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Issues You Have With Your Local Translation

Kenshi

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Right, so we know there's been loads of hatred directed toward a certain one arc Kusaka tries to have slide like a kid stashing his "pissy blankets" out the backyard, so let's try something new.

To set things straight, though, this isn't some "Hate on Chuangyi for their frequent and many offenses toward proper translation" or "Viz edited this out and they 'fixed' a correctly named attack to this OMGRAAAAGE" thread. I've been there before, and I can honestly say that splitting up another series and labeling inappropriate titles do suck, but that isn't what I'm trying to cover here, so let's keep that at a distance.

Now, where to start...

The Korean translations that I bought for reading up Special and having quicker access to it around the house have improved, but there's been loads of stupid quirks that continue to make the cut wherever I look. For example, while they thankfully aren't like the European or first-edition American publications and have been releasing the manga for more than ten years, some of the shit early on was near-unacceptable. This ranges from improper uses of slang (overuse, even) to characters getting names that they ripped right off the show to sell better to the kids who still can't sleep without their Meowth plushy (Red getting stuck with the Korean "Ash," for one) to characters randomly switching names within the same publication.

While most of them are forgivable, as Lance and Agatha's Korean names didn't exist in Korean form at the time due to them making no appearances on the Korean dub (hence, "와타루" and "키쿠코"), sometimes they mistakenly refer to the latter character as "hag" (no joke), and even Red and Gold randomly switched names once.

Speaking of switching, though manga getting mirrored when published here was common(American influences got us to read from left to right), they were often prone to mirroring the front and back cover until volume 7 and then go back to mirroring for two volumes. While this ceased to be the case from volumes 10 to 25, the translator for some reason or another thought it appropriate to refer to Mew as Mewtwo right when the real one showed up right back on the a volume ago, and this naturally made her inability to tell Venusaur and Ivysaur (and Quilava and Typhlosion) apart sometimes seem like child's play.

Luckily, when she stopped working and we got one that wasn't willing to go through every last page and flip and translate at the same time, that Mew = Mewtwo quirk still made the cut. Typos I can handle, but WUT. The one that took over actually did nicknames a little more consistently (nobody before Ruby and Sapphire used nicknames in their translations save Gold and Yellow, and even then only for Explotaro and Chuchu), but the one who did it before her made nicknames like Baktaro suddenly drop without warning, and instead the "Quilava = Typhlosion mentality" kicked in, too.

Also, sometimes pieces of dialogue (albeit in the form of those squiggly "mumbling" text) got added in without warning; this once got so bad, they edited in Red muttering that he knows Yellow's hiding her ponytail in volume 7 (where it was nowhere around).

Then, some other stuff like round numbers getting typo'd occur sometimes, as well. And like Dark Horse in America, they now expect you to fork in 1/2 more cash for the same old volumes that formerly cost under 3 bucks when the only difference is that the first three volumes got their backcovers switched back to normal. Seriously.

It's not all complaints, though, since I understand that keeping up with the run of a series running for 13 years onward whilst paying for their license in this day and age must cost a bit. Still, the frequency of errors (again, mostly in the early days) remind me more of Malaysia at times than anything else.
 
This is also true for the French (from France, i dont think there's a Québec translation) and German versions.

You missed Chinese.

True, sometimes, we have to deal with different names for the same person/place/thing between canon (anime and manga) and region (Taiwan, HK and mainland).

Also, the fans from mainland China are already complaining about the name change of "Pokémon" (神奇宝贝 --> 精灵宝可梦). I have no idea why they would change something they have been using for like ten years. I just hope the HK (寵物小精靈) and Taiwan (神奇寶貝) names just stay as is.
 
Also, the fans from mainland China are already complaining about the name change of "Pokémon" (神奇宝贝 --> 精灵宝可梦).

For that matter, the Chinese name sounds pretty ugly either way. I seem to remember it also being called 口袋宠物 or 口袋怪兽 (Literally, "pocket monsters") at one point. Or, maybe that was just my cousin.
 
For that matter, the Chinese name sounds pretty ugly either way. I seem to remember it also being called 口袋宠物 or 口袋怪兽 (Literally, "pocket monsters") at one point. Or, maybe that was just my cousin.

I think 口袋宠物 and 口袋怪兽 (also 口袋妖怪) are popular fan names. Mainland uses the same name as Taiwan.

