Language of origin

Language redirects here. For languages that Pokémon speak, see Pokémon language.

The subject of this article has no official name. The name currently in use is a fan designator; see below for more information.

An Italian Bulbasaur in an English version of Pokémon Alpha Sapphire

The language of origin, referred to as simply language (Japanese: 言語 language) in Pokémon HOME, is a value in the Pokémon data structure that indicates the language of the game a Pokémon originates from. This value was introduced in Generation III. From Generation VI onward, Pokémon with a different language of origin to the current game have their language shown on the summary screen.

Assignment

From Generation III onward, Pokémon caught in the wild or obtained as a gift have the game they were obtained in set as their language of origin. Pokémon obtained from in-game trades usually have the game they were obtained in set as their language of origin, but some in-game trade Pokémon have a different language of origin. Shedinja retains the Nincada's language of origin upon evolution.

In Generation III, Eggs have their language of origin set upon hatching (not when first obtained). From Generation IV to VII, Eggs have their language of origin set to the language of the game in which they were obtained, not the game they were hatched in. Starting in Generation VIII, Eggs again have their language of origin set to the language of the game in which they were hatched, not the game they were obtained in.

Pokémon from Mystery Gifts usually match the language of the game they are distributed to, but some distributions have a fixed language of origin regardless of the receiving game's language. This is particularly common for distributions of Pokémon that were used in official tournaments, which often match the language of the player who used them.

The Generation I and II games do not track Pokémon's languages of origin, so Pokémon transferred from these Virtual Console games record the language of the game they were transferred from as their language of origin.

Pokémon transferred from Pokémon GO via GO Park use the language of the Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! game they were transferred to as their language of origin. Pokémon transferred from Pokémon GO via GO Transporter use the language that was originally set in the mobile version of Pokémon HOME the first time that the player used it (regardless of the current setting) as their language of origin.

In-game trade Pokémon with different languages of origin

Some in-game trade Pokémon have a different language of origin to the game the trade is conducted in.

• In Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Brilliant Diamond, and Shining Pearl, the Magikarp traded by Meister at Route 226 is German in origin in all languages except German, in which it is Japanese in origin.
• In the English version of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, all Pokémon from in-game trades except for Meister's Magikarp are erroneously Japanese in origin (this was corrected in all other languages and in Pokémon Platinum, Brilliant Diamond, and Shining Pearl).
• In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, the Pikachu traded by Lt. Surge is French in origin in the English version, and English in origin in all other languages.
• In the Japanese version of Pokémon Black and White, all Pokémon from in-game trades erroneously have a language of origin value of 0 (this was corrected in all other languages and in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2). Any Pokémon with a language of origin value of 0 has it changed to 1 (Japanese) when transferred through Poké Transporter.

Display

From Generation VI onward, a Pokémon's language of origin is displayed on its summary screen if it differs from the save file's language. In Pokémon HOME, the language of origin is always displayed even if it matches Pokémon HOME's language.

The language is displayed as an abbreviation of the language name. The exact abbreviation used depends on the current game's language; for example, in English, Japanese is displayed as "JPN", but in Spanish it is displayed as "JAP".

In Pokémon Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun, and Ultra Moon, due to a bug, the German-language icons displayed on the summary screen for simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese are swapped, being incorrectly displayed as "CHT" and "CHV", respectively.

Function

Generation III

In Western languages, a Pokémon's language of origin determines which font to use to display its name and Original Trainer. This allows the names and Original Trainers of Pokémon from Japanese games to display correctly, including displaying Latin letters as fullwidth characters.

In Japanese, the language of origin is entirely ignored—names are always rendered using the Japanese character set. This causes all names to be truncated to five characters (even though they can be up to 10 characters in Western languages). In some cases, this causes characters to render as mojibake; for example, if the in-game trade Seel from Spanish Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen (whose nickname is normally SEELÍN) is traded to a Japanese game, its nickname will be displayed as ＳＥＥＬコ.

The names of unnicknamed Pokémon remain in their language of origin when traded. Eggs display "Egg" in the language of the current game as their name, rather than "Egg" in their language of origin as in later generations.

Generation IV onward

Outsider Pokémon with a different language of origin to the save file gain 1.7× experience (outsider Pokémon normally gain 1.5× experience).

If two Pokémon are bred that have different languages of origin to each other, Eggs they produce are more likely to be Shiny. This is known as the Masuda method.

If a Pokémon with a different language of origin to the save file is obtained, the player gains access to its Pokédex entry in its language of origin. In Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, this only applies to 14 specific Pokémon; from Pokémon Platinum onward, this applies to all Pokémon. Korean first became available as a foreign Pokédex entry in Generation V (as the Korean Generation IV games are not compatible with other language games); Traditional and Simplified Chinese first became available as foreign Pokédex entries with their introduction in Generation VII.

In these games, a multi-byte character encoding is used, allowing all languages to use the same character encoding. From Pokémon Diamond and Pearl to Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, the same font is used for all Pokémon names regardless of the Pokémon's language of origin.

