Talk:Language of origin

Would it be better if we put a Scarlet/Violet screenshot instead of ORAS so it's up to date, or would this be unnecessary? Kikugi (talk) 08:48, 18 October 2024 (UTC)

I have no issue with adding a newer screenshot. Landfish7 16:56, 18 October 2024 (UTC)

Move

"Language" is used as the name for this value in Pokémon HOME, so using this title would reflect the official terminology. Such a move might entail expanding the scope of this article though, since there are obviously multiple languages in other parts of the franchise as well. Abcboy (talk) 21:56, 16 July 2025 (UTC)

I think the current subject of this page is notable enough that it makes sense to discuss it separately from languages in general. However, I don't think simply "Language" alone would be justifiable as the page title about the Pokémon data structure concept — we would need to apply some kind of additional disambiguation to this page title. We could alternatively do that via dabtag (although I the best I have is "Language (Pokémon data structure)"), but I think "language of origin" is a reasonable way to disambiguate the page title. SnorlaxMonster 04:10, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

Actually, when booting up Pokémon HOME after the recent update, the notice about being able to change your registered language refers to this concept as "original language" (as a parallel to original Trainer I suppose). I think that is the best name for this page, since it now has an official basis. SnorlaxMonster 04:16, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

I wouldn't be opposed to using "original language" since we have some official uses of it now (though it doesn't seem like the term has an equivalent in Japanese). HOME also uses the term "original game" when searching by origin mark on Switch, so that might work for game of origin if we wanted to keep the titles in parallel. Abcboy (talk) 04:24, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

I think that would make sense for game of origin too. Although it looks like that's mostly only applicable to English, while the other languages just use "origin mark" in that field instead. SnorlaxMonster 04:46, 3 April 2026 (UTC)

A note on ES-LA

There's been some confusion on how Pokémon Home handles gifts for accounts whose base language is ES-LA.

Using a brand new Home account set to ES-LA, these are the only Home gifts granted with an ES-LA language tag to date:

•The Kanto starter you pick when you first open Home

•The first/starter Pikachu

•The PLZA Alpha starters you get when depositing a Pokémon from PLZA for the first time

•The shiny Volcanion you get for completing Home's Lumiose, Hyperspace, and Mega Dexes.

Since Game Freak decided to break backwards compatibility on the language tag, the older rewards related to game actions such as shiny Manaphy for completing Home's Sinnoh Dex or the Hidden Ability starters for first deposit from SV are granted with the ENG language tag to maintain compatibility with their relevant game.

And while normal Magearna is present in PLZA, the original-colour Magearna you get for finishing National Dex 1-890 is considered a SwSh era, Galar-origin gift so it is also granted in ENG. Entegy (talk) 01:48, 17 October 2026 (UTC)

This is good information that really belongs on the page itself. Probably a similar section to the existing "Pokémon GO" section. SnorlaxMonster 01:58, 17 October 2026 (UTC)

Its not that Game Freak decided to break it; they never introduced backwards compatability because adding ES-LA to earlier games would require an update to each individual game. HOME assigns a game of origin to each pokemon it generates; if the pokemon is generated for LGPE, SwSH, BDSP, PLA or SV it will generate in english because no ES-LA version exists and such a tag would generate bad data. If the game of Origin is HOME or PLZA there isnt this problem because the pokemon isnt generated in the format of a game that doesnt support it. Future pokemon for PLZA will generate with ES-LA while any future SV events will undoubtedly redeem as ENG. 4iamking 02:37, 17 October 2026 (UTC)

not the point of the discussion but it very well could have been feasible for game freak to turn language into one of the pokemon data that is "mutable" between games, like movesets are, so it's ultimately just an arbitrary decision of their own Superstarxalien (talk) 02:40, 17 October 2026 (UTC)

Sure, HOME allows Game Freak to make a lot of values vary between games, although even if they did, there would still be some canonical value in HOME (and that's the most important one to document). But there's no point speculating about what could happen in the future, we only need to document how things work now (and in the past). SnorlaxMonster 02:47, 17 October 2026 (UTC)

Home basically clones the Pokémon when it sends it to another game and stores the original data server-side when sent to another game it didn't come from. To do this you would basically make the original invalid. Not saying it could't technically be overcome but it makes sense why things are the way they are without overthinking it too much. 4iamking 02:49, 17 October 2026 (UTC)

The language tag is just an ID number in the Pokémon data. Game Freak itself has accidentally put invalid language tags in in-game trades and the games did not crash.

