Language that Pokemon understand.

[Tachibana]

Okay, so assuming Kanto and all the regions are just states in Japan (or the Pokemon version of Japan), where humans speak Japanese, and assuming Pokemon are like animals in our world, they don't understand Japanese, but like how dogs know "sit", "lay down" and all that stuff, Pokemon are similar in that they understand attack name.

That's fine. But what if someone from France goes to Japan for holidays and catches a Pokemon that's been exposed to Japanese, then tells that Pokemon to do water gun.

What do Pokemon understand in terms of language? Can Team Rocket's Meowth understand a Pokemon from Germany?

 

[Ho-oh]

It's the language they are trained to understand.

Tell Rover to sit in French and he probably won't know what the fuck you're talking about lol.

 

[Dusktrainer]

One thing I am wondering is how 2 different Pokemon can understand each other. Like if a Pikachu says something to a Mime Jr. how does Mime Jr. know what "Pike Pika Chuuuuu" means?

 

[Falconwing]

I think Pokemon have a gift of tongues.

 

[Dewgong Reign]

They don't. Why not? Because they're maaaagical.

 

[ii kanji]

I reckon it's more that they understand body language/feelings/whatever crap. But not a language itself.

 

[coolcatkim22]

You're talking about creatures that comunicate using the same sounds over and over again.

 

[Mijzelffan]

I reckon it's more that they understand body language/feelings/whatever crap. But not a language itself.

agreed

 

[HappyPumpkin]

One thing I am wondering is how 2 different Pokemon can understand each other. Like if a Pikachu says something to a Mime Jr. how does Mime Jr. know what "Pike Pika Chuuuuu" means?

I think it's just humans who can't understand Pokemon,but most Pokemon share a universal language.

I'm pretty sure with humans however,it's more of a body language thing,like with dogs.

 

[Mijzelffan]

I'm pretty sure with humans however,it's more of a body language thing,like with dogs.

yeah, I mean most dogs know when a cat is angry, so... (mostly after they got hit by a cat once, but still)

 

[Sleet]

I'm guessing Pokémon are like dogs in the sense that they don't naturally know any other languages, but they pick things up. However, they are much faster learners, so they learn entire languages of humans and Pokémon very fast. Take a Japanese Pokémon to France and sooner or later it will pick up French as well.

Or they're just magical and it makes the games and show make more sense.

 

[Falconwing]

I still think it's a gift of tongues.

 

[coolcatkim22]

yeah, I mean most dogs know when a cat is angry, so... (mostly after they got hit by a cat once, but still)

Actually, cats and dogs have a different language all together.

Although, it's more like a different body language, but still.

 

[The Fool on the Hill]

Bulbapedia has this to say:

All Pokémon in the Pokémon anime with no exceptions can understand human speech. Moreover, judging, for instance, by Phanpy in Hatch Me If You Can, they are able to do this immediately after hatching, without having to learn.

The anime generally does not focus on language problems, therefore there is a confusion about Pokémon language and their ability to understand humans. Although it is obvious that all Pokémon can understand each other, Meowth in the episode Go West Young Meowth once mentioned Meowth language, Jessie in Who's Flying Now? mentioned Chimecho language, so it is not clear, whether there is a common Pokémon language or every species has its own.

What concerns human language, Meowth in the same episode was shown learning pronunciation, not the language itself, what implies that all Pokémon have innate knowledge of human language, so they can understand human speech and only have to learn how to pronounce its sounds or be able to establish telepathical contacts to speak. Despite this, Misty in Whichever Way the Wind Blows once asked Meowth to translate her words to other Pokémon and May taught her Bulbasaur the meaning of the word town in Grass Hysteria. Therefore, this ability of Pokémon is not well-defined in anime canon.

 

[Shinx3000]

It seems to me that they can understand human speech from the moment they are hatched. They can also understand other pokemon straight away. So I think they can understand any type of speech or verbal communication, even if it takes a while for them to learn it Humans however have a harder time understanding what pokemon are saying, but overtime, like understanding a pet, they can understand mostly what their pokemon are saying.

 

[auratux]

Maybe they communicate in a universel pokélanguage but humans can't hear these frequencies. They can only hear the frequencies that sound like "Pika" or "Wooobufet".

 

[Insanish Danish]

I reckon it's more that they understand body language/feelings/whatever crap. But not a language itself.

This.

 

[Shigshwa]

Perhaps, rather, Pokemon understand each other not by what they say, but how they say what they say. For instance, "pika" could mean something different than "pi ka". Also, considering that Pokemon and humans came from the same species, it could be that naturally Pokemon can understand human language, but not the other way around. Hmm... Plus, since a person that only speaks and understands Japanese can't understand German, it could be the same for Pokemon. There could be variations in pokemon language too. Like, if "tree" was "pika" in one variation, it could be "pi pi chu" in another region's variation. My head asplode!

 

[Aladar]

My two cents:

They perfectly understand language, they just are not bio-capable of pronouncing said sounds (except the syllables from their own names).

 

[Shigshwa]

My two cents:

They perfectly understand language, they just are not bio-capable of pronouncing said sounds (except the syllables from their own names).

...What about meowth?