If it makes you feel better he probably meant "large muscles" rather than "boobs". Since a overly muscular tiger sounds like something a company way too out of touch with the kids would think American kids would want. Especially since that Generation had He-man, Thundercats, ect. Also the design change was proposed because Pikachu was "too cute" so obviously the proposed redesign would have been the opposite of cute.
Applausi per Gennaro Bullo Also, yes, Pokemon was the first nintendo related game to ever get an italian translation, to this day a lot of games still don't get translated at all
I don't think Kleinstein is really based on Einstein if I'm completely honest, the idea alone of "Small Stone" and the rhyme is enough to make it a good name
I am glad the spanish pokemon didn't have unique spanish names, in Panama we would get english versions of the games (we only got spanish versions of blue and red but not of pokemon stadium) but spanish versions of the anime. If they had different names i know it would had been very confusing.
Same in Italian. It all went for the better. "pound" and "counter" got corrected... but German and French still have to adapt to for internationalisation! XD
It's funny how even slight errors can completely change the understanding. Even the English version had some mistakes - for example: Feint Attack was "Faint Attack" in the earlier gens - you would have expected it either to 1HKO or be an extremely weak move depending on the 2 definitions of faint, but it was neither because it was meant to be feint which means deception. Vise Grip was "Vice Grip" - works in British English as vice is used for both meanings, but in US English vise means to forcefully clamp, but vice means "an immoral or undesirable practice" so I don't want to think of how or where that Krabby was clamping...
To be fair. It was more of a 'straw that broke the camels back' He was making a lot of unauthorized changes. I'm guessing they started to get fed up, and Brittney Spearow was the breaking point.
@@Mario87456 Yeah, I lost interest in Nintendo quite recently (not that I was a huge fan to begin with) when a channel I watch had their video removed by them.
I always just assumed that they went with red and blue rather than red and green because you see red and blue together all over the place. They’re primary colors, and common favorite colors. They’re also commonly used as generic team designations, especially in kids’ sports. That’s not really the case with red and green in the west. People immediately think of Christmas.
i think it was also stated that fire and water are easier for american children to see as opposites rather than fire (death/destruction) and plants (life)
Same timeline where the original english pilot for Dragon Ball back in the 80s was a thing, american-ized live-action Sailor Moon was a thing and Nintendo stuck with the idea to give Wario a german accent.
Nintendo America Executive: "We need to re-design Pikachu, something less cutesy or it won't appeal to the American Market! You there! Have a redesign ready by Friday!" Nintendo artist (secretly a furry): "Can do, boss!"
Employee shows catgirl: “This is clearly Pikachu, look at the tail.” Someone watched too much Thundercats growing up. Glad they stood their ground against that horrible idea. Also, now I want a Gorochu evolution for Pikachu. Gorochu for Gen 9! (Or at least a Mega evolution for Raichu.)
I can't remember, but I feel like Gorochu was in the Spaceworld 97 demo for Gold/Silver. I would love to play the translated ROM someday, just hope they're still working on it, even if it's slow going.
2:54 I just witnessed a glimpse of an alternate reality where Pokemon is an obscure Japanese franchise only known in the west as a really weird kid's game that only furries know about
A lot of mistakes happened back in gen 1, but you know, It was the first series of games and the technology is more advanced now then it was back then.
There are a few things that I'd like to point out: 1) "Libbra" only refers to the measurement unit, not the currency, and it was corrected in Gen 2 2) What's probably the worst mistake in the Italian translation wasn't even nominated, that being "Counter" which was translated as "a person who counts" (numerically) 3) Both the Counter and Glare mistakes were corrected only in GEN SIX which is ridiculous
Gen VI was the first generation to correct/change the names of certain moves or even mechanics, even in French, although it was mostly to simplify names in the case of this language. For example, the move Glare was named "Intimidation" in Gen II, but starting in Gen III, abilities were introduced, and the ability Intimidate was also translated as "Intimidation", so in Gen VI, the French translators took the opportunity to change some names, including Glare, which was changed to "Regard Médusant" (referencing Medusa because of the move being learned by snake like Pokémon as well as paralyzing opponents) to avoid confusion with the ability which had the same name.
