Pokémon, now in Chinese language!

[Starry Windy]

After 20 years worth of waiting and a petition that comes afterwards, finally Pokémon, with its latest title Sun and Moon, are coming with Chinese language, both in Simplified and Traditional language versions under the name [精灵宝可梦 太阳-月亮] (Jing Ling Bao Ke Meng - Tai Yang - Yue Liang). Of course you can pick one of these languages along with others like English, Spanish, Japanese, France, Italian, Germany, and Korea.

What's your opinion about this new language additions in the Pokémon game?

 

[Hikamaru]

I think it's a great improvement, because it's definitely a sign that we hope to see more new languages and that way be able to get the entire world involved easier without needing translators.

 

[GiovanniViridian]

Love to see these extra languages too and hope for more to come.

 

[Firox]

It will be fun playing the game in Chinese - coming up with Pokemon nicknames will be at times easier and harder. I'm one of the few who loves playing the games in other languages just for fun.
if they had added more languages, wish they had added Norwegian, Danish or Swedish.

 

[KorpiklaaniVodka]

Will they be released only in Taiwan and Hong Kong or the entire China?

 

[Altius]

I always thought Pokemon was called 口袋妖怪 (kou dai yao guai) in Chinese - literally meaning Pocket Monsters. The new name is a little weird to me.

But it's great to see the games finally getting localised in Chinese. I've always wondered the names of some Pokemon in other languages.

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

I feel like this is Game Freak's attempt to expand the franchise onto the Chinese market and increase sales for Sun and Moon to surpass R/B's sales due to having the largest population in the world. However, we should be reminded that the Force Awakens flopped at the Chinese box office, thus failing to surpass James Cameron's Titanic and Avatar as the highest grossing film of all time, so I fear the same would apply with Pokémon Sun and Moon if GF tries to surpass R/B sales by trying to sell it to the Chinese.

 

[Starry Windy]

Will they be released only in Taiwan and Hong Kong or the entire China?

Well, I think it applies on all of them. Remember that China also have iQue 3DS XL, so they can still get one :)

I always thought Pokemon was called 口袋妖怪 (kou dai yao guai) in Chinese - literally meaning Pocket Monsters. The new name is a little weird to me.

But it's great to see the games finally getting localised in Chinese. I've always wondered the names of some Pokemon in other languages.

Speaking of names, I think 口袋妖怪 has been used as unofficial translations of Pokémon games up until now. Btw, the new name refers to two names that was adopted to Pokémon anime series that time, 宠物小精灵 (in Cantonese) and 神奇宝贝 (in Taiwan), while 宝可梦 is like the Chinese way of saying Pokémon for me. Besides, I think the official name 精灵宝可梦 is not quite new, since it has been used in Mainland China since about 6 years ago, and it seems like Tsunekazu Ishihara (the president of The Pokémon Company) wanted everyone in Hongkong and Taiwan to call Pokémon with this name from now on.

I feel like this is Game Freak's attempt to expand the franchise onto the Chinese market and increase sales for Sun and Moon to surpass R/B's sales due to having the largest population in the world. However, we should be reminded that the Force Awakens flopped at the Chinese box office, thus failing to surpass James Cameron's Titanic and Avatar as the highest grossing film of all time, so I fear the same would apply with Pokémon Sun and Moon if GF tries to surpass R/B sales by trying to sell it to the Chinese.

On the contrary, I think it might be the opposite because I think Pokémon is already known in China, even though in the form of anime and manga, and I'm sure they wanted the games to be released in Chinese language officially (to the point that they make petitions several years ago) because usually they have to resort to using unofficial language hacks and all back then. On top of that, in some Chinese forums, the reactions on this is mostly positive.

And now, for my own thoughts about Pokémon in Chinese...
Personally, I'm thrilled when knowing that it'll also come with Chinese language because I've been wanted to play Pokémon in Chinese language at some point, and I hope it might improve my Chinese language know-how as I'm still studying for one. Besides, having Chinese language means good thing to everyone who speaks in Chinese in everywhere in the world.

 

[pkmin3033]

This doesn't affect me in the least, because I can't read Chinese, but I'm glad that Nintendo are making an effort to do this - video games in China have been in an awkward position for quite a while; the ban on consoles was only lifted last year - and give Chinese players the opportunity to play what the rest of the world has taken for granted for a long time now. It can't be anything other than a good thing. So, good for them.

 

[Sun]

I didn't know that 精靈寶可夢 is a official name for the Chinese community. They are still using the old name here in uh my place.

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

I didn't know that 精靈寶可夢 is a official name for the Chinese community. They are still using the old name here in uh my place.

