Tulece/Tullece/Turlece/Turles's name explained.

[ScottyFamalam]

Spoiler

Katakana: ターレス
Hepburn: Tāresu
Toei/Bandai: Tulece (once Turlece)
Funimation: Turles

In katakana, his name is ターレス (tāresu). His name is a pun on the English word "lettuce", which is レタス (retasu) in katakana. Swap the katakana around, add the long sound symbol ー (chōonpu), and you get ターレス (tāresu). The official romanization for his name in Japan is "Tulece", although at one point it was "Turlece", which is what some fans use. More fans romanize his name as "Tullece", which is what Funimation used for their official subtitles courtesy of Steve Simmons, but most people go with "Turles" due to Funimation using that. So, what's the most accurate translation? Let's start by breaking down the katakana.

ター (tā): It's an elongated タ (ta). In Japanese, you would say it like "taa". Normally, when a ー (chōonpu) is added to a katakana symbol ending with an "a", you would translate it as something ending in "ar", "er", or "ur".

Spoiler

ア (a)
バ (ba)
ダ (da)
ガ (ga)
ハ (ha)
カ (ka)
マ (ma)
ナ (na)
パ (pa)
ラ (ra)
サ (sa)
タ (ta)
ワ (wa)
ヤ (ya)
ザ (za)

become

アー (ā)
バー (bā)
ダー (dā)
ガー (gā)
ハー (hā)
カー (kā)
マー (mā)
ナー (nā)
パー (pā)
ラー (rā)
サー (sā)
ター (tā)
ワー (wā)
ヤー (yā)
ザー (zā)

and those would translate to

ar (or aar), aer, aur
bar, ber, bur
dar, der, dur
gar, ger, gur
har, her, hur
kar, ker, kur (or car, cer, cur, etc since the letter "c" is approximated as "k" in Japanese)
mar, mer, mur
nar, ner, nur
par, per, pur
rar, rer, rur (or lar, ler, lur, etc since the letter "l" is approximated as "r" in Japanese)
sar, ser, sur (or thar, ther, thur, etc since "th" is approximated as "sa" in Japanese)
tar, ter, tur
war, wer, wur
yar, yer, yur
zar, zer, zur

Granted, it's not absolutely necessary to keep elongated syllables when you convert English to katakana and vice-versa, but it's most proper to do so. A ー (chōonpu) after an "a" sound generally translates into an "ar", "er, or "ur". ター (tā) generally translates to "tar", "ter", or "tur".

Maybe you could translate ター (tā) as "taa" but that's not really English. Just try to name an English word containing "taa". You can't. And not everyone would elongate "taa" when they say it; many people would just say "ta". You could translate ター (tā) into "tah", but a lot of people would just pronounce that as "ta". You could also go with "tuh", but a lot of people wouldn't know or remember to elongate it. Some people would pronounce "tuh" as "too", too.

It would be simpler to just go with "tar", "ter", or "tur" just to be safe; no matter how you say those, you're always gonna be voicing an elongated syllable. The source word is "lettuce", "tur" would be the most logical here. The "r" sound/letter does obscure the "lettuce" pun, though.

The next symbol is レ (re). In the word "lettuce", "le" converted to that.

The last symbol is ス (su). In the word "lettuce, "ce" converted to that.

Does this mean レス (resu) translates to "lece"? Should you translate ターレス (tāresu) as "Turlece"? Well, no. People who aren't weebs will pronounce "lece" as "lee-see", "leh-see", "lee-seh", "leh-seh", or "leese" (like the word "lease"). They won't pronounce it as "less" like you're supposed to here. The fact is, that's just not how "lece" is pronounced. "Tulece", "Tullece", "Turlece", etc - none of these are proper translations. Weebs hate on "Turles" for obscuring the "lettuce" pun, but not only is that spelling a valid translation of the katakana, but it also makes the pronunciation clearer. That's probably why Funimation went with that spelling. But then again, most people would probably pronounce "Turles" like "turls". "Turless" would have made the pronunciation clearest, although that spelling looks rather feminine. Maybe "Turlace", then? But people probably would pronounce the "lace" like in "shoelace".

So, what would the most ideal translation of ターレス (tāresu) be, one that accurately translates the katakana, makes the pronunciation clear, and reflects the "lettuce" pun? Honestly, no matter what translation you go with, there's no way you can properly translate his name without obscuring the "lettuce" pun in the spelling. Perhaps it's best not to include any "r" letters or sounds to preserve the pun. In that case, I'd go with "Tahlace" or "Tahless". The spellings may not reflect the "lettuce" pun, but the pronunciations do. Some people may not be elongate the "tah", but enough probably would.

tl;dr You may as well just call him "Turles" like a normal person. Or "Turless". Go ahead and use "Tahlace" or "Tahless" if you're so fussy over preserving the "lettuce" pun.

 

[GreatSaiyaman123]

Here in Brazil it’s Turles but pronounced Tarles.

 

[ScottyFamalam]

On the subject of elongating parts of names, ベジータ (Bejīta) should technically be "Vegeeta" because the ジ (ji) is elongated by the ー (chōonpu). Despite this, practically everyone romanizes it as "Vegeta", even though that would properly be pronounced as "vah/veh/vuh + geh/jeh + ta/tuh". "Vegeeta" would actually be pronounced as "vah/veh/vuh + gee/jee + ta/tuh"