User:Abcboy/Policy/Foreign

This article is a proposed policy for Bulbapedia.

Please discuss the proposed policy and suggest possible changes on the article's talk page.

This is a sub-article of the main Bulbapedia manual of style. It covers the use of use of other languages in articles.

The Pokémon franchise, having originated in Japan, is localized into many languages around the world. Bulbapedia lists names for Pokémon concepts in other languages for many articles in the "In other languages" or "Names" sections, and notes the Japanese name of an article's topic and a translation of it in the introduction of each page.

Lists of names in other languages

Names listed in "In other languages" or "Names" sections must be official translations, derived from sources such as the games, anime, manga, or official guide books. The section should be a level 2 section below the main body of the page, including "Trivia" sections, but above "See also" sections, references, external links, navigation templates, and project notices.

Listings should begin with the Japanese and English names, if necessary, followed by the languages into which the core series games are translated (German, French, Italian, Spanish, Korean, and Chinese), and then all other languages in alphabetical order by their two-letter ISO 639-1 language codes. If multiple names have been used in a localization, the names should be listed in reverse-chronological order by first by medium, then by most recent use, and finally by the number of uses. In languages which do not use the Latin alphabet, romanizations should always be provided. Regional dialects should be noted as follows:

American English precedes British English
European Spanish precedes Latin American Spanish
European French precedes Canadian French
Traditional Chinese precedes Simplified Chinese and Mandarin Chinese precedes Cantonese Chinese
Catalan precedes Valencian
European Portuguese precedes Brazilian Portuguese

These sections will generally use one of four methods to produce these tables, each with minor differences between them:

{{langtable}}: Used on most pages in which name origins are not needed or noted elsewhere; note that it is not collapsible.
{{Epilang}}: Used on pages for episodes, rounds, books, and songs in which a translation should be provided by hover text (with the exception of songs, which should instead be formatted as a link to the relevant section of the page listing the lyrics for the song, such as the List of French Pokémon themes, followed by a translation in italics and a smaller font); note that it is collapsed by default.
{{Other languages}}: Used only on pages for Pokémon; note that it is partially collapsed by default.
Manually-coded tables: Used on pages for locations and characters where name origins are provided; note that languages in which a name is identical may share a row.

Japanese

Use of kanji

Since Generation V, kanji have been used in the Japanese Pokémon video games, and have long been used in other media, including the anime. Kanji typically convey more meaning than hiragana and katakana; however, there is also a possibility that a kanji character can have multiple readings.

It is preferred that if kanji is used in the Japanese title of an article's subject, the {{ruby}} template is used to include furigana of its intended reading. Please keep in mind to use the exact furigana used in the actual title, and nothing else. Also, keep in mind that the names of people and places are not required to have this.

Translations

As Pokémon is originally from Japan, and thus derives many terms from Japanese, translation of the names of many terms and things associated with the franchise is necessary in articles, especially when there is currently no English name for the subject. All translations should be italicized if accompanied by the text in the original language.

The names of towns, cities, and characters should generally not be translated.
- グレンじま, known in English as Cinnabar Island, is translated as Guren Island, not Guren-jima or Crimson Island.
In the titles of songs in other languages, the English names of Pokémon species should be used. English names of characters and nicknames of Pokémon are not translated in titles, but the character or Pokémon's English name, if it has one, should be presented as hover text.
- ニャースのうた is translated as Meowth's Song not Nyarth's Song.
- タケシのパラダイス is translated as Takeshi's Paradise not Brock's Paradise.
In the titles of anime episodes and manga rounds, the names of characters, Pokémon, and nicknames of Pokémon are romanized, not translated. The character or Pokémon's English name, if it has one, should be presented as hover text.
An official translation is preferred over a fan translation; in cases where the literal and official names differ significantly, both names should be mentioned in the article.
- 幻(まぼろし)のポケモンルギア爆誕(ばくたん) Mirage Pokémon: Lugia's Explosive Birth, officially known as Revelation-Lugia for M02.

