Why does the dub change Pokemon's voices and keep some of their original Japanese voices?

The majority of cases when a Pokemon's voice is changed is because it's typically saying its name which is different is English... kids would likely be confused as to why Piplup was saying Pochama or Hawlucha was saying Luchabull etc.

When the name is the same or the Pokemon just makes a generic noise, its typically left alone.
 
martianmister said:
They shouldn't give them English names in the first place. Then it wouldn't be a problem.
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The problem with that is that the games give the Pokémon different names. If the animé did not have to worry about what the games called them, then it wouldn't be a problem. It does, so the animé has to change the Pokémon names in order to keep them consistent with the games.
 
martianmister said:
They shouldn't give them English names in the first place. Then it wouldn't be a problem.
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Half the fun of Pokemon comes from the portmanteaus and puns in their names.

This would be lost if they didn't have English names.

On-topic: It's usually either because the Pokemon's name is the same in both English or Japanese, or because they must make generic noises instead of saying their names.
 
SammyW27 said:
Are you nuts?

Those Japanese names won't appeal to kids as much as ones that work better in their language. God AND Arceus know they won't be able to say and remember than as well. x_x
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Yeah. Also, I think it's a good thing that they have different names, because it gives a lot of roles for the english dubs voice actors.
 
Mew2 said:
The problem with that is that the games give the Pokémon different names.
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I was talking about generally, not just the show.
SammyW27 said:
Are you nuts?

Those Japanese names won't appeal to kids as much as ones that work better in their language. God AND Arceus know they won't be able to say and remember than as well. x_x
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They/You have no problem with Pikachu and Togedemaru, right?
Rath said:
Half the fun of Pokemon comes from the portmanteaus and puns in their names.

This would be lost if they didn't have English names.
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It wouldn't be different than how almost every nation in the world uses the english names.
 
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martianmister said:
They/You have no problem with Pikachu and Togedemaru though, right?
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Pikachu's the mascot and Togedemaru is a Pikaclone, which traditionally keep their Japanese names.

It,d be great for those who know Japanese and explore their names in their full capacity, but FAAAARRRR more people speak Japanese than English, so you just want to teach people names which they cannot even understand!
(And I'm not sure how 'Buby', 'Booburn' and 'Boober' would be received by English-speaking parents.
Also, names like 'Freezer' may sound unique to Japanese audiences (since English's not their native language) but they definitely won't be appealing to English children).

I'm assuming that you speak Japanese. It definitely isn't a good change for those who don't.
 
martianmister said:
They/You have no problem with Pikachu and Togedemaru, right?
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Actually, I DO have a problem with Togy.

When I watch the show I have trouble remembering its name and took me a while to memorize (thanks to characters saying it) until I finally got it down.
It certainly wasn't any fun trying to spell it in Caption the Screenshots :sick:
 
PkmnTrainerV said:
You clearly used exceptions. Pikachu needs a universal name as it's a mascot. And Togedemaru is an exception. It's like saying that all legendaries should evolve since Cosmog does
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Point is not they're exceptions or not, it's whether or not they appeal to kids. TPCI have no problem with using names like Pikachu and Togedemaru and kids have no problem with them, so SammyW27's argument falls apart.
 
martianmister said:
Point is not they're exceptions or not, it's whether or not they appeal to kids. TPCI have no problem with using names like Pikachu and Togedemaru and kids have no problem with them, so SammyW27's argument falls apart.
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Except that some like Pikachu are relatively easy to pronounce while others like Fushigidane are not.
 
Charmander4 said:
Except that some like Pikachu are relatively easy to pronounce while others like Fushigidane are not.
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In Skarmory's first appearance, its voice was changed in the dub. But in later appearances, it kept its original Japanese voice. Also, Spencer's Claydol and May's Skitty etc kept their Japanese voices. Guys, a Pokemon's Japanese voice has more emotion for it usually says the syllables of its name and rarely its full name(yet also with emotion) while the dub usually has most Pokemon say their full names which I find quite unfitting. It would have been a better choice to keep all Pokemon's Japanese voices in the dub while retaining their English names.
 
JapaneseVersionFan22 said:
In Skarmory's first appearance, its voice was changed in the dub. But in later appearances, it kept its original Japanese voice. Also, Spencer's Claydol and May's Skitty etc kept their Japanese voices. Guys, a Pokemon's Japanese voice has more emotion for it usually says the syllables of its name and rarely its full name(yet also with emotion) while the dub usually has most Pokemon say their full names which I find quite unfitting. It would have been a better choice to keep all Pokemon's Japanese voices in the dub while retaining their English names.
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We're arguing with @martianmister, who're suggesting that Pokemon shouldn't have English names at all (not even in game)
 
martianmister said:
They shouldn't give them English names in the first place. Then it wouldn't be a problem.
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Yeah, that isn't happening. With the exception of Pikachu, the Pikaclones, Lucario, Zoroark, majority of the Legendaries, and a few others, the Japanese names wouldn't make much sense towards audiences that speak other languages.

And some names would be "boring" to English-speaking children, and would likely cause confusion. Lizardo (Charmeleon), Lizardon (Charizard), Sand (Sandshrew), Ghos (Gastly), Ghost (Haunter), Crab (Krabby), Thunders (Jolteon), Freezer (Articuno), Thunder (Zapdos), and Fire (Moltres) just to name a few from Gen 1.

I also doubt parents would want to hear their kids saying Buby, Boober, Fokko, and Iwanko, since they can be taken the wrong way to people who don't understand/know about Pokemon.
 
martianmister said:
What is so hard about pronouncing Fushigidane? FOO-SHI-GEE-DONE-É.
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It's hard.

I'm not even a native English speaker but I agree that tons of Pokémon names do need to be localized. Even if the name and its puns aren't in our native language, a western name is still easier to pronounce and remember for us than a Japanese one, specially for kids.

I have a problem with Togedemaru, for the record. I think they kept it only because they always do so with the regional Pikachu clones but I have seen kids struggling a bit with it.
 
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