Languages in the Pokémon world

I'm a (soon-to-officially-graduate) teacher of English as a foreign language and my first language is Spanish, so this is a topic that hits close to home for me. Plus, I also got some inspiration after listening to some (rather disappointing) accented voices in Masters looking at you Koga, Leon, Piers and Viola, and then seeing a comic theorizing about what kind of language barrier Ingo would face after falling into Hisui prior to PLA.

What do you think is the situation in the Pokémon world as regards languages, barring the meta nods to the real world? Do you think they have a global language, á la Galactic Basic in Star Wars? Do you think each region (besides Alola, which is canonically confirmed to have its own native language as Hawaii does) has its own language, and if so, do you think one or more region's languages might be mutually intelligible? What about accents and dialects - do you picture a particular city having differences from another? Do you think Pokémon might be able to understand commands in more than one human language, as certain real-life animals do? Share any thoughts on the matter here!

I honestly think they don't have a global speaking language. But, a global written language. There's an npc in Kanto in the G/S/C games that's clearly not from Kanto and is confirmed to be from Unova in the B/W games. So, I think that the regions all have different languages.

Good input so far, people! I forgot to mention another problem - that of translations. I mean, we're supposed to guide our perceptions of each region's languages by looking at their real-life inspirations. But then, we have characters like Lt. Surge, who was explicitly American and later on implied to be from a US-based region; Fantina, who speaks English in the Japanese version and French in other translations, and the aforementioned characters who have disappointing accents in the English version of Masters. So... what do we make of them?

I agree that each region has a different language, and that they have different degrees of intelligibility between one another (e.g. the first four regions' languages, Unovan and Galarian, the ScaVio region's with that of the regions in Poké-South America), but that doesn't exactly rule out the existence of a "Galactic Basic"-like global language. Said global language is whatever language you set the game to.

I also dont think that there's a global language. Since they are their own separate regions, that would mean that they would have their own unique cultures, laws, society, and so languages. Alola, like you said, is more obvious about this---as in the player setting off at 11 for the island challenge since it's a tradition there and before the player, it was for the natives only. (Apologies if I get some names or stuff wrong, its been a hot minute since I played)

I would think that regions like Galar and Unova would have similar languages, however, as Galar is clearly based in the UK---heavily on Great Britain---and Unova is US based---specifically New York. British English and American English aren't exactly the same (they have notable differences in accent, spelling, slang, etc) but if an American and British person met at a local diner, they shouldn't have too much trouble deciphering what the other has to say unless they have difficulty with accents. If we apply the same thing to an Unovan and a Galarian, it would probably be the same thing.

What about accents and dialects - do you picture a particular city having differences from another?

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As for this, it would absolutely make sense. I would think Castelia city (Gen 5 is my favourite sue me) would have the equivalent of a "New York" accent since it's based on Manhatten while a place like Lacunosa Town wouldn't. Nimbasa city would have a similar accent to Castelia too as they are sister cities.

I've always assumed that most regions had their own language but the series made characters able to understand them by default for storytelling purposes. It'd be difficult to write language barriers into the series, especially when it comes to the anime.

As for this, it would absolutely make sense. I would think Castelia city (Gen 5 is my favourite sue me) would have the equivalent of a "New York" accent since it's based on Manhatten while a place like Lacunosa Town wouldn't. Nimbasa city would have a similar accent to Castelia too as they are sister cities.

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Definitely agreed with this - honestly, accents/dialects aren't something I've thought of before, but it makes a lot of sense! Maybe it's something we'd have been able to hear more in the anime so I'm tempted to go through some older episodes and see if they applied any dialects to characters from certain parts of a region (especially Unova, which as an American I'd be able to understand more haha).

Given the route numbering system I assume Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh speak the same language.

Also in the dialogue in-game, SwSh definitely have some form of English accent. Hop's use of the word "Mate", a poor interpretation of "Wolf in Sheep's clothing" (Nickit in Wooloo's clothing doesn't quite work, but in Galar the wolves are legendary heroes after all!) and quite a few other English-isms, at least in the English-language version of the game.

I mean Galar uses a different writing script for their language, unlike the one used in Unova.

Which really kind of makes it more weirder since Unova is based off New York City and the surrounding area, and Galar is based off Britain (it not just based off of Scotland). Which are both places where in our world speak English and essential use the same writing script. Of course British spelling is different than American spelling seeing how British spell words with a "u" in them like colour, labour, favour.

But the fact Galar uses a different writing script than Unova, really kind of makes it very confusing. Like does Unova and Galar both speak the same language equivalent to English? If so why on earth do they used different writing scripts?

It really makes me wonder honestly why Game Freak did that with Galar.

Afaik the Team Rocket grunt in the GSC postgame speaks a language different from Kanto/Johto. At least he seemed to have severe trouble understanding the player. If I remember correctly he originally came from Sinnoh?

The Pokemon world is probably similar to ours in regards that there may be regions that speak similar languages (like how both the US and GB have their own variation of English) but there are also enough regions where people speak completely different ones. At the same time there might be a single language that is just widely understood throughout the entire world (much like English for us).