Today is a brief comparison post of a small bit of dialogue in Pokémon Sun/Moon that a reader was curious about.

There’s a bit of silly dialogue from the café (within the Pokémon centers). They wanted to know if the Japanese is the same, so I went to the spot in the Japanese version to check, and wrote the results below!

There are little to no spoilers below, simply the dialogue from the cafe.

The only context needed is that the trainer is at a cafe and asking for Moo Moo Milk. The man offers it and says the following in the official English version:

Just one sip and you’ll be hooked.
The milk is so mellow, yet rich, that it’ll
make you wish your mother were a Miltank.

Sometimes he says different dialogue, but the reader was curious about this one the most.

Here it is in Japanese:

一度　飲んだが　最後・・・
ミルタンクの　あかちゃんに
なりたくなっちゃう　くらい
まろやかで　濃厚なんだよ

And a literal translation:

After just one sip…
The mellow, yet rich milk
Will leave you feeling the urge
to want to be a Miltank’s child.

As you can see, the meaning is actually the same. The only subtle difference is one in English may assume you are talking about your in-game mother (just named “Mom”) which is why I was asked to look into it. That would produce a funny image indeed!

The Japanese though says you wish you were a Miltank’s child, which does mean you would want your mother to be a Miltank, but not your mother the “character” to be one.

It shows how the most subtle of things in translation can go a long way! But in terms of overall wording and meaning, the localization was spot on.

A possible literal translation with better flow:

With just one sip, the mellow, yet rich, milk
will make you wish you were a baby Miltank

By flow I mean to get the idea across without sounding stilted and awkward as purely literal translations.

Lastly, here is an info-graphic that summarizes the post:

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That’s that! If there are any other small (or large) things you want me to look into for the games, then please feel free to contact me or post there. Please be spoiler conscious as many people are still starting the game or earlier on in it (including myself). If you can, provide the original Japanese image/context with it –it will save me a lot of trouble!

And, if you’re feeling generous, then please consider donating! Any and all donations really help me out. : )