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Localized Names

They all depends on whether the name really is going to work well when on the other side. Things that are too obvious, well, will get the boot. Making it harder to pronounce? On the other hand, it looks more elegant, if you will. Sometimes, things are subjective. Different Japanese names... not that it matters.
Point of localization is to make it easier for young children to be able to pronounce the names of the franchise targeted at them. When you have names like Dusknoir, Gardevoir, or Hydreigon, while good, miss the point of localization for an English game. Using actual German words in a country that doesn't regularly use German isn't "subjective" in being hard to pronounce, especially when the same letter combination would be pronounced differently depending on whether you are speaking English or whether you are speaking German. As a Canadian, I didn't really have trouble with the names with a slight French-twist to them, but I've met more than enough American fans who couldn't pronounce it. Then there's Beartic, which until it shows up in the Anime, has had multiple interpretations in its pronunciation, and each one perfectly valid since they all take into account beard, bear or arctic puns--just which pun is more emphasized?

As for different Japanese name, the complaint is that they waste time changing what doesn't need to be changed.

Splitting the article into multiple parts is not good practice if we don't know how we are going to split it. It's bad when you cut off a paragraph on a certain subject because you hit the limit.
Obviously you don't cut in the middle of paragraphs, but anyone writing would have some sort of organization to their writing, so you split it up at major sections >_>

It's not just pronounciation business - there is almost always a reason for their name choices. You'll find that some of the name origins are actually interesting, despite first looks.
And you are telling me this because? In any case the fact remains that rule one of localization is to make sure the names you are localizing can be pronounced by the place you are localizing it for.
 
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Point of localization is to make it easier for young children to be able to pronounce the names of the franchise targeted at them. When you have names like Dusknoir, Gardevoir, or Hydreigon, while good, miss the point of localization for an English game.

Not just that - think of the others. It's also a nice way to slip in interesting stuff. Meaning is important. Even if you didn't get it, a bit of research and you'll know. (Check Bulbapedia, for example.)

As for pronounciation... eventually, they will know. Even then, at least they will be close without a guide most of the time.
 
re: Deerling; seriously? I took it to be "deer + seedling/sapling" or maybe just "-ling", as an indicator of youth.
 
Not just that - think of the others. It's also a nice way to slip in interesting stuff. Meaning is important. Even if you didn't get it, a bit of research and you'll know. (Check Bulbapedia, for example.)

As for pronounciation... eventually, they will know. Even then, at least they will be close without a guide most of the time.
Since when have I been talking about the meaning? Point is, localization's primary job isn't to make obscure reference, that's extra effort that we appreciate on their part. If it were to make obscure references, just keep it in Japanese since most of us wouldn't get it anyway. Fact of the matter is, the whole point of localization versus straight up translation is to make things more accessible in terms of pronunciation. I honestly have no idea why you keep bringing in this whole "meaning" thing when that's not even the issue.

As for "eventually" knowing? When and how? If they watch the anime and wait 200+ episodes for some of them? "Eventually knowing" isn't the reason things aren't localized. If "eventually knowing" was good enough, they would have just used straight up romanizations of Japanese names.

Your whole argument is ignoring the very core of why things are localized in the first place. You can't justify their failure at it with "they can kind of pronounce it" when fans could already "kind of pronounce" the Japanese names, and when the Japanese names themselves were hardly exclusively taken from Japanese words. If that's your justification, then they've wasted our time since this translation process would have been so much faster if they didn't have to think up new names for everything.
 
yearling
n
1 the young of any of various animals, including the antelope and buffalo, between one and two years of age
2 toddler: a young child

Both are immediate results on google. Deerling is a fine (simple) name.

"Sawsbuck" refers to Summer Autumn Winter Spring and Buck, an adult male deer. A "Sawbuck" is the same thing as a "sawhorse" (depending on your location), a wooden device made of X shaped planks that holds wood so you can saw it into pieces. It resembles deer antlers in shape, albeit abstractly. "Sawbuck" is also American slang for a 10 dollar bill, because X is the Roman numeral for 10.

You can look all of these things up on various websites through a quick google search. They make perfect sense.


It's worth noting that "Sawsbuck", like a lot of the new names, makes perfect sense as a reference/portmanteau/typical pokemon name "pun", but it really doesn't roll off the tongue. That seems to be the major issue with a lot of the new pokemon in the past few generations. They worry too much about the references and meanings, but don't consider ease of pronunciation, especially for kids.

But that's what nicknames are for, aren't they? :p
 
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Both are immediate results on google. Deerling is a fine (simple) name.

"Sawsbuck" refers to Summer Autumn Winter Spring and Buck, an adult male deer. A "Sawbuck" is the same thing as a "sawhorse" (depending on your location), a wooden device made of X shaped planks that holds wood so you can saw it into pieces. It resembles deer antlers in shape, albeit abstractly. "Sawbuck" is also American slang for a 10 dollar bill, because X is the Roman numeral for 10.

You can look all of these things up on various websites through a quick google search. They make perfect sense.


It's worth noting that "Sawsbuck", like a lot of the new names, makes perfect sense as a reference/portmanteau/typical pokemon name "pun", but it really doesn't roll off the tongue. That seems to be the major issue with a lot of the new pokemon in the past few generations. They worry too much about the references and meanings, but don't consider ease of pronunciation, especially for kids.

But that's what nicknames are for, aren't they? :p

I actually think Sawsbuck flows really well. There's a bunch of other Pokemon names that don't flow. For example Kubchoo, Zebstrika, and of course Elgyem and Beheeyem. They're not bad or uninspired names, they just don't roll off the tongue (my tongue at least) as well as most of the others.

