Can pokemon understand humans or not?

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PiplupGuy

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in the games and other places, they say only certain pokemon can understand human language, like dragonite or lapras, but in the anime, "hey pikachu, ready to battle?" "pika-pika!" any theories?
 
I think there are Pokemon that definitely do understand humans perfectly, they just smart like that. But most others act simply through their instincts. Like animals.

So I guess it depends on the Pokemon and its training.
 
Hmm...

Pokemon can understand the human language, yet not the other way around.

The only way of humans to fully understand a Pokemon is through telepathy.

Perhaps some Pokemon are intelligent enough to understand speech, while others can't.
 
Shigshwa said:
Hmm...

Pokemon can understand the human language, yet not the other way around.

The only way of humans to fully understand a Pokemon is through telepathy.

Perhaps some Pokemon are intelligent enough to understand speech, while others can't.
Click to expand...
Guess it's something like this.. Otherwise they wouldn't know what move to use in battle.. DX
 
I cannot believe that no one has even mentioned this. Seriously.

If Pokemon cannot understand humans, how on earth do they know what attacks to use when commanded?
 
I'd like to think it's like your dog. You train your dog to do tricks and it'd be (sort of) the same with a Pokemon.
Of course, neither the games nor the anime even slightly back that theory...
 
How does the anime not prove it? Ash and co. have had conversations with their pokemon... conversations started by their pokemon.

Pokemon can understand humans. Duh.
 
Ryuutakesh! said:
How does the anime not prove it? Ash and co. have had conversations with their pokemon... conversations started by their pokemon.

Pokemon can understand humans. Duh.
Click to expand...

I meant for my theory.
 
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I'm sure all Pokemon can understand humans to a certain extent and it's been proven some pokemon understand human language and can communicate with them as well.

And then there's telepathy which most psychic pokemon can do, which allows communication.
 
Ryuutakesh! said:
How does the anime not prove it? Ash and co. have had conversations with their pokemon... conversations started by their pokemon.

Pokemon can understand humans. Duh.
Click to expand...

This... and on some occasions, even the trainers seem to understand their Pokemon...
 
If the anime characters can understand their pokemon, should that imply that we, the viewers, could also learn to understand them too?
Because that'd be pretty cool.
 
I think some Pokemon simply understnad more than others do.For sure,all of them must understand humans to some degree.
 
so maybe its not "they understand what humans are saying," because obviously all Pokemon can basically so that. maybe its "pokemon can understand how to use the human language, which is like lapras, which talks to ash in that old episode holiday hi-jynx or something.
 
To answer the question - Yes, I think Pokemon can understand humans. However, I also think some of them (probably depending on their personalities and nature and whatnot) just choose not to listen or even care about what humans think. Of course with trainers, I suppose once that close bond is made between a Pokemon and his/her/its trainer, then maybe they can understand each other in a way that perhaps we can't even begin to understand ourselves. Perhaps this is why the Pokemon obey their trainers during a battle or any other necessary time?

Now, the question for the other way around - "Can humans understand Pokemon?" - my answer would easily be not exactly in the same way as the Pokemon can. (Although I think this has already been answered . . .) Yes, Psychic-types and probably some others can use telepathy to communicate into someone's mind, and there are some people that can literally "understand" what a Pokemon really is saying, but maybe they can . . . if the person is willing to understand them.

Gah, I don't even know what I'm talking about anymore . . . XD
 
I think some of you are forgetting that pikacha has it's own phrases for older main characters.
 
* PikaPikachu: My name is Pikachu. When Ash and his friends are introducing themselves to the characters of the day, he says this.
* Pi-Kachu: He says this during the sponsor spots in the original Japanese.
* Pikachu-Pi: Kasumi-chan (Misty)
* Pika-Chu: Takeshi (Brock)
* PiPiPi: Togepi (Togepi)
* PikakaPika: Fushigidane (Bulbasaur)
* PikaPika: Zenigame (Squirtle) or Mukuhawk (Staraptor) or Moukazaru (Monferno)
* PiPi-kachu: Rocket-dan (Team Rocket).
* Pi-Pikachu: Get da ze! He says this after Ash wins a badge, catches a new Pokémon or anything similar.
* Pi-ka: Used for multiple things such as "eiga" (movie) as seen during trailers for each upcoming Pokémon movie. Can also be used for "yes".
* Pi-ka-chu?: Are you alright?: When a character or Pokémon is injured, Pikachu says this.
* Specific names for Tracey, May, Max, and Dawn have not been heard.
* Chuuu-Pika: Iron Tail. He says this when using Iron Tail.
* Pika-Chuuuuuuuu: Thunderbolt. He says this when using Thunderbolt, "Pika" when charging up and "Chuuuuu" when discharging.
* PikaPikaPika...Pi-ka: Volt Tackle. He says this when using Volt Tackle.
* ChuChuChu...: Quick Attack. He may also say this when using Agility.
* PiPiPiPiPi...: Quick Attack. He may also say this when using Agility.
 
Well, you can command pokémon to use certain moves, so the answer is yes.
 
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