How Pokemon Learn Language

It is well established in the Pokemon canon that Pokemon can understand human language. Pokemon caught in the wild are able to respond to human commands immediately. This is true in the canon of the games as well as the anime. It is so taken for granted that, as far as I can tell, no in-universe explanation is given for this phenomenon. But how can Pokemon know human language to the point that they can immediately respond to the commands of a trainer without needing to be coached?

The 100% true explanation for this is that… it’s really convenient for the games. Think about it - without this ability, Pokemon training would be much more arduous. Pokemon would have to learn human language in addition to being trained. That would be boring to have in both the games and the anime, so we simply assert that Pokemon understand human language.

But I would like to explore this question a little further, from within the world of Pokemon. Let’s pretend that this isn’t a media property made up to make a fun game, but a peek into a real world that exists. What would this tell us about Pokemon?

The Folk Explanation

The folk explanation for Pokemon’s ability to understand human language is that they respond to body language and tone of voice. This explanation is pretty close to how animals trained by humans can respond to human commands. However, this explanation has serious faults.

Let’s start with the most basic one - animals such as dogs need to be trained to understand words. It takes time and conditioning for a dog to respond to words. Pokemon who live in the wild can immediately respond to humans, and there is no indication in any of the games that training is required to teach Pokemon human language. In Pokemon Legends: Arceus, where it is explicitly shown that Pokemon are hostile to humans and training does not yet exist, Pokemon are still able to respond to commands immediately after being caught!

Dogs are also limited in what they can discern - they do not appear to have the same ability to make fine phonetic distinctions that humans can. Parrots do fare better in this. But this already shows that there is difference in ability between species. However, all Pokemon appear equally able to understand human speech. Some marginal material suggests some Pokemon are more intelligent than others (e.g. Alakazam has an IQ of 5000 - now how they devised an IQ test that can measure 326 standard deviations above the mean is a question for another time), but overall Pokemon seem remarkably consistent in their ability to understand humans.

Finally, the limitations of animal communication. Animals struggle to understand syntax. They can respond to words and simple combinations of words, but they cannot parse sentences the way a human can. Take a sentence like “Get the squirrel running behind the tree, and come back while jumping over the log.” This doesn’t seem so hard, yet a dog cannot understand it. Even a parrot would suffer. This is because the syntax is complex, involving multiple dependent clauses.

Get [the squirrel [running [behind [the tree]]]] and come back [while [jumping [over [the log]]]].

This is too much for an animal… but Pokemon parsing chews it up, no problem. In the anime, Pokemon are regularly given complex sentences like this to parse, involving sequences of commands and nested clauses. Of course, the most common thing to do is simple commands, such as the names of moves, or actions like “jump”, “duck,” and “dodge.” But the fact that Pokemon can understand these show that they are on a level far beyond that of any non-human animal. And they can do this instantly.

And this is a problem for the theory that Pokemon respond to body language and tone of voice. Body language and tone of voice can assist with things like directionality (pointing) and emotion (in body language and tone of voice). But you cannot decode dense information like the sentence shown above from just body language and tone of voice - if you could, then communication across languages would be much easier. And even if you could, this just means we’ve pushed the question further back - how can Pokemon understand the complex symbolic structure of human body and tone?!

Possible Explanations

Let’s look at the facts.

Pokemon are able to respond to human language astonishingly quickly. Evidence across a wide variety of canons shows that even Pokemon with minimal exposure to human language can understand move names.

(Inconsistent) Psychic Pokemon appear to be able to communicate directly with humans in human language using telepathy. Once again, this is possible even with minimal or no exposure to human language.

(Anime only?) Some settings suggests that Pokemon can learn to speak human language. Meowth in the anime is the most famous example. This suggests that the only reason Pokemon cannot speak in human language is because of limitations on the production side.

This matters because human language acquisition requires production!!! It is not sufficient for babies to be shown a language for them to acquire that language. Babies must see the language used in context, and then practice using it themselves. This is why you can show a child a TV show in Spanish all day long, but they will not walk away with any further knowledge of Spanish.

Pokemon also outstrip babies in the language learning game. Babies do not know any language, and so must construct a theory of language from scratch. A human baby would take 6-7 years to parse the sentence I showed you above. Pokemon do so instantly.

Pokemon also outstrip Large Language Models (LLMs). LLMs show emergent understanding of grammar based on consuming huge quantities of text. Pokemon need far fewer examples (apparently none) of human language to respond to commands.

