Pokémon in Chinese: How to talk about your favorite Pokémon

We want to give you some of the names of your favorite Pokémon in Chinese. You will be able to talk to and understand Chinese fans of the series. You’re welcome!

The Story of Pokémon

To generally summarize the story, Pokémon (神奇宝贝 shénqí bǎobèi, lit. “Magical Darlings” or based on the video game name 口袋妖怪 kǒudài yāoguài, lit. “Pocket Monsters”) deals with the life of Ash Ketchum (小智 Xiǎo Zhì, lit. “Little Wisdom”) and his pet Pokémon monster Pikachu (皮卡丘 Píkǎqiū).

They travel the Pokéworld together, meeting all different kinds of Pokémon monsters. They fight in different training gyms, with the ultimate aim being that Ash becomes a Pokémon Master!

On the way, they are joined by best friends Misty (小霞 Xiǎo Xiá, lit. “Little Rosy Cloud”) and Brock (小刚 Xiǎo Gāng, lit. “Little Strong”), each with their own type of Pokémon (typically, Misty uses water-based Pokémon, while Brock uses Stone based ones).

On their way, they are not only hindered by different types of wild Pokémon and the various gym masters around the Pokémon world, but also by a team of professional Pokémon thieves, called Team Rocket (火箭队 huǒjiàn duì).

The evil team is mostly portrayed in the guise of the girl-boy duo Jesse and James, with their own evil cat-like Pokémon, Meowth (喵喵 miāomiāo).

On their travels, Ash and the gang are joined by new Pokémon friends who help them on their way, such as the grass-type frog-like Bulbasaur (妙蛙种子 miàowā zhǒngzi, lit. “Wonderful Frog Seed”), the fire-type dragon-like Charmander (小火龙 xiǎo huǒlóng, lit. “Little Fire Dragon”) and the water-type turtle-like Squirtle (杰尼龟 jiéní guī, lit. “Zeni Turtle”). Zeni is a Japanese word to refer to Gold or Golden, and the Chinese name for Squirtle was adopted based on the same sound (杰尼 sounds like Zeni). 


Post time: Feb-24-2020