Unova
Seen April 20th, 2011
Posted April 19th, 2011
131 posts
13.1 Years
If you knew the Japanese names beforehand, does it take you a while to get used to the English names? No time at all? Or do you never get used to them?

Back in the days before Gold and Silver came out in the west, the game magazines used to call Marill "Mariru" and Blissey "Hapinasu" (both Japanese spellings) as well as some others. It took me a while to get used to Marill and Blissey among other names.

Now B&W are out over here, I sometimes find myself thinking of Castelia City as Hiun. I also prefer Chillarmy to Minccino. I'm pretty much used to Unova now, so it all depends.

How long does it take you to make the switch (if ever?)
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Superjub

Pokémon Aureolin

Age 28
Male
Hoenn
Seen August 23rd, 2022
Posted November 5th, 2014
2,288 posts
15.7 Years
I still call Flufflet (or whatever it's called XD) Washibon, and the genies by their Japanese names. XD Some of the Japanese names are just stuck in my head though, like Monozu, Jiheddo and Sazandra. Oh, and Burungel. The fourth generation is the first generation where I've basically memorised loads of Japanese names. XD Normally, I don't actually learn many Japanese names. XD
Male
Mother's Basement, USA
Seen July 31st, 2011
Posted April 19th, 2011
145 posts
12.1 Years
I still call Litwick 'Hitomishi', mainly because Litwick sounds forgettable.

Other than that, I loved the English names' simplistic stlye, sort of like what they did for Generation I.

Of course, they did a msitake not naming Snivy 'Smugleaf'. So much butthurt from the fandom could have been avoided.

Noob out.
Male
Seen July 16th, 2016
Posted August 5th, 2014
559 posts
13.3 Years
For me, it depends more on which name I prefer as opposed to which I am used to.

But for most of the Japanese names I've known for B/W, I've almost always liked better.

For example: (Note that these are all my opinions.)

Ishuu>Unova (I can't get over the pronunciation of Unova either, it irritates me.)

Mijimaru>Oshawott (Although I'm pretty much used to the English name by now, despite that I still like to Japanese one better.)

Pokeblu>Tepig

Tustarja>Snivy (I don't hate the name Snivy, but I do love things where I have to use Japanese pronunciations for some reason. ie: the Tus being pronounced like "sue" in the Japanes name.)

Dageki and Nageki>Sawk and Trough (Seriously, the Japanese names both show a relation between the Pokemon, and sound cool. The English names don't have any relation to each other, and I don't like the way they sound either.)

Sydian

fake your death.

Age 30
they/them
Georgia
Seen May 22nd, 2022
Posted November 29th, 2021
33,354 posts
15.2 Years
I looked at Retribution's signature and thought "Burungel!" so yeah, obviously I have a bit of trouble adjusting. I am still calling Heatran Hiidoran. I forget it's even Heatran in English half the time. :( And Munchlax is Gonbe, Bisharp is Kirikizan...list goes on. I learn city names much better in English than Japanese though...except I keep thinking Castelia is Hiun City still. Bleh. :P
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Mr Cat Dog

Frasier says it best

Age 32
Male
London, UK
Seen September 29th, 2017
Posted July 12th, 2017
11,344 posts
19.1 Years
The only critters whose Japanese names I know are those whose English names are just Romanized versions of the originals, like Raikou, Pikachu, Rukario and all that. There might have been a time, when I still followed all of the Pokemon news like crazy, where I could have known more, but nowadays I tend not to think about the original names, unfortunately.

Hikamaru

Age 30
Female
Australia
Seen January 24th, 2019
Posted September 4th, 2018
50,214 posts
12.2 Years
I looked at Retribution's signature and thought "Burungel!" so yeah, obviously I have a bit of trouble adjusting. I am still calling Heatran Hiidoran. I forget it's even Heatran in English half the time. :( And Munchlax is Gonbe, Bisharp is Kirikizan...list goes on. I learn city names much better in English than Japanese though...except I keep thinking Castelia is Hiun City still. Bleh. :P
Burungel > Jellicent if you need to know.
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Timbjerr

T-o-X-i-C

Age 36
Female
Texas
Seen May 30th, 2022
Posted January 28th, 2016
7,415 posts
19.7 Years
It took me about a week to learn all of the GenV English names. It wasn't particularly hard because with the possible exception of 'Denchula" and 'Pokabu', I wasn't particularly attached to any of the Japanese names, simply using them as a placeholder for their eventual English naming convictions. XD

Corvus of the Black Night

Wild Duck Pokémon

Age 30
Non-binary
With the Birds
Seen January 9th, 2015
Posted January 9th, 2015
3,416 posts
14.3 Years
Other than the names "Mamepato", "Kenhorou" and "Wargle", I had little difficulty. It's weird when you talk about how your "Mamepato" evolved and all your friends are like "wth" though...