My working theory is as follows: Pokemon are not starting from scratch. In other words, Pokemon are not acquiring Language. Even within the world of Pokemon, it is simply ridiculous to postulate that they can immediately derive entire concepts of syntax (as well as flawlessly respond to novel words) based on very small samples of speech. You would have to suggest Pokemon are somehow preloaded with every human language, which raises more questions than it answers.

So Pokemon are not like babies or LLMs. Pokemon are more like adults who have already learned a new language - they are taking advantage of the fact that they already have linguistic representations in their brains. Think about it - a human baby takes 7 years to parse that first sentence, but an adult trying to learn a new language can learn to produce it in a year of studying, depending on how different the language is from their native tongue.

The exact structure of this linguistic representation would require further research. Current canon suggests that a universal language is spoken across all Pokemon regions, as trainers and researchers from one region are able to effortlessly communicate with others. There is some evidence that different languages exist - Looker seems to struggle to speak the universal language - but it is unclear when and where they are used, or if they are used to command Pokemon. This matters because if there is only one universal language used for Pokemon battles, then it suggests Pokemon are uniquely attuned to one particular linguistic structure, not every possible human one. But if any language can be used to command Pokemon, then it means Pokemon are able to parse just about any human language with minimal input, a most remarkable result.

Pokemon are able to communicate with each other fairly well, and some media show that Pokemon are able to have rather complex conversations across species. In Pikachu’s Vacation (1998), Ash’s Pokemon have a heated discussion with another group of Pokemon using nothing but their own names. Pokemon’s ability to coordinate with each other and in the field of battle shows that they seem to have complex symbolic representations of reality that can be used socially. In short, Pokemon appear to display human-like qualities despite the surface forms (the actual words they say) being extremely limited. A shared linguistic ability among all Pokemon may well be an evolutionary inheritance from a long-lost common ancestor.

How can Pokemon even begin to transmit complex information if all they say is their name? This question has boggled researchers for decades and I won’t pretend to be the one to solve it. I will offer a hypothesis - Pokemon are extraordinarily gifted at parsing syntax from intonation. Syntax is not just encoded in the linear sequence of words, but is also transmitted through intonation. It is not as precise as being able to hear the words, but it is certainly a boon, and one listening to a sentence where the words are muffled but the intonation is clear can construct some sort of sense of the syntax of that sentence.

Pokemon may thus already be equipped with exceptionally powerful abilities to parse syntax from intonation, especially if Pokemon can communicate with other Pokemon. It may even be the case that Pokemon “speech” can be influenced by human speech, so that a Pokemon who has never met a human may still have some familiarity with the human intonation pattern if they encounter another Pokemon who has spoken to a human extensively. In short, Pokemon could acquire ‘accents’ from humans that would make it easier for Pokemon who have never seen a human to acquire human speech.

The most difficult question to solve remains the semantic one. It is one thing to have syntax, but linguistic constructions must be loaded with words for that syntax to mean anything. How can Pokemon learn words? This is a legitimate pickle, as Pokemon cannot produce human words themselves, so they can’t learn from other Pokemon. Short of magic, there is simply no reasonable way for Pokemon to be able to understand words as easily as they do, to say nothing of their ability to apparently acquire phonological and phonetic differences quickly.

As such, I must turn to special pleading: the media are abstracting away a certain part of the socialization process for Pokemon. In other words, we are seeing only a simplified version of the Pokemon world through the anime and games, but in the “real” Pokemon world, Pokemon would need some time to be able to understand humans. Pokemon may be especially primed towards language learning and acquisition, allowing them to be able to have translations between their Pokemon language and the human language quickly. There may still need to be some demonstrations. And it would also help to have other Pokemon teach you.

Could this be the reason that new trainers are often gifted particular Pokemon - these Pokemon are already prepared for speech? This could explain how Pokemon that are added to the team can come to understand human language quite quickly - other Pokemon can help them learn concepts like moves in Pokemon language. The possibility that Pokemon on teams help each other is exciting and deserves further research.

Conclusion

This essay shows that Pokemon first and second language acquisition is a fertile field. Do Pokemon possess a Universal Grammar, or is the shape of their syntax constrained by cognitive limits? Can Pokemon-human communication be improved by studying Pokemon language more directly? How can Pokemon acquire new words so easily without requiring any production? Could the Pokemon ability to understand human language incredibly quickly be helpful in intra-cultural translation situations? And finally, could machine learning help us talk to Pokemon in their language?

…Alright, perhaps I’ve taken this bit too far. But all the linguistic concepts I’ve named are real! I hope I’ve inspired you to think: given certain facts are true, what other conditions would have to be true to explain all these facts? This is the heart of research, but it is also incredibly fun when applied to silly scenarios like this. Thanks for reading, and I’d love to hear your takes on Pokemon language!