How Pokemon Red & Blue were Changed Around The World - Did You Know Gaming? Ft. Dr. Lava

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In this video, Did You Know Gaming takes a look at how Pokemon was changed around the world. To explore these Pokemon regional differences, we not only looked through the games themselves, but also interviewed the game's original localizers and translators for exclusive information.
Special thanks to Nob Ogasawara, Hiro Nakamura, Julien Bardakoff, Elena Fogazzaro, and SatoMew.
Follow DYKG on:
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Research/Writing by Dr. Lava @DrLavaYT
Video Editing by PushDustIn @PushDustIn
Bim and Canarticho artwork via Rachel Briggs: / raciebeep

Sources/Further Reading:
iwataasks.nintendo.com/intervi...
web.archive.org/web/199902211...
www.nintendo.co.jp/nom/0007/t...
www.liberation.fr/apps/2016/0...
tcrf.net/Pok%C3%A9mon_Red_and...
glitchcity.info/wiki/Evolving...
kantopia.wordpress.com/2015/0...
• Localization of Buddhi...
www.houstonpress.com/arts/5-v...
tcrf.net/Pok%C3%A9mon_Red_and...
bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wi...
bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wi...
• Lost in translation: G...
• Pokémon Red - Credits

#Pokemon #Nintendo #DidYouKnowGaming

[@michaelsmart7445]

"They turned Pikachu into something like a tiger with huge breasts." That was not a sentence I was prepared to hear today.

[@lunatpr5594]

Funniest crap I've ever seen

[@yebii_]

There's a side of the internet that breathes in this type of info on a daily basis.

[@metazoxan2]

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.

[@rk9886]

@@metazoxan2 This makes sense. The Japanese word 胸 (mune) can mean both chest and breast. I'm willing to bet it was a muscular tiger.

[@hannahnelson4569]

legend says that that American later went on to be an advisor to the Digimon team

[@fireaza]

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!"

[@TontonSRG]

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.

[@nobbie-san6152]

Le travail que Julien a fourni est vraiment phénoménal, pour sûr ^^

[@Yze3]

Il a que travaillé sur les gen 1 et 2, et ça se voit. Les traductions actuelles sont tellement déplorable...

[@LMK-Gaming]

6:45 "There's a lot of Nob in Gen 1" Most of the World: 😐 British people: 🤣🤣🤣

[@SuperCJK333]

The irony for a English Translator.

[@L33PL4Y]

@@SuperCJK333 The irony for someone criticizing *an* English translator while using "a" before a followup word beginning with a vowel.

[@SuperCJK333]

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.

[@pikachair21]

Knob is funny in America

[@TheKawaiifan]

Oh god, what is Nob slang for in Britain?

[@mattymcmattfat5574]

“Game translating is an art, not a science...” *proceeds to show a video of a dude eating donuts*

[@hostiusasinhostilityhostil7853]

BILL?!

[@Rfa999]

Bill Trinen is actually a really well renowned translator within Nintendo, just hilarious they showed that clip lmao

[@zigazav1]

@@Rfa999 From the Yo-Kai Watch advertisement on some Direct in the past, if I remember right.

[@seveneyes77]

@@zigazav1 yup

[@M3rtyville]

dude eating donuts is science :)

[@PepperKoi]

satoshi's "pokemon getto daze" followed by the english pokemon opening is my biggest emotional whiplash of the year

[@Lucario1121]

My thought exactly

[@sirmel11]

this happened?

[@ArceoInfinity]

timestamp?

[@FM-cp6kc]

@@ArceoInfinity The literal beginning of the video. The English opening is much softer, though.

[@TinchoX]

It was so out of place, It was hilarious!

[@TBustah]

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.

[@duane_313]

I'm sure that was a reason too.

[@fishrocker95]

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)

[@NitroIndigo]

Pokémon Christ and Pokémon Mass.

[@MrRhexx]

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.

[@IIARROWS]

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

[@leow637]

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...

[@Phattmatt2772]

Cool to see DnD MrRhexx on the Pokémon side of KZbin.

[@Mario87456]

Type: Null is the only expedition as for some reason it has a different name in Spanish Italian and even Dutch.

[@LatiosGigetto]

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

[@JLMetak]

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.

[@slavkei]

@@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.

[@aidanthegamer5]

Portazo, from the Spanish translation, also wasn't fixed until Gen VI, where it was properly changed to Atizar

[@bluekirby_64]

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?

