Now Nintendo wants to unify them: Pokémon in Greater China will be officially called 精靈寶可夢, or Jingling Baokemeng in Mandarin (Jingling means spirit or elf, and Baokemeng is a transliteration of Pokémon). Earlier in Hong Kong, it was 寵物小精靈, Pet Little Elves (or Spirits), while in Taiwan, it was 神奇寶貝, Magic Babies.
The new nomenclature was not welcomed by gamers in any of the Chinese-language regions. But fans in Hong Kong, where the official language is Cantonese, not Mandarin, are the most upset.
Earlier this month, Nintendo released the Chinese-language names of the original 151 Pokémon characters. Hong Kongers were unhappy to discover many of them were renamed in a Mandarin way.
Pikachu was originally translated as 比卡超 (Bei-kaa-chyu) in Hong Kong. Now it is named 皮卡丘 (Pikaqiu). While the name 皮卡丘 in Mandarin sounds similar to the global name Pikachu (as it was always called in China and Taiwan), it reads as Pei-kaa-jau in Cantonese, which doesnt sound the same at all.
On Monday (May 30) morning, dozens of Hong Kong protesters marched to the Japanese Consulate in Central, demanding Nintendo adopt a different Cantonese translation for the new Pokémon video game in Hong Kong.
Protesters marching to the Japanese Consulate in Hong Kong.(Zheping Huang)
http://qz.com/695136/nintendo-is-re...rgest-markets-and-hong-kongers-are-not-happy/