@@JLMetak Also there's some English that didn't get fixed until Gen 6. Feint Attack, an attack where you use a false strike to draw off the defender's attempt to dodge or deflect and then strike while they are distracted, was incorrectly translated to "Faint Attack", which is a very, very different word with a much different meaning. Or how Consecutive Punches got named Comet Punch in the original US translation, so that when an actual move named Comet Punch was added, the real Comet Punch instead got named Meteor Mash.
And yet the Gen 3 anime's italian dub still used Libbra instead of Botta, I remember Ash telling his Treecko/Grovyle/Sceptile to use it a couple times. Also, wasn't Inner Focus' italian translation only changed in Gen 7 which is even worse?
Did we really change "Contatore"? Wow, I was so used to it, it's so strange. Still, it's very fascinating to read "libbra" in the games and on the first print of the Pokemon cards, like on Dratini: I'm not surprised to discover that they had to translate everything in such difficult conditions.
French player here! It’s always fun to see how Julien and the later teams managed to translate puns or simply create new ones for Pokémon’s names! His work truly is amazing and is a huge part of our childhood fondest memories.
Dr Lava is absolutely incredible and due to his research and translations we have so much more information. I feel like he doesn't get enough credit sometimes. Thank you for doing all this hard work Dr Lava
Most of his content is just reworded information from tcrf or The Helix Chamber. But every now and then he'll find something new like that unused Black and White event.
@@Venemofthe888 I agree, those two guys deserve a lot of credits for their very great job for translating for the Pokémon franchise overseas. And I don't wanna be this kind of guy, but it is actually Julien (the French equivalent for Julian) with an E instead of an A. The pronounciation is almost the same, though, thus creating some confusion ^^
Yeah, as a native Spanish and fluent English speaker I can see how those words without context were translated that way, the Latin translation for the anime was on point doe
Fortunately, Slam was retranslated to "Atizar" which translates as "a very hard hit", but still have "Falso Tortazo"(False Swipe), "tortazo" in certain countries can translate as "toss a pie in the face of someone"
Pound was translated the same way for the German version, kinda ironic how he praised it for being so much better when it shared some of the same mistakes.
Oddly enough, in the german Version of Pokémon Sword and Shield, the attacks "Pound" and "Peck" had their name changed. "Pound" was originally known as "Pfund", which like it's english name can either stand for the british currency or the mass unit. In SwSh, it was changed to "Klaps, which translates to slap or smack. Meanwhile, the german name for "Peck" was "Schnabel", which simply means "Beak". The new name "Pikser" comes closer to the english translation, as it means "poking" or "pecking". (It's also more in line with the attack's description, which mentions attacking the foe with a sharp beak or horn.)
@@luchaescolar that's not a mistake. The Spanish translation was made for spain, and in spain "tortazo" means slapping someone on the face. It's not a mistake it meant a different thing in other spanish speaking countries that weren't taken i to account
The "Pound" mistranslation also happened in the German translation, where it got translated into "Pfund" - the weight unit instead of the action. The mistake has persisted until Gen 8 when they finally re-translated it as "Klaps" (eng. "Smack") - which is kind of a big deal because they just took that mistake and ran with it for so long, even related media like the card game and Smash Bros (Jigglypuff's Side-B) had to adopt it
Wusste gar nicht dass es umbenannt wurde. Dachte Pfund ist halt ein mittelstarker Schlag ins Gesicht und da es eine so frühe Technik ist, hat es gepasst zu Attacken wie Kratzer oder Rutenschlag.
6:07 Nob: This Pokémon should not have “Mr.” in the name in case the possibility of new entrees of this IP will introduce genders. Nintendo: No. We’re calling it Mr. Mime and that is final. ( Gen 2 released introducing genders featuring female Mr. Mime) Nintendo: Whoops.