[@suntaxis]

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.

[@Venemofthe888]

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

[@Venemofthe888]

Also thank you Nob and Julian for translating.

[@Reynosorex]

Dr. Lava Twitter account is a goldmine.

[@KomuriXz]

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.

[@sirmel11]

@@KomuriXz He's mentioned this. Just an fyi.

[@nobbie-san6152]

@@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 ^^

[@lisamatibellu4763]

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)

[@CrystalGreymon]

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.

[@garudafalcon]

"Pound and Slam were taken out of context." Tbh I would have, too.

[@topperDL]

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

[@luchaescolar]

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"

[@rot10ed]

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.

[@supermariohack3218]

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.)

[@Linkale_]

@@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

[@blekiscooler]

Dr Lava! It’s about time he voiced a video

[@Dataiconroy]

In case ya didn’t know he runs their twitter!

[@IamaPERSON]

@@Dataiconroy I didn't even know they had a Twitter, but that's cool.

[@VidyaAntics]

@@IamaPERSON nowadays, it's safe to say every public facing person or thing has a Twitter

[@Gearshifta]

I unsubscribed from his channel couple days ago I thought it was abandoned.

[@BeeBwakka]

Dan K if it’s inactive then why even bother unsubscribing?

[@ProfDragonite]

It's just funny imagining each country's localization team trying to put in references that only make sense to natives of said country.

[@hailgiratinathetruegod7564]

Me, a German. Looks at Koffing and Weezing. It is time to commit a *hate crime*

[@Shikaar]

The translation teams for FFXIV are doing that successfully for years now

[@NitroIndigo]

@@hailgiratinathetruegod7564 I don't get it.

[@tibethatguy]

@@NitroIndigo Koffing = Smogon Weezing = Smogmog

[@fabby2998]

@@tibethatguy Koffing and Weezing are named Smogo and Smogogo in French, close enough lmao

[@Ridlaid]

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.

[@DJIVision]

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

[@Dr0dd]

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.

[@Ridlaid]

@@Dr0dd You can find his explanations here : www.liberation.fr/apps/2016/06/pokemon/#item-4o It's in French, though (ofc)

[@Dr0dd]

​@@Ridlaid Merci!

[@Dragonian05]

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.)

[@GetPhiledIn]

Thundercats don't have tails...

[@doaldox]

@@GetPhiledIn in the reboot wilykat and kitten did had tails lol

[@guyinthecorner0]

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.

[@maxspecs]

Pokegirls predate American Pokemon, huh...

[@BingQilin]

Moemon but it's a legit game

[@KaiserMazoku]

Britney Spearow is genius and I curse whomever denied it

[@izaaiaz]

I literally thought that was her real last name when I was younger

[@vitormfilho]

Just perfection 👌🏻

[@Nihonguy]

Mightve been a smart move in hindsight shes kinda nuts now and would probably sue like the psychic guy who used spoons

[@BJGvideos]

@@Nihonguy She's far more stable now than she was at the time, and even back then it was more pressure than anything else.

[@BJGvideos]

An episode got to reference her at least. A starlet with a singing career didn't get popular until she got two bouncing igglybuffs. Yeeeeah.

[@GeminiTasiri]

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

[@Zanji1234]

xD ok but "Klapps" really sounds like a weak attack... on the other hand i really can't find a more fitting name.

[@GeminiTasiri]

@@Zanji1234 I mean, it's supposed to be a weak attack! It's one of the basic normal-type moves like Scratch or Tackle after all

[@NicoAiko]

Ich hab mir nie Gedanken darüber gemacht, dass die Attacke Pfund heißt... aber jetzt wo du es sagst... 😂

[@BloodyMastersword]

@@NicoAiko Ich hab das auch nie hinterfragt. Das hieß halt Pfund. :D

[@Kurostyle21]

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.

[@ShayTheValiant]

Imagine almost being fired for naming a Pokémon Britney Spearow.

[@poke548]

Nintendo execs, always against fun.

[@SakuraAvalon]

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]

Yet another reason to hate Nintendo

[@AriochStarr]

@@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.

[@Mario87456]

AriochStarr Personally I have a love hate relationship with Nintendo.

[@stormRed]

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

[@TheGeckoNinja]

lol we could have gotten sexy pikachu or sexy pokemon in general, no wonder we loved the 90's.

