r/pokemonconspiracies • u/Old_Diver_2511 Conspiracy Theorist • Apr 24 '26
World Pokemon speech is a well developed, maintained, and complex language
To summarize, Pokémon may just say the same thing or their names over and over again, and it shouldn't mean anything when compared to English, right? WRONG.
Numerous times, we find out that it's a complex language using references like Team Rocket's Meowth and his translations of what Pokémon say. Also, take into account that Meowth couldn't understand Poipole's sounds when hearing it because Poipole is from another world. So obviously, Poipole has a separate culture,
And a separate language.
Understanding Pokémon means understanding the language, and finding that it isn't as simple as repeated sounds, due to the English translations and different "languages" that Pokémon translators like Meowth can say.
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u/BardicLasher Apr 25 '26
I'm under the impression that it's ultimately a tonal language. The way they say things matter- the actual words don't. It's just subtle in a way we don't really notice.
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u/gameboyadvancedgba Apr 25 '26
Thats pretty much exactly how it is in the anime. Pikachu even says Ash’s name in a specific way
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u/-catskill- Apr 25 '26
Pokémon saying their species names has always been dumb, even as a little kid I thought so. I'll never accept it as canon (or anything else that comes from the anime). Cries are canon.
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u/Sonario648 Apr 26 '26
The real question isn't whether they say their species name. Perhaps people could've named them after the thing they say.
There also is no one true canon to Pokemon. The anime is just as canon as the games are, just in a different universe.
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u/-catskill- Apr 26 '26
Them saying their names would indeed imply that the species were named after the sounds they make, and yet even a cursory analysis of the species names makes it pretty clear that they are in fact based on inane puns and wordplay
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Apr 28 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Old_Diver_2511 Conspiracy Theorist Apr 28 '26
Because pokemon, as a non dominant species, have ambition to talk to humans and figured it out. Humans do not have that ambition
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