Post by Cinnamon on Mar 14, 2021 20:58:11 GMT
Okay so I had this weird theory. There are a lot of alphabets around the world. So what if every system had it's own cards. I think that if a widely used script didn't have official Pokemon cards in said script available, then there might be a (higher) chance that bootleg versions exist.
Wizards of the Coast
The first set of Wizards of Coast was released in ten languages. Those being:
This means that there are a lot of writing systems which aren't used in the first series of Pokemon cards. Also worth mentioning is that some languages only received one (or a couple) series. Both the Korean and the Chinese translations only received the Base 1 series in the early years.
Writing systems
This list is heavily inspired by this Wikipedia article, so if you want more in depth information go check it out. Some of the information is copied from there, to gave a basic explanation. Also tried to gave examples of languages within a writing system, as well as examples of bootleg series we know exist.
Alphabetic
An alphabet is a standardized set of basic written symbols or graphemes (called letters) that represent the phonemes of certain spoken languages.
Latin
Latin script, also known as Roman script, is a set of graphic signs (script) based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet. Latin script is the basis for the largest number of alphabets of any writing system and is the most widely adopted writing system in the world (commonly used by about 70 percent of the world's population).
Example Languages: English, Dutch, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Example Bootleg Series: Amada Series, Beckett Series, English Translation of Magic Baby
Note: That the Amada and Beckett series both use the Latin script makes sense since they're based on the English translation of Wizards of The Coast. The Magic Translation is in Broken English.
Cyrillic
The Cyrillic script is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia and is used as the national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, North Asia and East Asia.
According to Bulbapedia Base 1 of the original TCG were evidently released in English, as the government wanted the cards to be translated into Russian as part of the censorship. XY was translated into Russian, with Steam Siege receiving the final translation of the TCG in Russia.
The Russian, as well as Serbian, Bulgarian and Ukrainian, translation of the word Pokémon is Покемон
Example Languages: Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Kazakh, Uzbek
Example Bootleg Series: Russian III, Russian IV (?)
Not all 'Russian' cards use the Cyrillic script. The Russian II set for example is in English, but originates somewhere in or around Russia. Since the insight in some of the sets is not that big yet, most sets are number and not all sets have a name yet. All the information of the Russian/Turkish cards are found here.
Greek
Armenian
Georgian
Hangul
Logographic / Syllabic
Hanzi
Kana / Kanji
Abjad
Arabic
Hebrew
Abugida
North Indic
South Indic
Ethiopic
Thaana
Canadian Syllabic
ALSO PROBABLY NOT FINISHED THIS TODAY,
SO I'LL UPDATE IT IN THE FUTURE
Wizards of the Coast
The first set of Wizards of Coast was released in ten languages. Those being:
- English, German, Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese (Latin)
- Japanese (Kana/Kanji)
- Korean (Hangul)
- Chinese (Hanzi)
This means that there are a lot of writing systems which aren't used in the first series of Pokemon cards. Also worth mentioning is that some languages only received one (or a couple) series. Both the Korean and the Chinese translations only received the Base 1 series in the early years.
Writing systems
This list is heavily inspired by this Wikipedia article, so if you want more in depth information go check it out. Some of the information is copied from there, to gave a basic explanation. Also tried to gave examples of languages within a writing system, as well as examples of bootleg series we know exist.
Alphabetic
An alphabet is a standardized set of basic written symbols or graphemes (called letters) that represent the phonemes of certain spoken languages.
Latin
Latin script, also known as Roman script, is a set of graphic signs (script) based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet. Latin script is the basis for the largest number of alphabets of any writing system and is the most widely adopted writing system in the world (commonly used by about 70 percent of the world's population).
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ISO basic Latin alphabet
Example Languages: English, Dutch, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Example Bootleg Series: Amada Series, Beckett Series, English Translation of Magic Baby
Note: That the Amada and Beckett series both use the Latin script makes sense since they're based on the English translation of Wizards of The Coast. The Magic Translation is in Broken English.
Cyrillic
The Cyrillic script is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia and is used as the national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, North Asia and East Asia.
А Б В Г Д Е Ё Ж З И Й К Л М Н О П Р С Т У Ф Х Ц Ч Ш Щ Ъ Ы Ь Э Ю Я
Russian alphabet
According to Bulbapedia Base 1 of the original TCG were evidently released in English, as the government wanted the cards to be translated into Russian as part of the censorship. XY was translated into Russian, with Steam Siege receiving the final translation of the TCG in Russia.
The Russian, as well as Serbian, Bulgarian and Ukrainian, translation of the word Pokémon is Покемон
Example Languages: Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Kazakh, Uzbek
Example Bootleg Series: Russian III, Russian IV (?)
Not all 'Russian' cards use the Cyrillic script. The Russian II set for example is in English, but originates somewhere in or around Russia. Since the insight in some of the sets is not that big yet, most sets are number and not all sets have a name yet. All the information of the Russian/Turkish cards are found here.
Greek
Armenian
Georgian
Hangul
Logographic / Syllabic
Hanzi
Kana / Kanji
Abjad
Arabic
Hebrew
Abugida
North Indic
South Indic
Ethiopic
Thaana
Canadian Syllabic
ALSO PROBABLY NOT FINISHED THIS TODAY,
SO I'LL UPDATE IT IN THE FUTURE