The beloved Japanese Pocket Monsters, better known as Pokemon, are playing a new name game, and Hong Kongers are less than pleased about it.
Nintendo has announced that the Mandarin names of Pokemon characters will be used in the latest game to be released in Hong Kong, instead of the Cantonese names which have been used for over 20 years, according to the South China Morning Post.
The Chinese characters used to form Pokemon characters’ names are based on words that sound the most similar, effectively changing a character’s entire identity to Cantonese speakers. For instance, Pikachu is pronounced pikaqiu in Mandarin, while Cantonese speakers say beikaaciu.
On May 30, dozens of pro-beikaaciu protestors marched to the Japanese consulate demanding changes be made, and an online petition garnered over 6,000 signatures. Yet, Nintendo ignored both actions.
Cantonese is the official language of Hong Kong, and gamers are seeing Nintendo’s decision as a symbol of disrespect towards their tradition and culture.
“Our culture [and] language is threatened by the Beijing government, Mandarin, and simplified Chinese,” said Wong Yeung-tat, founder of Civic Passion, a radical localist group which seeks independence from China, said. “We’re afraid Cantonese may be disappearing, he told Quartz.
[Image via Bulbagarden Archives, The Stand News]
0 User Comments