Pokemon Speech

[Tale]

Just thought I'd ask another one of my rather pointless questions >.>.

I'd personally say fanfiction is divided in terms of Pokemon Speech, you have those that let the Pokemon speak so us humans can understand them, and those that have the Pokemon call out their names or animal-like cries and such. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, but which do you prefer?

I'm torn myself, I think having a Pokemon speak so we can understand it helps to build its character and make the Pokemon a character in itself really, which makes the fic very entertaining; but having a Pokemon call out a wild cry and communicate through actions or different calls I think is far more realistic and believable.

What do you think anyway?

 

[PDL]

personally I think option number one is best because we get enough of the name cries from the anime, plus it gets terribly boring to type out the name over and over again.

plus definately wouldn't do at all if your main characters are pokemon, since all the diolouge would be nothing but names... plus people already know that pokemon usually speak with their own names.

 

[Evanji Axu]

I like the popular idea of putting their speech in little tags <like this>, while putting their cries in quotes.

 

[Dilasc]

You could also forget saying and just describing that the Pokemon repeated its name.

'Thus, with nothing left on its mind but the taste of the three week rotten ravioli it had just eaten, the Rhydon repeated its name a few times, and trotted off of the story... forever!'

 

[blackemerald]

In most cases the human being able to understand the pokemon would be the better choice as you can give it more of a character than just saying its name while giving it actions and would make the fic easier to understand for some people, saving time. In some situations though, having the pokemon communicate through cries would be more believable like you said. If we can't understand the chirps of a bird then we shouldn't be able to understand something more complex like a Swellow's cries. It could make for an engaging OT story; the trainer would have to build a greater bond with their pokemon and study many things, including the pitch and body language and could make for a more careful build-up through their sucess and failure. IMO, if you want to focus on realism, go for the pokemon cries. Otherwise just let the humans understand them.

~B.E

 

[Dragonfree]

*shrugs* I like them understandable, mainly because it seems sort of "unfair" to Pokémon characters that they can only express themselves in the story through repeating their names while human characters can talk. :/ That's technically fine if you want to portray the Pokémon as animals whose thoughts and opinions aren't particularly interesting or important, but as soon as the Pokémon get sentient, you can't just imply everything that the Pokémon have to say.

 

[RaZoR LeAf]

I like the idea of some being able to talk in english (french, spanish, russian, urdu, whatever) such as Psychics or Ghosts. Others I tend to mix them saying their names in with natural animal/object sounds. Like a Gyarados would roar, growl and stuff, but the roar that is unique to each species sounds like Gyyaaaaarrrdddsss, which could then be 'romanised' into a name.

 

[Shrike Flamestar]

This has always been a struggle for me. I’ve always preferred to understand what the Pokémon are saying, but it just doesn’t make sense without a proper excuse. You can always use the clichéd “Trainer and Pokémon are bonded so well that Trainer can actually understand his Pokémon’s speech!” However I prefer something a little less overdone. Now that my obsession with ES4: Oblivion has finally cracked and I’m back to writing The Flamestar Chronicles again (Hooray! I’ve been away from writing for way to long...) I’ve had to face this problem and sort it out for myself.

I actually have two solutions I will be using. The first is that one of the trainers in the story has some sort of psychic like ability to mentally communicate with Pokémon. It’s not quite telepathy (I can’t really explain how it works since it’s a major part of the plotline), but close enough to be called so at first. The second is that the evil organization in the story, CORE (Collective for Organic Research and Engineering), use a device I am currently calling a “Pokécom.” It basically acts a translator for Pokémon speech which fits on the ear (TFC takes place around 40 years in the future from the anime, so technology has advanced quite a bit). Shrike will somehow obtain a method to understand Pokémon in the second part of the series and from then on out Pokémon will talk like humans (unless I switch views to someone who can’t understand Pokémon, which will probably happen a couple of times). Until then, however I’m not even bothering to write their names when they talk, it’s much easier to say “The Pokémon...” “growled,” “hissed,” “squeaked,” “chirped,” “cried,” “whimpered,” or something else like that then continually write out their name, which gets boring and annoying really fast.

 

[Silentvibrava]

The second is that the evil organization in the story, CORE (Collective for Organic Research and Engineering), use a device I am currently calling a “Pokécom.” It basically acts a translator for Pokémon speech which fits on the ear.

I also use Pokemon translators, but mine work by painfully drilling inside your head, and sending electric signals to your brain once it hears what the Pokemon is saying. Once you put it on you have it for life.

 

[Kiyohime]

It makes Scrap's head hurt to type out a string of repeated Pokemon names. So she takes the easy way out and uses normal dialogue to replace them. ^^;

 

[Astinus]

My Pokémon-sided story in my fic has the Pokémon talking in human-speak, which in the Pokémon world of mine is called "Plain." (Which is a cheesy name in itself, I know.)

For the human-side, so far, I only have the Pokémon say their name, but I'm pretty sure that will change, as it is annoying to constantly type out the name and variations.

So I go both ways. But I like the Pokémon translated speech better, because it allows for more of the personality to come through.

 

[Sike Saner]

I do give Pokémon complex languages, yes. Some of them are of a nature that make them sound like they could be human languages, or like they could at least be pronouncable by humans, anyway; some others are of a nature that human beings could never hope to pronounce. Even in those cases, however, it is still a form of complex communication, having nuanced meanings.

I might also note that I do not have all Pokémon communicating verbally. A few "languages" are comprised of body language, chemical transmission, various telepathic techinques, and other things.

The main reason I have them speaking complex languages is personal preference. I really don't want to have them speaking through fragments of their species name; that's one aspect of the anime that's always just really bugged me, so yeah, I'm glad to do away with it in the realm of my stories. Artistic license - one of the best things about fanfiction. ^^

As for animalistic cries...I suppose it would be more reflective of real life to depict Pokémon as animals whose vocalizations have simple motives and are like sounds that real world animals make. However....I get enough realism from reality. XP I'm always hella impressed when others manage to portray realism effectively; it's not the easiest thing in the world to do effectively, after all. But I just don't get a kick out writing that way myself; things I can just go out and experience just don't inspire me. I'd get bored into a stupor trying to write a piece while abiding by reality. I like to whimsy it up a bit (I will use whimsy as a verb if I please, nyah XP) simply because that's something I enjoy to do.

I write Pokémon dialogue in the same manner as I write human dialogue mainly because there are very few human characters in my stories, none of whom are the focus of the stories, and thereby the need to distinguish Pokémon and human speech is sort of diminished. There is usually not a language barrier (at least, usually not with verbal languages) between Pokémon (and yes, I do have a reason why they are able to understand each other), so I give no special treatment to the dialogue there; I do, however, have a language barrier between humans and Pokémon (again, there's a reason), but this is usually displayed through contextual phrasing rather than actually explicitly writing the language of the Pokémon any differently. (There has been an instance where I did actually write out examples of Pokémon language, as I felt that doing so suited the context.)

 

[Kiyohime]

*brain sizzle* Sike's ideas win. XP Makes sense--after all, your story is called COMMUNICATION. 8D

 

[pokeplayer984]

I've always preferred the pokemon language to be translated into human speech. (Maybe the reason I have so much respect for "Island of the Giant Pokemon.")

In my fics, the pokemon play such big roles with one another that it would just be stupid to not make it translated. Doing it this way just makes them seem real.