Another poster above said the same thing as you. I think they've changed the name. What was the old name of Pocket Monster/Pokémon there? (Btw the only chinese I can read (from that) is the Tai Yang, Yue liang aka Sun and Moon, at least it's something xD).

 

[Altius]

Another poster above said the same thing as you. I think they've changed the name. What was the old name of Pocket Monster/Pokémon there? (Btw the only chinese I can read (from that) is the Tai Yang, Yue liang aka Sun and Moon, at least it's something xD).

There are 3 names that I know of. Besides the one I said earlier, there's 神奇宝贝 (Shen qi baobei, lit. Mythical babies) and 宠物小精灵 (chong wu xiao jing ling, lit. Little Creature Pets). These names are also stated in the Chinese direct.

Different Chinese-speaking regions had different localised names for Pokemon in the past. Now they've made all of them the same - with 宝可梦 (bao ke meng) in the title, which sounds like "Pokemon".

As Singapore is largely bilingual and almost all of our games are in English, we are more familiar with the English name Pokemon than any of the Chinese names.

 

[IAmVincentLiu]

I always thought Pokemon was called 口袋妖怪 (kou dai yao guai) in Chinese - literally meaning Pocket Monsters. The new name is a little weird to me.

I have heard that it used to be called 神奇寶貝 in China as well, but there were copyright issues, hence the new name. I just hope that they don't call it 精靈寶可夢 in Traditional Chinese (used only in Taiwan and HK) as well, since 神奇寶貝 has been the official name for quite some time. Appears on merch tags and such.

 

[Altius]

Will they be released only in Taiwan and Hong Kong or the entire China?

As the Chinese direct was uploaded onto Tudou (PRC's version of YouTube) and Masada tweeted something about a Pokemon Weibo (PRC's largest social media network, if I'm not mistaken), I guess it's clear that they are planning a Mainland Chinese expansion.

I have heard that it used to be called 神奇寶貝 in China as well, but there were copyright issues, hence the new name. I just hope that they don't call it 精靈寶可夢 in Traditional Chinese (used only in Taiwan and HK) as well, since 神奇寶貝 has been the official name for quite some time. Appears on merch tags and such.

If I heard correctly, the Pokemon CEO mentioned that "寶可夢" was intentional. They wanted to add the name "Pokemon" into the Chinese titles, which they currently lack.

My Cantonese isn't that good, so I wonder how will 寶可夢 work out for Hong Kong players. Characters meant for Mandarin will sometimes sound really weird in other Chinese dialects.

 

[Lycanthropy]

I can't even understand the tiniest bit of Chinese, so I don't think it will affect myself, but it's cool they're doing this, certainly considering they have to use another alphabet for this.

It'd be fun to see Pokémon appear in Dutch as well sometime in the future, but that most likely is never going to happen.

 

[Hikamaru]

This doesn't affect me in the least, because I can't read Chinese, but I'm glad that Nintendo are making an effort to do this - video games in China have been in an awkward position for quite a while; the ban on consoles was only lifted last year - and give Chinese players the opportunity to play what the rest of the world has taken for granted for a long time now. It can't be anything other than a good thing. So, good for them.

I find it hard to believe that China had been locked out of the video gaming world for so long and now with consoles no longer being banned it's about time they catch up to the rest of the world and discover loads of games they may have never experienced before, and given Pokemon appeals to a wide audience, introducing Chinese languages to the Pokemon games with this generation was a step in the right direction.

 

[blue]

I think it's great that they're reaching out to different languages. Adding multiple languages to an individual game is also a great feature, not that I use any language other than English but I can understand how useful it can be!

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

What I want to know is why is Chinese the only language to get two different versions of it. English has its own simplified and traditional version as well (simplified English is how Americans today speak, whereas traditional English is how people from Shakespeare's time all the way to the late 18th century spoke).

 

[COOLTRAINER♂]

Because English doesn't have a language schism (and the characters themselves are written totally differently, it's not like English which has mostly kept the same alphabet since the 16th Century)
The use of Simplified / Traditional characters is a topic of debate in the various Chinese-speaking nations, and what children are taught differs.

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

Because English doesn't have a language schism (and the characters themselves are written totally differently, it's not like English which has mostly kept the same alphabet since the 16th Century)
The use of Simplified / Traditional characters is a topic of debate in the various Chinese-speaking nations, and what children are taught differs.

I would also like to mention that even Spanish has its own simple and traditional version, where simple Spanish is spoken by Mexicans, whereas traditional Spanish is spoken by Spaniards (the vois- prefix is exclusive to traditional Spanish and the nos- prefix is in simple Spanish).