The last fact, the one about the translation error about Raichu evolving, was actually corrected in the Italian versions of the game. While in English the man says "Your Raichu went and evolved", in Italian he says "Il Raichu che mi hai dato è cresciuto", which means "The Raichu you gave me grew up!" He doesn't mention evolution at all, he just says the Raichu grew up, so I guess it was kinda fixed in Italian...? (I also have a screenshot of the Italian textbox if you want proof)
I like this because contextually speaking, he could be referring to an increase in level. I mean that's illogical in itself given the mechanics of the game but it's far more plausible than Raichu evolving when it can't.
He said large chest not boobs. So he probably meant "large muscular tiger" probably not unlike Tony The Tiger. Remember the design was to make Pikachu less cute to making the design seem tougher was likely the solution they came up wiith.
@@metazoxan2 If they were gonna make a muscular Pikachu then this comment would still apply. Not every rule34 artist exclusively makes big tiddie tiger girls. Tony knows this very well.
Technically the italian games got the first "localized" pokemon name in Sun and Moon: the Pokémon "Type: Null" was translated as "Tipo Zero" (Type zero). I know it's not much but it was the first official localized name we got.
@@Angel-tg7xs I can't help but wonder if the reason for the changes with regards to Type: Null is because they're not really names so much as they are words. Sure, they're used as a name but that's only the context of them when used together as is Type: Null's case.
Just wanted to point out that Julien Bardakoff, the French translator for the 1G and 2G main games, is brilliant, and delivered an actual explanation of his translations for every Pokémon name he translated.
Julien’s an absolute rock star. I interviewed him for this and a couple other videos, and I’ve continued chatting with him the last few weeks since. Last night we talked about Alien and Predator for like an hour lol
Do you know where one can find those explanations? I always find the thought processes behind translation choices interesting. It's cool that France got such a dedicated translator.
Lol I love how most game documentaries I read about japan to american localization deals with them thinking the kids or audience not wanting strategy, or reading. All things that require brain power.
Can you blame them? I mean one of the biggest stereotypes in the the U.S. has been that books, technology, or anything else related to indoorsy/intellectual pursuits is for nerds.
Growing up with the Spanish version, I was always massively confused as to how the hell "contador" was a counter. Contador CAN be translated as "to count" and "to counter", but it makes no damn sense.
Fixed since gen 6, as contraataque. Most attacks where renamed in Gen VI, I believe it has something in common of being the first games released worldwide at the same day.
11:44 The same happened in Germany too, where they translated "Pound" into the german Word for an english Pound or the Unit of measurement . Thats why since Sword and Shield, many Attacks and Items got different names which reflect their original meaning.
The most friggin confusing thing ever... especially because "pounding" would be more correctly translated to "stroßen" or "stampfen" but not a "Klaps"... makes it even more annoying now lol
@@hailgiratinathetruegod7564 Yes, they changed a couple of Attack- and Itemnames. For Example "Black Glasses" used to be "Schattenglas" which would mean an actual piece of Glas. Now its the direct Translation "Schattenbrille".
I think the English translation had some things shift starting in Gen V for items and Gen VI for moves. (And even then we still have some odd translations left.)
That French Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres trivia is something I've told to a lot of people over the years. IMO the french names for those three is so, so much cooler, it's not even close. "Tortank" for Blastoise is another favorite of mine. Bardakoff also worked on the French translations of Banjo-Kazooie and Link's Awakening, and his creativity and humor elevated those games significantly also. B-K is already hilarious in English, but I've always found the French version even better, with funnier jokes, funnier Gruntilda rhymes, and overall more topical writing. This guy really left his mark on the French video game industry.
How fitting you guys shown a clip of "CATS 2019" when you guys mentioned the results being disastrous had Game freak not put their foot down when faced with the redesigns shown to them, though i kinda wanna see the redesign proposal for Pikachu, just to see what crazy idea they had.
