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In the context of a typical fantasy world setting, the 'demon king' is popularly known as Maou or Maoh(at least in my experience). Is there a significant difference in which I use in the eye's of the reader?

As a french person, Maou sounds very much like a cat meowing XD

MaOH, not MaHO.

Personally, I prefer the -oh transcription to the -ou transcription. It's mostly because words with "ou" in them sound French to me - and I'm not even from France.

Maou looked a lot like a Maori word to me, and I've never really liked the language. That's only by personal preference on the sound of the words though. Upon looking it up, Google claims that it's the Maori word for millionaire, so bear that in mind as you make your choice. Good luck with your project.

I would also go with Maoh.

Personally I think a writing like "Mao" (without the H) wouldn't shock me either, though yes, it is supposed to be a ō, really.
Perhaps because I always saw the name of Gyumao in Dragon Ball (mis)spelled like that.

Moreover...

Spacefur wrote:As a french person, Maou sounds very much like a cat meowing XD

This !

I personally prefer the Maou version.

The ou in Maou means king. It's the same as the Ou in Oujo (a way of saying princess, I suppose) and Ouji (prince). I wouldn't write Ouji-sama as Ohji-sama, so I wouldn't write Maou and Maoh.

It doesn't actually even matter that much. I would actually suggest you use the words "Demon King" instead of the Japanese term. It makes more one less term that the reader might have to search up.

(Also a bit of trivia, the Ma in Maou is also the character for Magic, thus the reason why sometimes, translators accidentally translate Maou into Magic King.)

Shinoki wrote:I personally prefer the Maou version.
It doesn't actually even matter that much. I would actually suggest you use the words "Demon King" instead of the Japanese term. It makes more one less term that the reader might have to search up.

It's never too hard to include a translation, really. And just using "Demon King" sounds kind of odd.

Little late to the party, but ....

I prefer 'Maou', for the same reasons Shinoki listed. It is a matter of transcription, like Taleweaver stated. To me, personally, if I know it is a Japanese word, the 'u' after the vowel is telling me that the 'o' is a long vowel sound, and is meant to be held. The transcription of 'oh' is trying to get the same effect from English speakers. But that is bastardized Romaji, since 'oh' isn't officially a Romanized Japanese syllable.

In my mind, if you are going to keep using the Japanese word (instead of the translation - Demon King), I'd say use the official Romaji transcription syllables.

LateWhiteRabbit wrote:Little late to the party, but ....

I prefer 'Maou', for the same reasons Shinoki listed. It is a matter of transcription, like Taleweaver stated. To me, personally, if I know it is a Japanese word, the 'u' after the vowel is telling me that the 'o' is a long vowel sound, and is meant to be held. The transcription of 'oh' is trying to get the same effect from English speakers. But that is bastardized Romaji, since 'oh' isn't officially a Romanized Japanese syllable.

In my mind, if you are going to keep using the Japanese word (instead of the translation - Demon King), I'd say use the official Romaji transcription syllables.

this!

'ou' is the prolonged vowel sound; you'll only see it written as 'oh'
in english versions that don't particularly understand how romaji
should be portrayed. it's also very typical of japanese > english
translators who think 'oh' would be the right way to translate it
back to english, when in reality we already have the 'ou' to describe
what's happening there.