• A reminder that Forum Moderator applications are currently still open! If you're interested in joining an active team of moderators for one of the biggest Pokémon forums on the internet, click here for info.
  • Due to the recent changes with Twitter's API, it is no longer possible for Bulbagarden forum users to login via their Twitter account. If you signed up to Bulbagarden via Twitter and do not have another way to login, please contact us here with your Twitter username so that we can get you sorted.

Pokémon Speech

L

Lil Brother

is watching you
Joined
Feb 26, 2006
Messages
2,486
Reaction score
5
Originally from here. I thought I might share. Note that I'm rambling quite a bit. This may go better in the anime section, but it applies to Pokémon as a whole to an extent.

I would say the term Pokémon language is hugely inaccurate. Animals don't have complex langauges but members of the same species (in some cases) can understand each other just fine, eh?

My theory is the Pokémon don't really have a language, they just make sounds. Pokémon can understand humans, but don't speak human language in most cases. So what gives? Since Pokémon are said to be tied close to nature (they spew fire, for God's sake) I think they just understand all other things in the animal kingdom. We've seen that Pokémon can understand both "Pokémon language" and human language from literally birth, so it's not like they teach other how to speak. Then there's Togepi, who seemed to never really understand anything that was going on at any time until very late in the game. Yet Phanpy who was born much later, carried it around on its back. Wha? This is why I've come to the non-serious conclusion that Togepi is mentally retarded. Or, the writers wanted to keep its "cuteness factor". :p

As for Pokémon that can speak, like TR's Meowth, that Gastly, and that Slowking? Another part of the theory is that once a Pokémon learns human language, it can't "go back" to speaking in random sounds. Ever notice how Meowth is always speaking in human language, even when speaking to other Pokémon? I think if he said "nya nya nya", the Pokémon would hear it as "nya nya nya" since that's what he intended to say.

Then comes in the whole thing about Meowth not being able to use attacks aside from purely physical attacks like Fury Swipes. He's said he can't learn Pay Day due to the fact that he talks, right? Something about it taking up too much space in his brain? Note that the Slowking from movie 2 never used any special attacks. Which kinda sucks to be Slowking, since it mostly have special attacks... Note that when I say special, I mean special as in when you see a Pokémon using a powerful punching attack, it charges up. Onto Gastly, who was able to do some incredibly hallucinations, something much more powerful that the average Gastly could come up with! Probably cuz the writers thought that episode up before they came up with the "rules" for talking Pokémon, but that Gastly has some kind of special background story to it, maybe some intense training of the mind or something.

...where was I going with that last paragraph?

Hmm. Another thing that kind of dissproves this idea. Pikachu refers to Ash/Satoshi as "Pikapi" and Togepi as "Pipipi". Maybe he just decided to copy the human idea of everything having names, and just kind of imitated humans when it came to naming people that he cared for? Who knows?!

Oh, and I don't believe Pokémon can understand complex speech. If I told Pikachu the Lord's Prayer, I think he'd just understand "Lord, thanks for the stuff". Just the general gists of things. You could argue that the Pokémon speak very human-like in Mystery Dungeon, but I don't think that happens in the same world as the video games or animé or anything, vague mentions of humans or not. Although we've seen Pokémon building structures before (movie 3 short), they've never made anything as complicated as an entire village and a human-like society. From what we've seen, most Pokémon aren't intelligent enough to do anything like that. Just making animal-like packs and such. :D

Another arguement to the "Pokémon can understand complex speech" idea! The talking Pokémon seem very human-like. Well, perhaps it's not just the ability to speak that takes up so much sapce in their minds. Maybe TR's Meowth and the gang had to have learned and wrapped their minds around human concepts. Like how it would take some heavy training to have a dog learn exactly what a TV is, it would probably take a looong time for Pokémon to understand lots of things human do and why they do them. And maybe Meowth fully doesn't understand humans, as he has said things like "I don't get you humans" multiple times, although that's usually just for humor. Nyarth says "nya" at the end of his sentences, perhaps a reminder that he's really a Pokémon and doesn't fully understand what's going on, while he does the vast majority of things. No, I'm not denying that he's human-like, but I don't think it's so easy to go from an alley cat to a human being. :p

I think way to much about a kids' anime.
Click to expand...
 
I always thought the Pokemon understand each other perfectly, how?

I do know they understand humans, as if they didn't then their is no way Ash pointing would differentiate for Corphish to use Harden or Crabhammer.

I believe all the Pokemon share a universal language that only they can hear, but it comes out as growls for humans, like it's unhearable to the human ear...or something.
 
I believe they have a rather complex interspecies language compared to animals of course.

I don't see how an language between such different creatures could work. They all have different range of what sounds they can produce. And really, chances are that most pokemon are not a group minded as people so they have no need for a language.

As for understanding humans, humans train their pokemon. They understand you about the same as a dog. Well, that obviously ruins the magic so lets say they understand fairly well but it is more based on reactions and familiarity with commands rather than a full knowledge of japanese or english.
 
This probably fits best in World, actually.

As for the topic, this is probably a place where suspension of disbelief is required. It is simply easier on the writers to get the plot across if Meowth can translate for them. If there is an answer, it is linked to the greater intelligence of Pokémon in comparison to the animals of our world.
 
I've always liked the idea that pokemon were slightly telepathic - not full empaths, mind you, just enough to get the gist of what someone's trying to communicate. They understand things that humans can't.

I also like to think that pokemon are slightly more intelligent than regular animals, if not as intelliget as humans. Humans > Pokemon > Non-pokemon Animals. Of course each pokemon is different. Some pokemon species, like Alakazam, are more intelligent than humans while others are less intelligent than the average dog.

