6 Pokemon You Forgot Could Talk

Pokemon are known to speak their name only (or maybe that's just in the anime, not the games–I'm not clear on that). Team Rocket’s Meowth is unique among Pokemon in his ability to speak with humans. If you recall from "Go West Young Meowth" it was not an easy task. Conversely, there are a number of other Pokemon who have spoken human speech with little or no problem. Most of them were mythical or legendary Pokemon, but it’s still no small thing. I won’t count Pokémon who communicate telepathically, like Mewtwo or Lugia, or Pokemon pretending to be human (like Zorua/Zoroark). Obviously, Meowth would fit here, so I’m going to skip right past him, but here are some Pokemon that have been known to speak our language over the years.

Gastly (“The Ghost of Maiden's Peak”)

Maybe this Gastly was using some ghostly power to communicate through a mix of speech and telepathy, but by all accounts this Gastly was able to speak to Ash, Misty, Brock, and Team Rocket. Though, since this Gastly also made illusions to outwit the trainers, it’s entirely possible that his human speech was an illusion too.

Slowking (“The Power of One”)

Various Pokedex entries in the games describe Slowking as a Pokemon with “incredible intellect and intuition” so perhaps it’s because of his intellect that the Slowking on Shamouti Island had learned to communicate with humans. That being said, the island seemed pretty desolate, which leaves me with one question: Who did he learn to speak from?

Murkrow (Gold/Silver/Crystal and HeartGold/SoulSilver)

It’s a small one but when taking down the Team Rocket HQ in Mahogany Town, the player encounters a Murkrow that blurts out the password to the generator room. Could just be parroting human speech like Chatot (before Chatot existed), but it still technically counts.

Manaphy (“Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea”)

To be fair, Manaphy’s speech was very limited. But as this mythical Pokemon bonded with May, it was able to learn a handful of words, enough to say “happy” and “love you”. But that Manaphy was freshly hatched from an egg, so I imagine as it matured it would probably gain a much bigger vocabulary. 

Hoopa (“Hoopa and the Clash of Ages”)

Like Manaphy, Hoopa didn’t seem to have a full grasp of language and speaking. Instead, Hoopa was heard to say repetitive phrases and words, both in Confined Form and in Unbound Form. All the same, Hoopa was able to communicate well enough with Ash and his friends, even when consumed by anger.

Rotom ("Pokemon The Series: Sun & Moon")

I debated on whether to include Rotom in this list, but technically we had a Rotom talking throughout the anime in Alola. To be fair, that was because of Rotom's ability to bond with technology. Ash's Rotom Dex frequently spoke to him and his friends. Rotom on its own... probably not so much. I'd say it was more because of the Pokedex's audio features and Rotom's use of it, but all the same it kind of fits in this list.

I’m sure I missed a few talking Pokemon, but these are the ones I’ve watched at least. From Bulbapedia, it seems Arceus spoke as well in “Arceus and the Jewel of Life”–as the creator of all Pokemon I’m not surprised–but I’ve yet to watch that movie… kind of got stuck part-way through the Sinnoh anime. But who else have I missed? Maybe when I’ve finally watched the Arceus movie I’ll write about that too. For now, I’m going to continue working my way through the Alola anime on Hulu.