Yeah for years I felt like the french localisation had always been so good but lacked material to compare efficiently. I’m glad to see it wasn’t an impression out of nowhere. The bird trio name is indeed very badass. Foreign friends also told me they were big fan of our name for Blastoise, which is Tortank. That being said I’ll never forget the time I was asked “wait so is Mewtwo “Mewdeux” in french then?” Haha and no, it’s Mewtwo in french too.
Without being patriotic nor arrogant, we truely are lucky AF in France. Too bad the Canadian French versions didn't use these names (even if Nob's work was awesome in a different way than Julien's) ^^
@@afteryouknowme4642 You missed the point. It's not a science *because* there isn't a binary yes/no in translation - you aren't "either basically right or wrong". It *is* an art - many phrases don't translate directly because they hold cultural or historical significance that just does not work in another language. There are phrases that change meaning entirely, those that change tone (e.g. seem polite in language A but rude in B) and those that just cannot be translated at all. These phrases can also change entirely based on context and the emotions portrayed by the speaker. It is the job of a translator to translate these phrases not directly (a science) but based on how they interpret the intention, and to find a similar way of conveying that same intention in another language (an art). Understanding emotion, intention, meaning is as vital a part of translation as it is a part of art. This is especially true when translating between very foreign languages like Japanese and English. This is the struggle we still have with AI translations, and why translating between Eastern and Western languages with them yields such mixed and often indecipherable results.
@@afteryouknowme4642 No it's not. Language has an incredible level od nuance. Different words can mean slight different things. Is it gigantic? Is it gargantuan? Is it miniscule? Is it microscopic? Who knows?
We spanish speakers don't belive that fishes are bad or thar some pokemons slams doors (?) But we do belive pokemon translations where as bad as foreign misconceptions.
Also it was great for the Spanish translation to keep the English Pokémon names ... Here in Mexico when the pokémenia blew up many children, included myself, were trying to learn English so we can understand what the games were telling us (it's like trying to play and imported Japanese game, great but horrible at the same time) so we got, a bit later, the European version for us to play Pokémon. I still have my now 20 year old copy with me and it's amazingly funny read all the misconceptions on the attacks.
playing the english game first and then playing the spanish game , to this day makes me not know what attack is which xD like "leech seed " being " Drenadoras" i was like, what is that?!
THIS. Spanish translations not only are inaccurate frequently, they also are very Spain focused and just feel more from another place than being in another language altogether. Also "A Bocajarro"
Man, bringing Dr. Lava into the DYG team was one of the best decisions this channel has ever made. He brings unique content and does a lot of special research on his own. I'm someone who loves to learn trivia and history about Pokémon yet I always find myself learning something new in every one of his videos.
nintendo was stingy even back then, " so lets translate these games to enter their market, but we re not confident in outside markets so make the translations as cheaply as humanly possible" .
French translation is amazing. They explained every translation here : www.liberation.fr/apps/2016/06/pokemon/#item-17o A very good example is "Dardargnan" (beedrill) because it mixes 3 terms : dard (dart), dare-dare (an expression that means "in a hurry", "quickly") and d'Artagnan the musketeer. Dardargnan then represents an insect with two dart, a speedy pokemon and an epeist. So clever ! Their favorite is "Rapasdepic" (fearow) : a mix between "rapace" (raptor) and "as de pique "ace of speades". My favorite is "rondoudou" (jigglypuff) : mix between rond (round), doux (soft) and "doudou" (teddy bear). It's indeed a round pokemon, who looks very soft and friendly, like a teddy bear
There is exactly one pokemon whose name is different in Spanish and Italian than in English. Type: Null was renamed "Código Cero" in Spanish and "Tipo Zero" in Italian.
"Game translating is an art, not a science" That's ass-backwards. A translator's job is to translate a work into a different language. It's not their job to add or remove stuff, nor to "improve" on the original. Nob Ogasawara is a bad translator, and I'm disappointed that this channel is working with him while also deprecating more accurate translations.
