In a translation effort to translate Pokemon games into Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Nintendo renamed a significant number of Pokémon, including Pikachu sacrosanct.
The Pokémon Company recently announced
Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon on 3DS. This is the first Pokémon game that has a translation in
Mandarin, but efforts are also made for the Cantonese in Hong Kong.
According to
QZ.com , in China, Pokémon will be appointed精靈寶可夢- or “Jingling Baokemeng” in Mandarin (Jingling means “spirit” or “elf” and Baokemeng is a verbatim transcript of Pokémon).
In Hong Kong, however, it was 寵物小精靈, which can be translated as Little Elf Companion (or Spirit), and Pikachu was originally translated into 比卡超 (Bei-kaa-chyu).
But now, it is called 皮卡丘 (Pikaqiu). A term closer to the Western version, because in Cantonese it reads Pei-kaa jau.
In a protest momentum – which is also explained by a fear that Cantonese translation is neglected – a fan group went into the street, walking to the
Japanese consulate chanting the theme of Pokémon in Cantonese.
Added to this are the 6,000 signatures to the petition protesting against the changes, calling for a boycott of the company if Nintendo does not accede to their request.
Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon come out on November 23 in Europe , only on 3DS.