Every other generation I learned the English names before the Japanese ones. (well, Chatot/Perap was an exception but whatever)

Meganium

memento mori

she/her
Houston, TX
Seen February 1st, 2023
Posted February 1st, 2023
I get confused and all mixed up when the English names came out. Because I had already gotten used to Mijumaru, Chillarmy, Tabunne, etc. Now I have to deal with the English versions saying "Oshawott", "Minccino". and "Audino". which are very different from the Japanese version. For 3 months or so, I got used to most of the English names. Chillarmy and Tabunne are two of the names that I will never get used to.

Shining Raichu

Expect me like you expect Jesus.

Age 32
Male
Australia
Seen October 17th, 2020
Posted December 21st, 2017
8,958 posts
12.3 Years
I never usually know much about the Japanese names, I just wait for the English ones. However, it took me a while to let the word "Isshu" fall out of my head, and I saw the same magazine LilacArcanine did, and over ten years later I still call Blissey "Hapinasu" sometimes. It's so much cuter!
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Misheard Whisper

I also happen to be a model.

Age 28
He/They
Nimbasa Gym
Seen October 3rd, 2022
Posted September 27th, 2022
3,488 posts
14.3 Years
Pokabu, Tsutaja, Mijumaru, Shandera, Ononokus, Jiheddo and Sazandora were the only ones that really got stuck in my head. I actually have a Chandelure called Shandera and a Haxorus named Ononokus now. The rest I tried not to expose myself to too much. It was still a bit of a struggle acclimatising, though. The odd English name, I came across and just went 'whyyyyyy'. Like Frillish. Oh, and the infamous Dunspa- I mean, Stunfisk.
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Holy Roman Empire
Seen February 23rd, 2016
Posted February 23rd, 2016
2,551 posts
13.7 Years
The hardest part was getting used to the English names after eight (?) years of German and Engrish* names.

*When I lost a bunch of my original games, I wanted to rebuy them, and what I got had a 5-character-limit, weird fonts, dialogue that sometimes was done in bad English, sometimes just consisted of incomprehensible assortments of pixels. Wasn't as bad as it sounds, these games were fun to play.


Well, apart from that... Actually I still don't know any of the English gen. V names, and only ~15 of the Japanese ones. I'm pretty sure I will keep those ~15 names in my memory as they are, and learn the English names of the rest.

Captain Fabio

Age 33
London, UK
Seen November 4th, 2021
Posted November 2nd, 2021
12,193 posts
17.1 Years

I knew a few Japanese names before hand, but it didn't really take me that long to get use to them, mainly because I wasn't attached to the names or played the game in Japanese, so it allowed me to get use to them quickly.

Male
Stuck in Generation 3 :(
Seen July 23rd, 2017
Posted June 9th, 2017
1,761 posts
14.8 Years
Prior to Generation 5, it essentially took me no time at all, because the English names were the first names I encountered. With Generation V, however, oh-ho-ho...it's a whole different ballgame:

  • Adapting to "Unova" was difficult at first, because "Isshu" was ingrained in my head. But I'm now accustomed to "Unova", and I even prefer it over "Isshu".
  • I STILL have not adapted to Castelia City. Castelia sounds like a fantasy kingdom town in Hyrule (Legend of Zelda) or Final Fantasy or something, not the name of an urban city. I still call Castelia City either Hiun City (the Japanese name) or, even better, Stratos City (the German name, which uses one of the cooler and more well-known cloud-related terms, IMO).
  • Nimbasa City is still Raimon City to me. After so many years of learning that "rai=thunder", and this city housing the Electric-type Gym leader, Nimbasa City seems a bit inferior... I like the attempt at using "Nimbus" in a Pokemon location name, though...
  • I preserved a few of the Japanese Pokemon names from the transition of Japanese names to English names, should the English names seem inferior. Volcarona is still Ulgamoth, Minccino is still Chillarmy, Krookodile is still Waruvial, Druddigon is still Crimgan, and the Legendary Kami are still Landlos, Voltolos, and Tornelos.
  • I'm gradually making the change from Kibago to Axew, though I still maintain that Kibago was and is a decent Pokemon name in itself.
Overall, I've been able to change over from most of the Japanese names (i.e., Pokabu>Tepig; Jaroda>Serperior), but Generation 5 is the leading case of where I remember a lot of the Japanese names just as well as the English names, which bugs me somewhat... :\
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Aquacorde

⟡ not everything is sink or swim ⟡

Age 29
she/her/he/him
Ankh-Morpork
Seen 11 Hours Ago
Posted March 15th, 2023
12,275 posts
18.9 Years
Well.. the Isshu -> Unova switch was the only one where I learned the Japanese names, so I don't have a reference... but right now I'm still caught between. It doesn't much help that I watch the anime in Japanese and so know everything that way. I guess it doesn't matter too much right now, because everyone I know knows the Pokemon in both languages, but in a few years when my littlest brother will get his own Nintendo handheld it could be more confusing.

I don't think I'll ever forget the Japanese names, and I think I'll be switching between languages for as long as I talk about the Pokemon.
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