I remember watching this way back when. The video is a good collection of knowledge, but It's too bad the localizer and DIdYouKnowGaming himself see appropriating someone else's material as a good thing. Just translate the material as is. Pokemon would still have connected with the whole world, even if some of Japan's quirks were maintained. Studios clearly do not want rogue agents influencing their projects in unforseen ways. Your arrogance thinking you can improve the material or adding random references will only create resentment and confusion in future installments.
Absurdly ignorant comment. Calling it appropriation is particularly silly. The translator was paid to do his job, and as shown in the video, his employers could have overruled him at any time. Almost all media undergoes some sort of transformation through translation, whether it be large or small. Many products were absolutely improved by localization or, at the least, brought more attention and appreciation to the product in another market.
@@cbleck2349 The exception doesn't make the rule. Localization and translation are clearly not the same thing in the eyes of artists, and when localizers take a creative work and try modifying it to fit the vision of their studio or add their personal twist, they become vandalizers. If in this instance the translation was done as intended it is fine. The actual problem is this practice has ballooned an entrenched and fervent desire to "modernize" or "correct" the cultural norms of the places works originates from appropriating (yes that is the correct word) the culture for their own purpose. This is antithetical to the idea of a translation and a corruption of a localization (where the goal is to try to translate complicated jokes phrases or songs, things that aren't so straightforward).
Nice trivia! Localization is already hard enough and they went with no context at all. There is no way to get it right like that. And I never knew the Pokémon Blue version is the japanese Green one.
This was a very informative and unique video. There's a lot of info here I never heard of before. Dr. Lava is right, Nob is responsible for Pokémon's western identity as much as Nintendo & Game Freak. Yet I had never heard of him before. Your statement about how translating is more like a work of art than a science really made me think a lot on how me take these translations for granted. Also, that story of americans saying all the Pokémon were "too cute" and trying to change Pikachu into a weird tiger with boobs is hilarious and the most american thing I've ever heard of. Thank god Game Freak refuse to change any of the creatures...
Personally I'm okay with the fact that Spain doesn't have unique Pokemon names. My girlfriend is from Spain, so it's a lot easier to talk about the games and find out which Pokemon we need when we don't have to look up what each creature is called in each other's regions.
As an American, the thought of that potentially existing horrifies me. I doubt Pokemon would gain as much traction if the creatures were redesigned by those idiots.
Finally! I was waiting for an episode that features Dr. Lava! This was fascinating! There was a lot I actually didn't know in this video, and it was really funny too! "Pokémon slamming doors on each other" 🤣
I used to hang out in a chat room with Nob Ogasawara years ago. He was really great and shared some stories about Pokemon. We also talked about Hamtaro a little bit, lol. I'm sad he's not still translating Pokemon games.
Gracias a dios que no tuvimos una traduccion de los nombres al español de los Pokémon, sabiendo que la traduccion española es demasiada, *demasiada* rara xd
If I may add. French Canadian kids were granted their "own" translation which was the english pokemon names(and in the anime, the french dub, with the english pokemon (and characters and cities) names). After a law passed that required all games to be available in french, the french pokemon names were introduced for good. Two very distinct pokemon fan generations thus exist in Quebec; one used to english names and the other with the french names.
He's specifically talking about "waraikinoko" (lit: laughing mushroom, called laughing gym in English), which looks pretty similar to other non-toxic and edible members of its genus but has psylocibin etc., fairly well-known to Japanese folklore as something you might accidentally gather and be mostly harmlessly poisoned by. It's just implying he made a mistake while foraging, since the Japanese have never really used the mushroom as a drug since it's not that potent apparently anyway. Nob likely realised this nuance is completely lost in translation.