My belief is that when Meowth learned how to talk, he gained the 'soul' of a human and lost a lot of his pokemon abilities and qualities. That's one reason why he can be evil (though that's another debate for another time) and why he can't use special attacks. But he retains some of his pokemon-ness, which is why he can still understand other pokemon.
 
Blackjack Gabbiani said:
In Magical Pokémon Journey, there's a written pokémon language.
Click to expand...
Interesting! I think I've seen Pokemon written language only about a few times.
 
Roses Ablaze said:
My belief is that when Meowth learned how to talk, he gained the 'soul' of a human and lost a lot of his pokemon abilities and qualities. That's one reason why he can be evil (though that's another debate for another time) and why he can't use special attacks. But he retains some of his pokemon-ness, which is why he can still understand other pokemon.
Click to expand...
She Sells Seashells by the Seashore xD
I hated that episode -.-"
 
Habunake said:
I always thought the Pokemon understand each other perfectly, how?

I do know they understand humans, as if they didn't then their is no way Ash pointing would differentiate for Corphish to use Harden or Crabhammer.

I believe all the Pokemon share a universal language that only they can hear, but it comes out as growls for humans, like it's unhearable to the human ear...or something.
Click to expand...
That's not entirely true. Ash himself, in the first episode, questioned Pikachu "Is all you can say your name?"
 
Then there was the guy who could understand pokemon perfectly, even heard them as though they were speaking human (the one Meowth sympathetically cheered up at the end).
 
Yes, you are correct, ImJessieTR. ^^

And by the way, that happened in the Johto League Champions episode called, "The Poke-Spokesman". :)
 
Well, slight telepathy, I can accept, as if psychic powers do exist, they exist in all beings to some degree. However, you would think that humans who certainly have a higher sense of self awareness would have more telepathy. Perhaps they just don't accept it.

Entering the discussion of souls? Well, now, pokemon have different souls than humans?
 
My personal idea was that of Pokemon being empathic. Assuming that there is a part of your brain that is "psychic" and whatnot, the part that is dedicated to "empathy" would be larger in Pokemon.

Like in real life you don't have to actually know someone else's language to be able to understand what they are saying. A great deal comes through body language and such, so a bit of empathy added to the mix would increase the ability to understand a great deal....

However with the attacks thing....well, yes they understand what words mean what attacks. A possibility with that is that when captured the pokeball downloads the english language into their mind or something, or at the very least the human word for whatever they mentally refer to their attacks as.
 
There is definatley a real-world parrallel. We can often find out what an animal is feeling through the situation. When Pikachu jumps down from Ash's shoulder, it does't take the closeness Ash has to realise that it wants to take part in the battle. We can even get animals to understand certain words, something that is used for teaching dogs tricks. The limited in-game battle text actually makes sense here as the Pokémon would know what to do from simply being given the attack names.

What is said: Pikachu, would you please use your Thunderbolt on that Meowth?
What is understood: Pikachu, blah blah blah blah blah Thunderbolt blah blah Meowth.

It's when Pokémon speech is seen to be more complex that the parallel breaks down.
 
Nah, I think Pokemon could understand complex language... If Meowth was capable of teaching himself "human talk" then obviously, it's no different than learning a foreign language (and the way Meowth was shown learning it, by overhearing it and reading it constantly, is similar one of the more natural methods of learning another language). Clearly, Meowth understands words and their meanings.

Yes, I know that's just one, and who knows, maybe Meowth had a special gift or something. But I'm just throwing out another theory here.
 
When the main character of all formats of Mystery Dungeon is turned into a Pokémon, they can automatically understand the language of every Pokémon. This fits in with Meowth being able to translate other species though I still have no idea how it would work.
 
I learned a pretty amazing statistic today in anthropology class - studies are now showing that dogs who live with humans can understand 200 human words outside of taught commands. I have no idea where my teacher got this statistic, but it's pretty cool if it's true.

She also said that apes (gorillas?) who are taught sign language have also been observed teaching it to others of their kind and actually use it among themselves for communication.

So even if Pokemon aren't any smarter than regular animals, they can still be pretty damn smart linguistically.
 
I know that's also true of parrots. There's been tests on African Grey parrots that show they have functional human language skills (if you want to read more about it, google Irene Pepperberg, as she's the faciliatator of the tests).


Anyway, back on Pokémon, in the book "Where's Clefairy's Voice?", a girl is able to understand a Ponyta when it talks to her.
 
i think pokemon have their very own language, but humans cannot understand it. to us, all the noises are unconscious frequencies, yet all the pokemon hear our voices as conscious frequencies. people who have seen the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy will have an idea of what i'm on about. THATS IT! ALL HUMANS IN THE POKEMON WORLD NEED A BABELFISH! (the alien, not the website)
 
In the episode "Beach Blankout Blastoise", a wartortle crashes into Ash. After being helped up, the turtle pokemon speaks rapidly with distress. "Wartortle, wartortle. Wartortle? Wartortle, wartortle-wartortle! Wartortle..." Pikachu can not understand, but he cleverly presses Squirtle's pokeball.

Squirtle and Wartortle talk, and they make their Pokemon name sounds to form a "Squirtle squirtle." "Wartortle wartortle wartortle!" "o_O Squirtle!?" "Wartortle!" conversation (LOL) but they seem to understand each other.

And all the other turtle Pokemon seem to understand each other, come to think of it. Is this because they learned their language or are all Pokemon of the same type, resemblence to real animals, or evolutionary line can understand each other.

I suppose that all the wartortles could have evolved from squirtles and kept their understanding of Squirtlespeak after evolving.
 
Please note: The thread is from 18 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
Back
Top Bottom