Why the plan to rename Pikachu has made Hong Kong angry

[yuiyoshida]

Japanese game-maker Nintendo is about to release two new games in its hugely popular Pokemon series.
But a decision to use only Mandarin Chinese names for the characters has proved controversial in Hong Kong.
The BBC looks at why fans and linguists are so riled.
1. What's in a name - Beikaciu or Pikaqiu?

Pokemon characters' names used to be translated differently in different parts of the Chinese-speaking world, to reflect local pronunciation. Hence, the hugely beloved Pikachu was known for decades as Bei-Ka-Ciu in Hong Kong, and Pi-Ka-Qiu in mainland China.

But Nintendo announced earlier this year that it would be unifying the names of more than 100 Pokemon characters, and has renamed many of them according to the Mandarin translations.
Both Cantonese and Mandarin speakers read Chinese, although people in Hong Kong use the traditional Chinese script while people on mainland China use simplified Chinese.

However, the same words can be pronounced differently in each language.

For example, Pikachu's new official Chinese name, 皮卡丘, is pronounced Pi-Ka-Qiu in Mandarin. But in Cantonese, the characters would be pronounced Bei-Ka-Jau - which Hong Kong critics argue sound nothing like Pikachu's original name.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-36414978