I think it's the best sentence ever written. I also think it's deliberate, and hilarious. I do remember laughing when I saw his name in the credits all those years ago. In fact now I think about it, there are some trainers you can battle in Gen2 and onwards called Nob, which I reckon is a nod to him.
11:43 In the German version the move Pound was originally mistranslated in as "Pfund", also meaning "Pound" as in the currency and the weight unit. The Italian version fixed that in Gen. 3, The German version didn't until Gen. 8.
The French translation is indeed a gold mine! Something I always enjoyed as a kid was that, when interacting with a trash bin, it would say : “Hmm... Un joli tas d’ordure, miam!” Which is roughly “hmm... a nice pile of trash, yummy!” Grimmer and Muk are respectively called Tadmorv and Grotadmorv, which is basically “pileofsnot” and “bigpileofsnot”. The Nintendo executives told the translator to make sure the names invoked disgust in the player, to which he responded “trust me on this, they’ll definitely get it.” (or something along those lines, I listened to the interview some years ago) Two pkmn names have also been mispronounced since... forever. One is Pidgeotto, Roucoups. The anime pronounced all the letters, but turns out that the last two aren’t supposed to, as it’s the word “coups”, as in “hits”. Same with Quagsire, Maraite in French. The name should have had an accent, Maraité for “marais” (swamp) and “majesté” (majesty), but for some reason the accent wasn’t put in the game. And thus, the whole meaning of the name was lost to French players, lol. On another note, I also really like the translation for Charizard, Dracaufeu, and Ninetales, Feunard. Dracaufeu is made of “draco” for like, dragon but with the Latin way of writing it or something (like say, draconic) and “feu” (fire). But the way it is written is in reference to the expression “au feu !” which is what people say when they call for help when there’s a fire, likely in reference to Charizard’s tail. As for Feunard, it’s made of “feu” (fire) and “renard” (fox), so Firefox. Except there’s more! You see, “feun” is verlan for “neuf” (nine). Yeah. I like the French translation, aha
One of the best french translation is for Fearow, transled by Rapasdepic wich mean "rapace de pique" -> mihawk of spike or "As de pique" -> Ace of spades
11:45 The same mistake happened in the German translation, the attack Pound was translated to Pfund, the same word is used for a weight measurement and currency.
This is from the yo-kai watch trailer, a game they were trying to sell in the west doing 4kids style localization, like censoring japanese stuff and pretending the game takes place in the US
That's Nintendo of America's Bill Trinen, a translator himself. The clip is a promo for a yo-kai watch game. The common link might be that he himself is a translator, but it was an odd inclusion.
That's Bill Trinen, famous for being Miyamoto's personal translator, on top of having worked in a lot of localizations of Nintendo games. That clip I think was from one E3 when they made some sort of skit where Bill eats all of Reggie's donuts (it may have been the same one when he is fired and replaced with a little kid that was made president of Nintendo when Reggie decided to step down to train or something like that).
The original jpn games where helt together with sticks and pre chewed gum. More than half of the game honestly does not work. Im suprised it even boots up. Quality control was different and difficult back in the mid 90's.
@@evelin1006 Thanks. Another glitch exclusive to Red and Green is the "where is it?" door, where you can perform a sequence of actions that allows you to walk through a door in Palette Town and be warped to the Hall of Fame.
I'm now curious how true it is that. spanish translated games made people believe that fish pokemon were slamming doors on others. 5 year old: the fish slam the door on the other pokemon 6year old: they dont hand hands how do they do this 7 year old: where are they getting a door?
Numerous languages (like my native Finnish) never even had a chance of getting their own localisations, and the games sold here were simply the English version with a translated box and instruction manual. While I can thank the Pokemon franchise for teaching me English from a very young age, it's still fun to think about what things would look like had there been a localisation into Finnish. Besides the mentioned instruction manuals, there's certainly translated material to be found elsewhere in the franchise, like the early days of the local dub for the animated series, where monster names were still in English but many things such as move names and items were translated as they appeared in dialogue. Nob is my hero btw