To be honest, I originally did find 神奇寶貝 (Literally "magical treasure") too cute (took a while for me to accept it). The HK name 寵物小精靈 ("Pet spirit/elf/fairies") was a bit too long (and weird). 精灵宝可梦 (Literally "Spirit treasure can dream") is just sickeningly cute (The name makes me want to puke. I can see why they are complaining). As for the fan names, I just think they're ugly.

You probably heard of Gen V Chinese names already?
 
Lmao at them calling Agatha "Hag" seriously XD.

Yeah, it's not just her E4 "comrades" that did that; the translator flat-out called her that on those mini-intro pages with the map in the middle where all the important characters show up and all. Like I said, it somehow got retconned by volume 14, by which point they stopped calling Lance "Wataru" as well.

And lol @ the Chinese localizations being too "whimsical" to settle for one name, and there being Gen 5 Pokemon names already (even if they're fanon).

My country is pretty weird with this stuff, too. They had the anime (meaning they also marketed those terrible "animango" screenshot comics for the milking), Special, and even Pocket Monsters going on for ages before GS came out, and only when it'd been 3 years since the Japanese release did we get Gold and Silver. Which, might I add, were the only games to get translated before the 4th gen, which, as they were before, came out in like 2008, but somehow HGSS was released a month and a half before the westerners got their hands on them o_o
 
I think 口袋宠物 and 口袋怪兽 (also 口袋妖怪) are popular fan names. Mainland uses the same name as Taiwan.

To be honest, I originally did find 神奇寶貝 (Literally "magical treasure") too cute (took a while for me to accept it). The HK name 寵物小精靈 ("Pet spirit/elf/fairies") was a bit too long (and weird). 精灵宝可梦 (Literally "Spirit treasure can dream") is just sickeningly cute (The name makes me want to puke. I can see why they are complaining). As for the fan names, I just think they're ugly.

I could've sworn that 口袋宠物("Pocket Monsters(lit. 'House Pets')" was the official name of the Chinese version. It sure as hell should be.

The Taiwan version's title, 神奇寶貝("Magical Treasures") is just retarded, while the title, 精灵宝可梦("Super Surreal Supernaturals") is even more retarded. Wow.
 
I could've sworn that 口袋宠物("Pocket Monsters(lit. 'House Pets')" was the official name of the Chinese version. It sure as hell should be.

The Taiwan version's title, 神奇寶貝("Magical Treasures") is just retarded, while the title, 精灵宝可梦("Super Surreal Supernaturals") is even more retarded. Wow.

I have only seen 神奇寶貝/神奇宝贝 in the Mandarin (Taiwan and mainland) version of the anime and manga. Also, there aren't any Chinese official games at all. I only see 口袋XX in the forums and those bootleg games.

Also, the new name was obviously not based on the meaning alone (宝可梦, "Baokemeng" = Pokémon). Doraemon (哆拉A梦) seems to be a possible inspiration. Moving on, if you hate the name 神奇寶貝, you'd probably hate the translated names for Pokémon. And lastly, no comments on the Cantonese name 寵物小精靈?
 
Also, the new name was obviously not based on the meaning alone (宝可梦, "Baokemeng" = Pokémon).

I was honestly expecting a phonetic transliteration like this.

Doraemon (哆拉A梦) seems to be a possible inspiration. Moving on, if you hate the name 神奇寶貝, you'd probably hate the translated names for Pokémon. And lastly, no comments on the Cantonese name 寵物小精靈?

Doraemon as an inspiration? Seriously wouldn't be surprised. I've seen some of the Chinese names and I must say, some of them are ridiculous. One that comes to mind was given the name "[Something] Manta ray" but I can't remember which Pokemon it was. Nonetheless, the actual Pokemon looked nothing like a Manta ray.

寵物小精靈("Elfin House Pets") is barely tolerable. I just don't like how they keep referring to Pokemon as "Elves" or "Fairies/Pixies" or "Spirits..." I would've even been fine with 移动动物战士("Portable Animal Fighters"), but no, Psyduck obviously looks more like an elf than he does a duck.
 
I can't say I have any problems with my local translations; the Viz translation. Aside from the censoring and random bouts of cursing (well, curse symbols) in Pokespe, it's just fine.
 
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