Romanizations

When a romanization is necessary, Bulbapedia prefers to utilize the official or trademarked romanization. A table of official romanizations for Pokémon names in Japanese can be found on the List of Japanese Pokémon names, derived from various official sources as well as the Japanese trademark database. Other characters and aspects of the franchise may also be romanized in official media. All romanizations should be italicized if accompanied by the text in the original language. For example, while Umbreon's Japanese name of ブラッキー would be literally romanized as Burakkī, the name copyrighted by Game Freak and Nintendo is in fact Blacky: note how Burakkī is a close approximation of this in katakana.

Foreign loanwords should be written as in their language of origin, romanized from that language into the Latin alphabet if necessary, with the exception of Pokémon names with unknown official romanizations and song lyrics. In some romanizations, such as for song lyrics, the intended reading of numbers and other symbols should be provided regardless of whether furigana are used officially. For example, possible readings of the number 2 or 二 include に ni, ふた futa, or ツー tsū depending on the context.

For Japanese text that has no official romanization, the method of romanization used on Bulbapedia is the Hepburn standard, itself used widely both in Japan and internationally to transliterate Japanese text. Long vowels are indicated by using the macron-topped letters Ā Ē Ī Ō Ū ā ē ī ō ū, and should be used rather than a doubling of the letter, a tilde, a circumflex, or an unmarked vowel. Please note that if the official romanization uses one of these that it is not wrong (e.g., オオタチ Ootachi, Furret, is officially written with the doubled O). For romanizations appearing in page titles, such as character and Pokémon names, omit macrons and apostrophes and create redirects from any alternative romanizations.

For Hepburn romanization:

I-macron (Ī ī) and e-macron (Ē ē) is to be used when romanizing Japanese words of foreign origin, hence kōhī for コーヒー but Iizuka for いいづか. A hint to look out for is whether or not a chōonpu (ー) is used to lengthen it.
O-macron (Ō ō) is to be used for both おう (as in 行こう ikō or しんいちろう Shin'ichirō) and おお (as in 遠い tōi or おおづか Ōzuka)
- Please take note that verbs such as 思う omou and 呪う norou do not have long vowels. However, subjunctive forms such as 思おう omoō and 呪おう noroō do have long vowels.
E-macron (Ē ē) is rarely used, except with the interjection ええ and some foreign loanwords.
zu is to be used for both ず and づ; ji is to be used for both じ and ぢ.
tchi is to be used for っち.
wa, e, and o are to be used for は, へ, and を when used as particles.
With ん n, it can be romanized as m when followed by one of the labial consonants p, b, f, or m. Follow popular or established convention on a word-by-word basis, such as Namba for ナンバ but Hanba for はんば.
To simplify matters, always romanize ポケモン as Pokémon; when ポケ is an abbreviated form of Pokémon, romanize it as Poké.
An apostrophe should be used to separate syllables in case of ambiguity.

Names of people

All Japanese names from the Taishō period onward should be given in Western order. Names from the Meiji restoration may be given in Western or Eastern order—use prevailing convention on a person-by-person basis. Names prior to the Meiji restoration should be given in Eastern order.

When a person has a specific preference for the way their name is rendered, or where convention differs, use that instead. For example, use Hiromoto SIN-Ichi, Ikue Ohtani, and Rica Matsumoto, instead of Shin'ichi Hiromoto, Ikue Ōtani, and Rika Matsumoto.

Other languages

Chinese

Since Generation VII, the games have been translated into both Traditional and Simplified Chinese, while the anime continues to be dubbed separately in Taiwan into Mandarin and in Hong Kong into Cantonese. Because of this, there is often not only one Chinese name for a subject. Note that Traditional Chinese is generally used in Hong Kong and Taiwan while Simplified Chinese is generally used in mainland China.

