, it would’ve been better for Square to have just changed the spelling entirely for uniformity’s sake if it couldn’t fully commit to the Gaelic pronunciation of the name.
If we’re being honest, Square Enix probably should’ve just let this play out like it had for years unless it was ready to do the same for every other word with similar issues throughout the history of Final Fantasy, like Clive calling Ifrit “If-reet” and not “Eef-rit” or Tidus’ being called as “Tee-dus” and “Tide-us” depending on the game.
It’s unclear if Square Enix will take back what it said and go with the traditional Gaelic pronunciation or stick with it.
Square Enix currently has its hands full as it tries to recover from a financial loss despite the commercial success of Final Fantasy 16. It’s now all-in on the AAA space with upcoming releases such as Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Final Fantasy 14’s next expansion and Xbox port, as well as two DLCs for Final Fantasy 16 and its PC port.
