2023-07-16 06:01:58
Since 1996, Pokémon dream of millions of players around the world. The license has developed in many formats, such as trading cards, anime or manga. Its strength lies in particular in the singular character of its little creatures, but also in their names, each as funny as the other. So we met the one who imagined all these puns, to better understand their origins.
In the 1990s, I was studying translation and I was hired by Nintendo for a small student job as a “hotliner”. I was answering the phone to help people who were stuck in early Nintendo 64 games, like Mario 64.
After this experience, I translated several titles, including Pokémon. I was shown illustrations from the original version and tried to come up with funny names, but no puns. They sounded funny, but were more like pet names.
Finally, I went to Japan to meet the creators and I had to convince them to translate the names of all these creatures into French, because some Japanese versions did not work for us. For example, in its original pronunciation, Salamèche is said “Hitokage”. In the south, “caguer” means “to poop”. It’s rather funny.
The argument convinced them, and Nintendo asked me to find new names for France. So I stayed on site to work with the creators who explained the captions and puns around each character to me.
If we take the example of Charmander, “hi” means fire and “tokage” the lizard, but “milestone” is also a man and “kage” a shadow. The whole thing refers to an image of a spark that reflects the shadow of the human on the wall of the cave, and therefore to Plato’s myth.
I spent years translating these first 251 Pokemon, coming up with funny names and explaining the intricacies to them. There was in particular Dardargnan, which refers to the idea of speed with “give-give”the double sting of the wasp and the d’Artagnan swordsman, or even Rondoudou which is round, which looks like a child’s comforter, but which is also sweet.
Were you aware of the phenomenon that was going to be Pokémon when you came up with these names? Were you aware that you were going to rock the childhood of several generations?
No way ! On the other hand, when I was asked to do the translation, I was told that the game was already a hit in Japan. During the first meetings with the creators, everyone had the theme of Pokémon in telephone ringtone. All of these things tipped me off and told me something was going to happen.
I was able to play the Japanese version on Game Boy and following two days I changed my ringtone too and thought this game was phew. I knew it was also going to work in France, but I didn’t expect such a social phenomenon.
And what is your favorite Pokemon?
I like Feunard, because “feun” is “nine” backwards, and this fox has nine tails. Vulpix, who arrives just before him, has six, but in Latin, “IX” also represents the number nine. It therefore portends the fact that its evolution will have nine tails.
I’m just very smart (laughter)! Inspiration comes from everywhere: from reading, from the subtleties of the French language, from zoological data, from relatives (Psyduck is a nod to a friend whom I called that way)… Then, we do tests and we see what happens.
The whole thing is to appropriate it, even as a player. There are many gamers who rename their pokemon to give them nicknames and feel closer to them. The most important thing is that this game becomes theirs, even if they pronounce Roucoups badly and they don’t understand Canarticho.
Was this translation accompanied by constraints or were you free to imagine what you wanted?
There were a lot of constraints! Names had to be ten characters maximum and include capital letters without accents. For example, everyone pronounces “Maraiste”, when we should say “Maraiste”, because she is the queen of the swamps. But I was not allowed to put an accent on the final “e”.
Do you have any other little secrets hiding behind cult Pokémon names?
There are quite a few, but I don’t have them all in mind, because I don’t go around with a Pokédex (laughter). The first thing I think of is the starters. They were imagined in a logic of evolution.
For example, the wick (Salamèche) plus the spark (Reptincel) equals “fire!” (Charizard). We also have Bulbizarre, a strange root that turns into a strange herb (Herbizarre) then into flora – but Venusaur’s ending also makes us think of a dinosaur.
©Nintendo, Pokemon
The last one, Carapuce, is a word that might exist in the language of children, like “crocrodile”. Carabaffe uses the same logic and I can very well imagine kids saying: “It’s not a carapace, but a carabaffe!” Finally, we break the litany of rehearsals with Tortank, who no longer wears a shell, but downright a tank.
There are hidden meanings in human names. Pierre has rock type pokemon and Ondine’s (which is a water nymph) are aquatic. Cities are also full of secrets. Bourg Palette refers to a humble little village, but also to the range of possibilities that awaits the player in his adventure.
But why did Pikachu not have the right to its French translation?
As Mickey, it is supposed to be international. I was not allowed to touch Pikachu. It’s weird when you think regarding it, because it’s not the first pokemon to appear in the Pokédex, but number 25. At no time did I imagine it would become the gondola head.
Which name was the most difficult to imagine?
That of the starters. Each time a step was refused, we had to rethink them all. For example, if Carabaffe was not validated by Nintendo for questions of law, I had to start all over from the beginning and find new names for the three evolutions, because they are all linked. Conversely, Canarticho was accepted very easily.
Speaking of Canarticho, you have to answer the question that everyone asks: why Canarticho, when he is holding a leek?
In Japanese, it is called Kamonegi: “bow” is a duck and “negi” is an onion, so it’s a duck fighting with the ingredient of its own cooking. In other words, he throws himself into the mouth of the wolf. In English, it was impossible to translate this expression. They said she was far fetched, or far-fetched. In the end, they called him Farfetch’d, in keeping with the situation. But that doesn’t mean anything!
©Nintendo, Pokemon
For my part, I start from physical reality to imagine the names of pokemons. There I am working on a duck. What starts with “ar”? Artichoke. Does he have an artichoke in his hands? Not exactly ! Ok, so let’s call him Canarticho because he doesn’t have one. There’s no logic, it’s just absurd and I love to think that everyone’s got their heads around wondering when that leek will transform to make sense of that name!
Which name are you particularly proud of?
I like those that give the impression of being real French words, like Carapuce, Capumain (which might be a kind of monkey), Goupix and noigrumes.
©Nintendo, Pokemon
Conversely, those that you regret and on which you might have done better?
The words to which I just added “as” or “ax” at the end to make it more monstrous, because it’s a bit easy. On the other hand, I absolutely do not regret Tadmorv and Grotadmorv, because ideas were also needed obvious and on which we do not take the lead.
Let’s end this interview by correcting the injustices: which names have been mispronounced for more than 20 years?
Everyone says “Roucoups” while the final “s” is not pronounced. It’s a pigeon that stops cooing (unlike Roucool) and kicks. We have already spoken of Maraiste, which is pronounced “Maraiste”. I also hear “Tignon” a lot, when we have to say “Tygnon”, because it refers to the boxer Mike Tyson. There, it is said.
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