In articles, Chinese text should be formatted as the traditional form, a slash, the simplified form, a space, the Taiwanese pronunciation in Hanyu Pinyin (in italics), a slash, the mainland Chinese pronunciation in Hanyu Pinyin (in italics), a slash, and Yale romanization of Cantonese (in italics). For example, the Chinese name of Electabuzz would be formatted as 電擊獸 / 电击兽 Diànjíshòu / Diànjīshòu / Dihngīksau. In cases where the Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese names are the same, or any of the romanizations are the same, the characters/romanizations can be written once. For example, Pidgey's Chinese name would be formatted as 波波 Bōbō. In the case when the Traditional Chinese translation differs from the Simplified Chinese translation, such as for the item Up-Grade, they should be rendered separated by a line break with hover text indicating the form of written Chinese being used.

As with Japanese, 寶可夢 / 宝可梦 should be romanized as Pokémon and 寶可 / 宝可 should be romanized as Poké when used as an abbreviated form of Pokémon.

Chinese names should be romanized in Eastern order. If a person has a preferred romanization of their name or an English name, this should be used instead of a romanized name.

Mandarin should be romanized using Hanyu Pinyin, the official romanization system of both mainland China and Taiwan.

Words, not individual syllables, should be separated by spaces.
Tones must be indicated using tone marks in articles, rather than tone numbers or omitted.
Apostrophes should be used to separate syllables starting with a vowel from the previous syllable within a word.

Cantonese should be romanized using Yale romanization.

Tones must be indicated using tone marks in articles, rather than tone numbers or omitted.
Apostrophes should be used to separate syllables in case of ambiguity.

Korean

Korean text should be romanized using Revised Romanization, the official romanization system of South Korea created by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

As in Japanese, 포켓몬스터 should be romanized as Pocket Monsters, 포켓몬 as Pokémon, and 포켓 as Poké when used as an abbreviated form of Pokémon.
Hyphens should be used to separate syllables in case of ambiguity. Spaces may be used to separate distinct words (such as in Pocket Monsters above) even if there is not a space in the original text.
Foreign loanwords should be rendered as in the original language, transliterated into English if necessary, with the exception of song lyrics. For example, 포켓몬 콘테스트 is romanized as Pokémon Contest rather than Pokenmon Konteseuteu.

Pokémon names should be romanized using the official romanizations as listed on the List of Korean Pokémon names.

Korean names should be romanized in Eastern order. If a person has a preferred romanization of their name or an English name, this should be used instead of a romanized name.

Hanja may be placed in parentheses following the corresponding hangul. For example, the Korean name of Pallet Town comes from the Korean word 태초 (太初) taecho, meaning beginning.

Thai

Thai text should be romanized using the Royal Thai General System of Transcription, the official romanization system of Thailand created by the Royal Society of Thailand.

As in Japanese, โปเกมอน should be romanized as Pokémon, and โปเก should be romanized as Poké when used as an abbreviated form of Pokémon.

Russian

Russian text should be romanized using the BGN/PCGN romanization system.

As in Japanese, Покемон should be romanized as Pokémon, and Поке should be romanized as Poké when used as an abbreviated form of Pokémon.
Ё / ё should be romanized as yo rather than yë, and as o rather than ë.
Ъ / ъ should be omitted.
Ь / ь should be romanized as an apostrophe.

Hawaiian

Note that text in the Hawaiian language must include the ʻokina and any macrons present in Hawaiian, as they may change the meaning of Hawaiian text. The ʻokina should be written using the Unicode character U+02BB ʻ MODIFIER LETTER TURNED COMMA, and should not be replaced with an apostrophe or a quotation mark.

Tagging

Text in Chinese, Japanese, or Korean should be marked using the lang HTML property or the templates {{j}} for Japanese or {{k}} for Korean. This allows web browsers to select the correct font to display the correct form of CJK characters.

Japanese (lang="ja"): 令
Korean (lang="ko"): 令
Traditional Chinese (lang="zh-Hant"): 令
Simplified Chinese (lang="zh-Hans"): 令