Starting in Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, five fonts are used for Pokémon names depending on its language of origin: one for Japanese, one for Western languages, one for Korean, one for Simplified Chinese, and one for Traditional Chinese. Due to a bug, unnicknamed event Pokémon whose language of origin was locked to a specific language were still assigned their species name in the language of the game they were received. Since their Korean and Chinese names can contain characters not present in the font used for Japanese or English text, their nicknames will display as question marks when redeemed in these languages. This bug was fixed in version 1.3.0 of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, where they are instead assigned their species name in their language of origin.

The names of unnicknamed Pokémon and Eggs remain in their language of origin when traded. When a Pokémon is hatched or an unnicknamed Pokémon is evolved, its name is updated to its new species name in the save file's language (regardless of its language of origin). When an unnicknamed Pokémon is transferred from a Generation V game to Pokémon Bank via Poké Transporter, or from Pokémon Bank to Pokémon HOME, its name is reset to its species name in its language of origin.

In Pokémon HOME, Pokémon can be filtered by language of origin.

Possible values

Starting in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the Spanish icon is displayed as "SP-EU" in English, instead of "SPA" as in previous games. This change was later made in Pokémon HOME in version 2.1.0 (mobile) and version 3.0.0 (Switch).

#	Icon								Language
	XYORAS	SMUSUM	PE	SwShHOME		BDSP	LA	SV
1									Japanese
2									English
3									French
4									Italian
5									German
6									unused
7									Spanish (Spain)
8									Korean
9									Chinese (Simplified)
10									Chinese (Traditional)

In other languages

Language Title Chinese Cantonese 語言 Yúhyìhn Mandarin 語言 / 语言 Yǔyán French Langue German Sprache Italian Lingua Korean 언어 Eon-eo Spanish Idioma

Specific languages

English	Kana	Rōmaji	French	German	Italian	Spanish	Hangul	Romanized	Hànzì	Romanized
Japanese	日本語(にほんご)	Nihongo	Japonais	Japanisch	Giapponese	Japonés	일본어	Ilboneo	日文 日語 / 日语	Rìwén / Yahtmán Rìyǔ / Yahtyúh
English	英語(えいご)	Eigo	Anglais	Englisch	Inglese	Inglés	영어	Yeong-eo	英文 英語 / 英语	Yīngwén / Yīngmán Yīngyǔ / Yīngyúh
French	フランス語(ご)	Furansu-go	Français	Französisch	Francese	Francés	프랑스어	Peurangseueo	法文 法語 / 法语	Fǎwén / Faatmàhn Fǎyǔ / Faatyúh
German	ドイツ語(ご)	Doitsu-go	Allemand	Deutsch	Tedesco	Alemán	독일어	Dogireo	德文 德語 / 德语	Déwén / Dākmàhn Déyǔ / Dākyúh
Italian	イタリア語(ご)	Itaria-go	Italien	Italienisch	Italiano	Italiano	이탈리아어	Itallia-eo	義大利文 意大利文 / 意大利文 義大利語 意大利语	Yìdàlìwén / Yihdaaihleihmàhn Yìdàlìwén / Yidaaihleihmàhn Yìdàlìyǔ Yìdàlìyǔ
Korean	韓国語(かんこくご)	Kankokugo	Coréen	Koreanisch	Coreano	Coreano	한국어	Han-gugeo	韓文 / 韩文 韓語 / 韩语	Hánwén / Hòhnmán Hányǔ / Hòhnyúh
Spanish	スペイン語(ご)	Supein-go	Espagnol	Spanisch	Spagnolo	Español	스페인어	Seupeineo	西班牙文 西班牙語 / 西班牙语	Xībānyáwén / Sāibāanngàhmàhn Xībānyáyǔ / Sāibāanngàhyúh
Spanish (Spain)	欧州(おうしゅう)スペイン語(ご)	Ōshū Supein-go	Espagnol (Espagne)	Spanisch (Spanien)	Spagnolo (Spagna)	Español (España)	유럽 스페인어	Yureop Seupeineo	歐洲西班牙文 欧洲西班牙语	Ōuzhōu Xībānyáwén / Āujāu Sāibāanngàhmàhn Ōuzhōu Xībānyáyǔ
Chinese (Simplified)	中国語(ちゅうごくご)（簡体字(かんたいじ)）	Chūgokugo (Kantaiji)	Chinois simplifié	Chinesisch (vereinfacht)	Cinese (semplificato)	Chino simplificado	중국어/간체자	Junggugeo/Gancheja	簡體中文 / 简体中文	Jiǎntǐ zhōngwén / Gáantái jūngmàhn
Chinese (Traditional)	中国語(ちゅうごくご)（繁体字(はんたいじ)）	Chūgokugo (Hantaiji)	Chinois traditionnel	Chinesisch (traditionell)	Cinese (tradizionale)	Chino tradicional	중국어/번체자	Junggugeo/Beoncheja	繁體中文 / 繁体中文	Fántǐ zhōngwén / Fàahntái jūngmàhn

See also

• Game of origin

This game mechanic article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games.