Home's current GTS troll issue is ES-LA Basculegion which is currently not possible. But someone changes the language tag of a Basculegion in SV to 11 with a save editor. SV just won't display a language tag, but it will show "properly" as ES-LA in Home.

I really do believe the earlier games would have had no issue handling an "invalid" language tag. Entegy (talk) 02:55, 17 October 2026 (UTC)

yeah its just a single hex in the Pokemon data; and the games will default to a default value whenever invalid data is displayed (same with balls, thats how the Strange ball works in BDSP), its slightly speculation but Game Freak probably doesnt find it ideal since it will cause this data to display differently across games. What isn’t speculation though is that Pokémon redeemed on a ES-LA home Save redeem in ENG if the generated Pokémon's Game of Origin does not support the language, and ES-LA if it does; it assigns language based on a pretty simple rule. 4iamking 03:07, 17 October 2026 (UTC)

Is this also the case for the FRLG Celebi gift? And does it also apply to Korean and Chinese with that one, since FRLG doesn't support those languages? Hewer (talk) 23:14, 18 October 2026 (UTC)

i can't confirm anything but it's worth noting the celebi isn't actually from frlg data Superstarxalien (talk) 23:15, 18 October 2026 (UTC)

I mean... This isn't exactly true; its data is from FRLG, it just can't be sent to those games because Pokémon that are already in HOME can't be sent back to those games. 4iamking 01:10, 20 October 2026 (UTC)

idk how that works out if it's generated with a cherish ball, which doesn't exist in frlg. home also doesn't even store frlg data that I know of? it does not support frlg for pokemon storage, so that celebi most likely is in the sword and shield format as the starting pikachu is Superstarxalien (talk) 01:57, 20 October 2026 (UTC)

Yeah HOME just clones it for whatever format its being sent to when you transfer it elsewhere, but it still keeps track of its game of origin; which in this case is FRLG. It wouldn't be in SwSh format if its not sent to that game (like if its sent to BDSP). The cherish ball is just a single index, which would just generate as a Poké ball if sent to the game (since that's the default in FRLG when a pokémon has an illegal ball index), since Mystery gifts are basically just injected Pokémon they can be generated with otherwise illegal traits. 4iamking 02:18, 20 October 2026 (UTC)

I'm working on my Kanto GBA Dex right now, but I have heard the reward Celebi is not granted in any language FRLG wasn't released in. Hopefully I can verify this in a few days.

However, Celebi itself can be ES-LA thanks to Go so it doesn't quite fit the trivia line about unavailable Pokémon in ES-LA.

If it turns out the FRLG gift Celebi isn't granted in some of the languages, that might be trivia more suited for the Home page Entegy (talk) 23:25, 18 October 2026 (UTC)

Yeah I know it's not part of that trivia, but I thought it would be good to include if we do add a paragraph to the page documenting this stuff (and I was curious to know if it's still impossible to get a Korean or Chinese Celebi without GO or events, since those languages also missed out on the previous chance to get one in 3DS Virtual Console Crystal). Hewer (talk) 23:34, 18 October 2026 (UTC)

Celebi had distributions in Gen 8 so yeah it was available in KOR, CHS, and CHT without Go. Entegy (talk) 23:38, 18 October 2026 (UTC)

I missed the "or events" part. Entegy (talk) 23:39, 18 October 2026 (UTC)

Just finished my Kanto GBA Dex. Confirming that the FRLG gift Celebi is not granted in KOR, CHS, CHT, or ES-LA. It is given in English instead. Entegy (talk) 04:16, 21 October 2026 (UTC)

probably as good of a time as any to bring up this draft article I made inspired by this: List of event Pokémon distributions in Pokémon HOME Superstarxalien (talk) 04:36, 21 October 2026 (UTC)