[@california236]

Terrifying, isn't it?

[@stormRed]

@Shuaizu I definitely do

[@vini64]

So Yokai Watch then

[@TheRezro]

Fun fact. Pokemon precursor Shin Megami Tensey, did have such fate until Persona 3 hit the market.

[@some_guy117]

I kinda wanna see these American designs, that would’ve been one hell of a timeline to live in

[@goaway0001]

I’m not ready for Pikachu with boobs

[@Hot18Shot]

Sam P - Oh yes you are

[@mr.vidjagamez9896]

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.

[@TheDecatonkeil]

@@goaway0001 Check out lovely Jessica Nigri

[@Kerunou]

Decatonkeil always found her a bit off putting.

[@gianlucachicconi3804]

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 know spanish regions also got a name change, Type: Null is Known as Codigo Cero (Code Zero). I hope for moree localized names ;3;

[@CrystalGreymon]

@@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.

[@Hylianguy38]

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.

[@PescadorGama]

Nintendo supporting trans since way back

[@IronNidow]

Oopsie

[@SgvSth]

Honestly, I hope they do a Gen II video. The RAGECANDYBAR is going to be a story.

[@TheRezro]

50% of Mr.Mime are females 0_0

[@TheRezro]

@@PescadorGama You talk here about aliens, boy 0_0

[@Diablon76]

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.

[@Reoko77]

The 90's was so different back then, it was almost like another reality.

[@bryanwharton6692]

So different than the 90’s are now?

[@TheRezro]

@@bryanwharton6692 Nostalgia and second hand knowledge actually change a lot.

[@IDoesItBoo]

@@TheRezro the original comment is worded poorly. They were poking fun.

[@tp230]

BlowtorchBryan I wonder how the 90’s will be in ten years

[@timurkral3781]

2010 is different than back in 1990

[@frannavarro-efejota-5018]

I'd love to see those redesign proposals from Nintendo of America, but I imagine they'll be lost to time...

[@IBigDickI]

Especially that Pikachu one lmao

[@alwaysangry2232]

@@IBigDickI sounds awfully like when you google zerarora

[@JFLEstudios]

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.

[@Nayef1406]

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.

[@lisa-marieschrutke1308]

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]

Wait realy ? I stoped at gen 7. Did they really change the names ?

[@Nayef1406]

@@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".

[@SgvSth]

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.)

[@septic-sauce]

Holy.. Julien Bardakoff at 7:07 is a legend! The French are lucky AF to have him name the pokemon

[@nobbie-san6152]

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) ^^

[@PrimeroJinJusuke]

Imagine if they retained their original names. The legendary bird trio would just be called Fire, Thunder and Freezer.

[@lv26Phoenix]

3:08 "...the results could've been disastrous." Missed opportunity to say it could've been a CATastrophe.

[@emilys1418]

Japanese version Hiker is high on shrooms Nintendo: Sounds good 👍 Nob: tries to put “Brittany Spearow” in the English version Nintendo: HOW DARE YOU

[@lrgogo1517]

Technically, the latter would be Nintendo _of America,_ right?

[@sleeplessbeauty86]

*Britney

[@Gnarfledarf]

The first is part of the original game, while the second one was an intentional attempt at mistranslation.

[@jaffar721]

Never knew the translator's name was Nob. Now I can understand why there was a hiker NPC named "Nob." I always thought it was a weird choice of name.

[@CrystalGreymon]

He's also the Black Belt up the slope north of the Desert in the Hoenn Games.

[@spmscout]

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.

[@MegaSceptile99]

Its better off not being released to the public

[@pentagonofpeople]

The world is not ready for titty tiger pikachu

[@greatlakester]

Make Nintendo show us the busty Pikachu from the US redesigns

[@angolin9352]

I hope it has been burned long ago. The world would be a better place for that image no longer existing.

[@IIARROWS]

​@matt I'm sure you can find something similar on adult furry sites.

[@greatlakester]

@@IIARROWS This is the real deal tho. Nintendo sanctioned thick pikachu

[@ribbon-kitten7577]

Saban Moon will get leaked first if ever most likely.

[@PinkKirlia281]

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" 🤣

[@Guillaumelapomme]

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.

[@WaddleBih]

Yeah, except for that one card where he was renamed "Deuxmiaou" for some reason, haha (Promotional card for the first movie according to the wiki)

[@nobbie-san6152]

@Willaume Julien a fait un incroyable travail, pour sûr. Cet homme mérite tout notre respect ^^

[@FifthDream]

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.

