Languages

[Altairis]

While Pokemon is available in many languages around the world, Pokemon X and Y were the first Pokemon games to allow you to pick the language regardless of where you live / purchased the game. The language can be picked at the start of every new game, but cannot be changed midway through. You could pick from English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, or Korean.

Did you ever import Pokemon games just so you could play them in another language? Why? What language do you normally play games in, and is said language your native one? If you've played a game in a language you aren't fluent in, how much were you able to understand?

I always buy English versions, and I experienced X first in English so I could understand the story fully, but my brother gave me Y for Christmas and I decided to play through it in Spanish. I can understand what the people are saying, but I don't have the vocab to understand all of the attacks ;;

 

[Belldandy]

I usually play games in English, but when French is an option I opt for that. I have SoulSilver, White II and X in French. I have a Y game as well that I beat in English, and then subsequently restarted in Spanish for the Hell of it lol

The only challenge is movesets and names, as well as natures. I have to use online resources a bunch to see what a move actually is in English since I'm more familiar with what moves do in English than in French.

 

[Amore]

I've always played in English as it's my only spoken language. If there had been the option to play Platinum and HgSs in German I may have kept up the language and done some playthroughs in Deutsch to help further my understanding of the language.

 

[Hiatus]

I'm glad that they've introduced such a feature, honestly; thanks to this, games are able to be released worldwide at the same time, voiding any possible delay. Prior to that, Japan would get everything early, and everyone else were required to wait a couple of months before getting a hold of these games, unfortunately. This was bad in many ways, with one being that those who already have it are permitted to make videos and share walk-throughs on sites like YouTube, which serves as a major spoiler for those that yet don't. I know you could avoid them if you wish, but for some, it's not exactly that easy; regardless of how hard they try, they just can't keep themselves away. Sadly, I'm one of them.

As far as languages go, I always choose English. This is the only one I actually understand, unfortunately. Wish there more, but there just aren't any. My parents come from Mexico, and they're fluent in Spanish, but I, myself, am not, and nor is my sister; I could interpret a few words and phrases, but I can't fully speak. They're always talking in English at home, which could help explain this situation, to some degree.

Have I ever played any Pokémon game in a language I'm not fluent in? Yes, I definitely have. Few months ago, I've once tried Japanese version of Ruby. Since I've already played this game dozens of time before, I was fully aware of what I was doing--didn't need to understand any text at all. I didn't finish, though; wound up stopping mid-way through.

 

[Trogd0r917]

I always play in English because it's the only language I speak and I have yet think of a reason to play a game in a language I don't understand. I do however think language selection was a good idea since previously the language was based on where you bought the game. In fact when language selection was first revealed I remember one of the comments on an X and Y update video was something along the lines of "Yes! I can finally play Pokémon in English!".

 

[Apollo]

I generally play in English when playing a Pokemon game, especially in the first playthrough, for me to fully understand things. I've played Emerald in German and Sapphire in French once. The German Emerald came with a save file that already finished the main game, so I wasn't required to understand much since I exclusively played in the frontier, but I was able to understand the dialogue of some NPC's. The French one was considerably harder, since I started from the beginning. I stopped playing when I reached Petalburg, haha.

 

[Khoshi]

I usually play in English, considering it's the only language I'm fluent in. I'd probably play in German for a bit since I'm interested in the German language, but my basic German knowledge is slowly dissipating. I wanted to play Pokemon Black in Japanese when it was released in Japan due to them getting it earlier than us in Australia, but I never got around to it. I'm hopeless when it comes to emulators.

 

[Hikamaru]

Since English is the only language I can speak or read, it's pretty obvious I always play Pokemon games in English. The language selection feature in X & Y was pretty nice because that allowed for the simultaneous worldwide release, plus it meant other players didn't have to wait so long after the Japanese got the games.

 

[Austin]

I only speak English, so I can only really play in English. I've never imported any games from any other countries and I've never wanted to. But it's really cool how you can switch languages in X and Y. I'm in the process of learning Japanese, so it was cool to be able to play the game in Japanese to help immerse myself in the language.

 

[BeachBoy]

I have X in English and if I get Y it will be in Italian, my second language.

It's interesting to think that these games can actually help in the language learning process (though one wonders how much).

 

[Firox]

I speak both English and Spanish - naturally English first so I play most games in English, as it's the only language available in USA.

Even if I play the games in Spanish, the main issue I have is the move's names - I'm used to them in English, many times I have to look up the move's name and see what it is in English.

This was one of my most favorite features in XY - choosing the language. Now I'm interested in playing the game in all 7 languages (just need to play game in Korean). Hope it comes back in OR / AS.

I had been wanting to import the game in Spanish, but sadly found out that in Mexico/Latin America the games are in English too. Then found out that 3DS is region locked so I couldn't play the games in my 3DS so I never bothered to import.

 

[Virtual Headache]

I've played Diamond, Heart Gold and Black in Japanese not to learn the language but because I wanted the games before they were released here. The main Pokémon games are the only games I would play in Japanese because the concept is always pretty much the same. While I've learned Japanese for a while in the past and can read Hiragana and Katakana, I still hardly ever tried to read the text. It only helped me in Black when I was stuck a few times, but other than that it would take me ages to get through the game (and I also lack the vocabulary). Moves are easier to remember when they have their colored type field and the symbol for physical/special move.

When I don't import (which fortunately isn't necessary anymore) I play the games in German which is my native language/the language that is spoken where I live. I also chose German when playing Y.

 

[SaniOKh]

All my Gen 1 to 5 games are in French, because of where I live :) . Pokémon games are in fact the only ones that I play in French, I usually prefer playing games in English for various reasons.

As for Gen 6, I have both save files in French, but I've also completed those games in English.

 

[XtinaIsMeLuvinWWE]

I've only ever played them in English before but I understand Spanish so could restart X at some point and do that just for fun at some point, it never even occurred to me to do that when I was playing so thank you to this thread for giving me that idea haha :)


I'm trying to learn Korean at the moment but haven't got very far haha - would be a dream come true to be able to play a Pokémon game in Korean and understand what was going on lol :)

 

[Bounsweet]

I would love to obtain older games in other languages (namely French and/or Japanese) but I was excited when I found out XY has the multi-language option. My first playthrough of X version was in English and then when I got Y version for Christmas, I started and beat that game in French. I'm thinking of replaying it in French again or maybe in Japanese for the hell of it, though playing it in Japanese would be more difficult.