On a whole I really like the names of everything in the 5th generation, but Throh and Sawk are still pissing me off
 
I actually think Sawsbuck flows really well. There's a bunch of other Pokemon names that don't flow. For example Kubchoo, Zebstrika, and of course Elgyem and Beheeyem. They're not bad or uninspired names, they just don't roll off the tongue (my tongue at least) as well as most of the others.

On a whole I really like the names of everything in the 5th generation, but Throh and Sawk are still pissing me off

Just spell L.G.M. and B.E.M.
 
I actually think Sawsbuck flows really well. There's a bunch of other Pokemon names that don't flow. For example Kubchoo, Zebstrika, and of course Elgyem and Beheeyem. They're not bad or uninspired names, they just don't roll off the tongue (my tongue at least) as well as most of the others.

On a whole I really like the names of everything in the 5th generation, but Throh and Sawk are still pissing me off

It's the "-WSB-" in it that throws me off. That's too many consonants in a row, I keep wanting to say "Saw-suh-buck" and that's not right.

Throh and Sawk are REALLY terrible though, probably my absolute least favorite pokemon ever in terms of both design and names. Boring designs, boring names. Even 'Lee and 'Chan were better (and I'm not a fan of them), at least those are a little deeper than just an alternate spelling for a fighting word to name a completely generic humanshape pokemon, that there is not one of, but TWO for some ungodly reason. Unless there's some kind of back story to them that I'm missing. I wouldn't know because I don't want to acknowledge that they exist.

Kubchoo, while I don't like the pokemon, I like the name. Ka-choo! Because he's full of snot! But "Cub", because he's a bear cub. It works best if you put the accent on the first syllable.

I'm not a fan of Zebstrika, which sucks because it's a cool pokemon. Even if they had made it "Zebstryker" or something that makes the pronunciation more clear... I know where I'm from, it's going to get pronounced "zeeb strick uh" (the middle syllable rhyming with flick, prick, stick, sick) and that probably isn't what they intended.

Elgyem and Beheeyem fall into that category again of "neat reference, bad execution". I also get the feeling that whatever region they're normalizing the spelling-pronunciations for is NOT the East Coast USA (not that I would expect them to, but I would think they'd try for something at least a little more universal). Again around here I can see people saying "el gem" instead of "L-G-M" like they want/expect.

You would think the localization team would consult with some people who have an awareness of phonetics in various regions at this point, with Pokemon being such a huge franchise.

In the end it doesn't really matter, though, because I know at least I'll be nicknaming everything anyway.

</end novel>
 
Ahh, I'd forgotten 'zebra' was pronounced differently in America. I've been pronouncing it as 'Zehb-Streye-Kah' rather than 'Zeeb-Streye-Kah', which makes it sound a little less awkward to say imo.
 
The Dark Trinity is the Shadow Triad and the Goddesses of Peace and Love are Concordia and Anthea.
 
The Dark Trinity is the Shadow Triad and the Goddesses of Peace and Love are Concordia and Anthea.
Getting rid of making them look psycho all together?

I don't get the Anthea reference, as far as I can tell Concordia would be from concord which could mean peace and amity.
 
I almost prefer Concordia and Anthea to the Goddess of Peace/Love. They seem a lot more original and mysterious. I wonder what they mean.
 
I almost prefer Concordia and Anthea to the Goddess of Peace/Love. They seem a lot more original and mysterious. I wonder what they mean.

Concordia is the Roman goddess of harmony. (Also Latin for "harmony").
Anthea (blossom) is an epithet for Hera, who is also (ironically) the Greek goddess of marriage.

Somehow, I expected the name change. The localization probably did not want to offend anyone by keeping the word "goddess". And I agree, it does make the name sound more mysterious and exotic. Although, I was expecting Aphrodite or Venus for the goddess of love. (For the goddess of peace, I was sort of expecting Eirene/Irene. Concordia/Harmonia did seem obvious for me though.)
 
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Concordia is the Roman goddess of harmony. (Also Latin for "harmony").
Anthea (blossom) is an epithet for Hera, who is also (ironically) the Greek goddess of marriage.
Well the article you linked also calls Concordia the goddess of marital harmony.

I think the symbolism for these names are better than just being called the goddesses of Love and Peace. It's a contrast that they are named after goddesses that are basically a union of two opposites, while N wants to split the world to black and white. More fun is that Concordia's Greek equivalent is apparently Harmonia. Now where have I heard that name before?
 
THIS IS OFFICIAL

IT'S AWESOME AND

Official pronunciations probably <:
And I was right about the Audino pronunciation.

TAKE THAT, AUD-EE-NO PEOPLE! jkjk
 
Cough-fa-gree-gus.

Nice to hear how to pronounce it (if we can count this as official)...definitely a name that sounds better than it looks, imo.

I noticed they kept to pre-release Pokemon, bar Fraxure and Mienshao.
 
Cough-fa-gree-gus.

Nice to hear how to pronounce it (if we can count this as official)...definitely a name that sounds better than it looks, imo.

I noticed they kept to pre-release Pokemon, bar Fraxure and Mienshao.

Really? I'm pretty sure I heard Emboar.
 
Does anyone think it's awesome how they didn't leave any detail out in the localized pokedex entries for the Ghost/Fire pokemon?
 
Uh

Just curious, but:

The 'pedia's article for Route 7 (and probably others, I haven't checked) list some characters as having Japanese names where their dub name would go. (For example, Ace Trainer Yuichi is still Yuichi in the English version)

Does that mean they kept their names or did nobody record them?
 
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