[@Reoko77]

That man is an absolute legend.

[@IronNidow]

share with us some of those stories

[@klg9549]

He sounded like a fun guy. Got any stories in particular you're cool with sharing with us?

[@Hutch2Much]

the fact that Britney Spearow was cut is a sin

[@pokepress]

I wonder if his second choice was Spiro Agnew.

[@california236]

Britney Spearow may have opened them up to a lawsuit.

[@ppaaccoojrf]

@@california236 not really, Britney is a normal (if uncommon) name and the name wasn't "Britney Spearow", just "Britney, who happens to be a Spearow"

[@OtakuJuanma2]

"Translation is not a science, it's an art form" Me, a legal translator: I love you guys.

[@afteryouknowme4642]

Its not art either. Its just either basically right or wrong. Either you know it or not.

[@leow637]

@@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.

[@fixedfunshow]

Oooo a Spanish to English translator, muéstrame tus secretos

[@bredrick.]

@@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?

[@Jambunctious]

So the US wanted to make rule 34 Pokemon before the game had even come out? Now that's some forward thinking!

[@akkckgdbrht7333]

They were ahead of their time

[@cygnusprime6728]

@@akkckgdbrht7333 seems like they were thinking with their other head

[@metazoxan2]

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.

[@inedibleduustloopz3911]

@@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.

[@Juliafy]

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.

[@toumabyakuya3498]

Not only that but that also helped us into learning an entirelly new language.

[@Luminousplayer]

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?!

[@Juliafy]

@@Luminousplayer yup, and like 10 years later I found out why the Cool Trainers (female and male) were called "entrenador guay".

[@ktvx.94]

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"

[@BJGvideos]

Would you make a video about it?

[@ralphyman]

Being a translator myself, this was an extremely interesting video to me. Great work guys!

[@Teebs1996]

Please, please, have Dr. Lava come back in every episode. He's absolutely amazing. Adored this episode. The quality has been way up recently. Good stuff. Nob also translated the Yakuza games, and he goes absolutely nutty on them!

[@DJIVision]

Me, Nob, and Julien will be back for the Gen 2 video :)

[@ritusrivastava5552]

2:12 "Hey dude, U got any ideas to boost our game sales in US?" "Oh, just change the colours to the colours of the flag and that's it." *stonks*

[@chloukscolor7905]

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

[@yunlien4625]

"C'est le roi des marais, bande de sales connards !" Julien "bardafokk" Bardakoff, le 30 mai 2020 dans le chat de la chaîne twitch de misterfox

[@AlexTenThousand]

Correction: libbra is only used for weight measurements, pound as in "pound sterling" is called "sterlina" in Italian.

[@ohreally763]

Great work on this video. Already one of my favorites!

[@alolanstarboy]

It's so interesting to see how different regions had completely different cultures and rumours with the exact same game just because of how it was translated. This isn't something I ever really think about since pretty much all my Pokémon life has been on the English version and hearing about all the rumours and facts about the English releases specifically

[@NewMateo]

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.

[@unlimitedbitsgaming]

😂 Right? They think American kids are stupid and, especially nowadays, there's a lot of reason to think so.

[@BJGvideos]

@@unlimitedbitsgamingI don't think audiences have changed at all. These beliefs companies have have always been baseless.

[@GabePuratekuta]

I think it's worse now. They think only terrible FPSs with no story at all are what sells in America.

[@samuelthecamel]

@@GabePuratekuta Yeah, but Nintendo fortunately knows better

[@ZombieBarioth]

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.

[@BM14murph]

21 years following Pokémon and I still learn new things!!! Great video!!

[@Dominion_Hawks]

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.

[@SuperVini310]

The correct translation would be "contraataque".

[@Dominion_Hawks]

@@SuperVini310 yup. I think it got fixed down the line, but it took them a while

[@davidmcgill1000]

@@SuperVini310 Seems like that wouldn't fit in the allotted space. Might have been a compromise?

[@luchaescolar]

@@SuperVini310 to shorten that name, "Contra" should be enough. Also "Contador" is like "Accountant"

[@rex_melynas]

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.

[@godzillapark9075]

I laughed at the “evil magicrap”

[@strain42]

Graveler's French name is Gravalanch, which I think is way better.

