Language of origin

The language of origin, referred to as simply language (Japanese: language) in , is a value in the Pokémon data structure that indicates the language of the game a Pokémon originates from. This value was introduced in Generation III. From Generation VI onward, Pokémon with a different language of origin to the current game have their language shown on the summary screen.
==Assignment==
From Generation III onward, Pokémon caught in the or obtained as a have the language of the game they were obtained in set as their language of origin. Pokémon obtained from in-game trades usually have the language of the game they were obtained in set as their language of origin, but some in-game trade Pokémon have a different language of origin, such as the Meister's . retains the 's language of origin upon evolution.
In Generation III, s have their language of origin set upon hatching (not when first obtained). From Generation IV to , Eggs have their language of origin set to the language of the game in which they were obtained, not the game they were hatched in. Starting in Generation VIII, Eggs again have their language of origin set to the language of the game in which they were hatched, not the game they were obtained in.
Pokémon from Mystery Gifts usually match the language of the game they are distributed to, but some distributions have a fixed language of origin regardless of the receiving game's language. This is particularly common for distributions of Pokémon that were used in official tournaments, which often match the language of the player who used them.
The Generation I and games do not track Pokémon's languages of origin, so Pokémon transferred from these Virtual Console games record the language of the game they were transferred from as their language of origin.
Pokémon transferred from Pokémon GO via GO Park use the language of the Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! game they were transferred to as their language of origin. Pokémon transferred from Pokémon GO via GO Transporter use the language that was originally set in the mobile version of Pokémon HOME the first time that the player used it (regardless of the current setting) as their language of origin.
===In-game trade Pokémon with different languages of origin===
Some in-game trade Pokémon have a different language of origin to the game the trade is conducted in.
* In , , , the traded by Meister at is German in origin in all languages except German, in which it is Japanese in origin.
* In the English version of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, all Pokémon from in-game trades except for Meister's Magikarp are erroneously Japanese in origin (this was corrected in all other languages and in Pokémon Platinum, Brilliant Diamond, and Shining Pearl).
* In , the traded by Lt. Surge is French in origin in the English version, and English in origin in all other languages.
* In the Japanese version of , all Pokémon from in-game trades erroneously have a language of origin value of 0 (this was corrected in all other languages and in ). Any Pokémon with a language of origin value of 0 has it changed to 1 (Japanese) when transferred through Poké Transporter.
==Display==
From Generation VI onward, a Pokémon's language of origin is displayed on its summary screen if it differs from the save file's language. In , the language of origin is always displayed even if it matches Pokémon HOME's language.
The language is displayed as an abbreviation of the language name. The exact abbreviation used depends on the current game's language; for example, in English, Japanese is displayed as "JPN", but in Spanish it is displayed as "JAP".
Language 	Abbreviations
Japanese 	, , , , ,
English 	, , , ,
French 	,
Italian 	,
German 	, , , , , ,
SpanishSpanish (Spain)	, , , , ,
Korean 	, ,
Chinese (Simplified) 	, ,
Chinese (Traditional) 	,
In , , due to a , the German-language icons displayed on the summary screen for simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese are swapped, being incorrectly displayed as "CHT" and "CHV", respectively.
==Function==
===Generation III===
In Western languages, a Pokémon's language of origin determines which font to use to display its name and Original Trainer. This allows the names and Original Trainers of Pokémon from Japanese games to display correctly, including displaying Latin letters as characters.
In Japanese, the language of origin is entirely ignored—names are always rendered using the Japanese character set. This causes all names to be truncated to five characters (even though they can be up to 10 characters in Western languages). In some cases, this causes characters to render as ; for example, if the from Spanish (whose nickname is normally SEELÍN) is traded to a Japanese game, its nickname will be displayed as ＳＥＥＬコ.
The names of unnicknamed Pokémon remain in their language of origin when traded. s display "Egg" in the language of the current game as their name, rather than "Egg" in their language of origin as in later generations.
===Generation IV to Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon===
Outsider Pokémon with a different language of origin to the save file gain 1.7× experience (outsider Pokémon normally gain 1.5× experience).
If two Pokémon are that have different languages of origin to each other, s they produce are more likely to be . This is known as the Masuda method.
If a Pokémon with a different language of origin to the save file is obtained, the player gains access to its Pokédex entry in its language of origin. In , this only applies to 14 specific Pokémon; from onward, this applies to all Pokémon. Korean first became available as a foreign Pokédex entry in Generation V (as the Korean Generation IV games are not compatible with other language games); Traditional and Simplified Chinese first became available as foreign Pokédex entries with their introduction in Generation VII.
In these games, a multi-byte character encoding is used, allowing all languages to use the same character encoding. The same font is used for all Pokémon names regardless of the Pokémon's language of origin.
The names of unnicknamed Pokémon and s remain in their language of origin when traded. When a Pokémon is hatched or an unnicknamed Pokémon is evolved, its name is updated to its new species name in the save file's language (regardless of its language of origin). Unnicknamed event Pokémon are assigned their species name in the language of the game they were received (even if locked to a specific language of origin). When an unnicknamed Pokémon is transferred from a Generation V game to via Poké Transporter, or from Pokémon Bank to Pokémon HOME, its name is reset to its species name in its language of origin.
===Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! onward===
In , , the player can give a nickname to an unnicknamed outsider Pokémon, as long as the Pokémon's language of origin is the same as the current Trainer's game language—and starting in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, if it was not met in a fateful encounter.
In these games, five fonts are used for Pokémon names depending on its language of origin: one for Japanese, one for Western languages, one for Korean, one for Simplified Chinese, and one for Traditional Chinese.
When an unnicknamed Pokémon is evolved, its name is updated to its new species name in its language of origin. Due to a bug, unnicknamed event Pokémon whose language of origin was locked to a specific language were still assigned their species name in the language of the game they were received. Since their Korean and Chinese names can contain characters not present in the font used for Japanese or English text, their nicknames will display as question marks when redeemed in these languages. This bug was fixed in version 1.3.0 of , where they are instead assigned their species name in their language of origin.
In , Pokémon can be filtered by language of origin.
==Possible values==
Starting in , the Spanish icon is displayed as "SP-EU" in English, instead of "SPA" as in previous games. This change was later made in Pokémon HOME in version 2.1.0 (mobile) and version 3.0.0 (Switch).
# 	Icon	Icon	Icon	Icon	Icon	Icon	Icon	Icon	Language
# 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	Language
1 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	Japanese
2 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	English
3 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	French
4 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	Italian
5 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	German
6 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	unused
7 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	Spanish (Spain)
8 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	Korean
9 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	Chinese (Simplified)
10	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	Chinese (Traditional)
==In other languages==
Specific languages
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==See also==
* Game of origin
Category:Game mechanics
it:Lingua
zh:来源语言