[@suppengroove]

i always loved the name akwakwak :D

[@GabTheDrummer]

Non ça ne l'est pas.

[@strain42]

While we're highlighting superior French Pokemon names, if you didn't know, Greninja's French name is AMPHINOBI!!! That is SO much better!

[@kirin1230]

That is actually awesome. I've also heard Rattata's original name was Rattatack, which I've always thought sounded better too.

[@CrystalGreymon]

But Graveler can't even learn Avalanche...

[@jamcalx]

I want an interview with the people who suggested the dumb changes and designs.

[@DrPumpkinz]

@Feffingtonward The Second I think he's talking about the people who suggested turning Pikachu into a tiger with tits.

[@owenwishart5565]

I am always impressed with these videos, but this one blew me away. Amazing research and quotes from people involved. Thank you DYKG for always producing such amazing videos!

[@MrEnte3000]

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.

[@TheSorrel]

I always thought it was teferring to the weight they put into that punch.

[@mejace]

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

[@Swagdimite-gi5sq]

Nice Dr.Lava is a great choice for a narrator

[@SendFoodz]

this video and the last Pokemon video about fossils, Did You Know Gaming has out done themselves. absolutely astounding! it's very hard to make unique content about Gen 1, and you guys hit it out of the park for a second video in a row 👏 👏 👏

[@slaps1455]

Sooo happy Dr. Lava is featured .What a legend

[@YOM2_UB]

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.

[@WeirdDragonTwins]

Honestly, as an Italian, I'm actually glad the pokemon names never got changed/translated

[@hernans901]

Same, as a Spanish speaker!

[@PaoloMG]

Fuocuccertola 😂😂

[@PaoloMG]

Spruzzaruga 😂😂

[@wideface344]

This is a great video. Nice work

[@Pupppeteer]

I didn't expect to love this video as much as I did. Very interesting history in the translations.

[@MrVernechannel]

There's an error at 11:45, "libbra" in italian means only the weight measure and not the british currency too, that's called "sterlina".

[@GabePuratekuta]

In the US, it's "Doctor Who money"

[@JFLEstudios]

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...

[@XylitoI]

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

[@ShadowsWrath4]

--> DidYouKnowGaming talks about translation in Pokemon --> My mind immediately: VOLCANO BAKEMEAT

[@GabePuratekuta]

Mine is "Hop = Splash??"

[@zubair-rp1ie]

EN'SLAP PRIZE!

[@BigGnome]

Was happy to see the G Gundam reference when I replayed FireRed a while back. Such a great anime

[@GabePuratekuta]

Is your favorite Devil Gundam?

[@nicodalusong149]

Ah, someone with taste. Very good.

[@walnut9736]

7:33 Why you gotta do my boy Diglett like that? 😭

[@Picasims]

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.

[@dbzeh6837]

This is a very interesting video. Nice work guys!

[@dowmad482]

6:14 the guy KNEW IT!

[@jaquesspot]

YES!!! I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU GUYS TO UNLEASH DR.LAVA! Good things come to those wait!

[@teadrinkerfication9160]

I never realised Nob Ogasawa was such a legend!

[@5Porygon]

Thank you so much for all videos you made. You are one of my absolutely best youtubers ever. :) Jsi borec.

[@abdelali9279]

Just imagine a parallel universe were you see a screenshot of the cats movie but it turns out to be from Detective Pikachu.

[@carlitobrigante4845]

I'm from Spain and I'm glad we got the english names, playing online or searching for information would be very confusing otherwise

[@etherwestley2579]

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

[@mcwoomy]

All of this is very interesting thanks for the good video

[@MrBillyDerp]

4:06 What does this have to do with translators XD "MMMMM donuts i must translate them"

[@BlueDragon407]

I had the same question x3

[@hikarikiiro2400]

Jelly filled is my favorite

[@klg9549]

The guy in the clip is actually Bill Trinen, a translator for Nintendo. Hilarious clip though

[@chocolixo]

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

[@Mincci]

There’s something wrong with the spanish localisation, we ended up getting a translated Pokémon name in Type Null being called Código zero

[@MegaKamtheman]

I really liked this video! It was full of a lot of interesting translation facts.

[@AlexTenThousand]

Another fun fact about the Italian translation: the Bug type has been incorrectly translated to "Coleottero", which means "beetle", despite the fact that only a fraction of Bug-type Pokémon are beetles The correct translations, if you were curious, would have been "Insetto". Another translation error (one that has never been fixed, unlike all other mistranslated moves mentioned in the video) is the move Double Edge, which is an obvious reference to the saying "double-edged sword" in reference to the damage it causes to the user, which in Italian translations of the games is called "Sdoppiatore", which can be roughly translated to something like "splitter". What I'd instead consider an example of a good translation is the move "Inferno", which has been adapted to "Marchiatura", which translates to "branding", as, like branding, the move always burns the target.

[@rex_melynas]

Funny that, not even today, that was changed.

[@Flip-a-dip-dip]

After watching this I have huge respect for Nob, I feel like Pokémon dialogue nowadays isn’t nearly as good as they used to be.

[@MatthewCobalt]

That's what happens when you work with a company that want you to conform or lose the rights to localize.

[@GamingintheAM0801]

I feel the same about the old Ted Woolsey translations for Squaresoft games. Yeah, the newer translations are "more accurate," but also a lot less fun and charming.

[@Maddin1313]

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.

[@neilvanilla]

I'm so glad Dr. Lava is voicing this video!

[@TrialzGTAS]

This is so rad! Would love to hear more about the development of R/G/B/Y!

[@MediaPromedia]

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.

[@TinchoX]

Even as a kid, when reading those name attacks... I knew something was out of place, lol.

[@paulorozco1105]

Nunca jugué una versión en español, quizá eran para España. Tuve que aprender ingles para jugar.

[@ralfians2130]

2:50 wtf America

[@NoxHypnotic]

furries

[@angolin9352]

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.

[@Sturmfall1]

Really goes to show how little execs know what they're doing most of the time.

[@TheUnluckyEverydude]

7:15 Ah. So you've also seen The Perfect Pokerap. Good taste.

[@258thHiGuy]

This was the first time in a little while that I saw the title for a DYKG episode and instantly knew I wanted to watch it I was right

[@EduardoWeidmanBarijan]

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.

[@Luminousplayer]

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" .

[@rodrigodemarcospeiroten5211]

11:16 there is another famous Spanish mistranslation with the move counter. It was interpreted as something related to the verb count and not to the abbreviation of counterattack or counterstrike, and thus the translation was "contador", which is something that counts or an accountant. Assuming they had the same problems as the Italian translators (words without context), this word could have also been mistaken by the counter in shops, which would have resulted in "mostrador" in Spanish. Other less notorious mistranslations involve the moves wrap and return, translated into "repetición" (repetition) and "retroceso" (noun of to go backwards) respectively. Thinking about wrap, the Spanish translators may have had some context back then... In the sixth generation they fixed the name of these four attacks (including slam), took them long enough. Also 11:50 glare was translated in Spanish the same way as in Italian, "deslumbrar", but it still remains like this to this day.

[@anzahanifathallah]

so a funny story: Sirfetch'd, the evolution to Galarian Farfetch'd, has the French name "Palarticho", from "Paladin" and "artichaut" (artichoke). However, it can also be read as "pas l'artichaut" (literally "not an artichoke"). an amazing punchline with a 20+ year long setup. thank you, Julien Bardakoff.

[@dundee6402]

Layered pun names are best names

[@DaenaMichelle]

Thank god spanish translation was so bad we didn't even get names. Go figure how ridiculous they'd have be like.

[@Juanirva]

As bad as the spanish names for the warcraft zones, it would be a whole different reality.

[@TinchoX]

Agreed!

[@molotera8789]

Just look at Animal Crossing Bill = Paquito

[@door.mp3]

"There's a lot of Nob in gen 1" Something about that sounds... strange to me...

[@JarrodMakin]

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.

[@maxbreaker]

@@JarrodMakin don't you mean "a nob to him"

[@JarrodMakin]

@@maxbreaker I did think that would be a bit too meta for the original comment, but I'm glad someone else made it :)

[@maxbreaker]

@@JarrodMakin you can count on me to make cheesy replies when no one should lol

[@RobertSeeJen]

If I'm not mistaken, one of the items in the recent leaks mentioned Nintendo of Japan's notice of incompetence towards Nintendo of Europe. So the story DEFINITELY checks out.

[@Val664]

Do you have more details on that?

[@RobertSeeJen]

@@Val664 I do not at this moment sadly :(

[@stevenhaefner7686]

I love how Ash at 10:00 just tried to dead-ass punch Mew Two.