LadyNightArrow Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 (edited) This is something that I have always wondered. How is it that everyone seems to understand, not necessarily speak, but understand every other person's language? This includes the languages of species that speak ancient tongues, like Khem Val does. I don't know too much about Star Wars lore, so I don't know if this has ever been explained in any of the comics or books. Do the inhabitants of the Star Wars universe have a part of their brain that is more developed and thus they are able to understand languages better? Or does the Force bless everyone with the gift of tongues when they are born? This is an honest to goodness question born of unfettered curiosity. Post your thoughts/theories here. Edited February 6, 2012 by LadyNightArrow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Cuu Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Well, the languages that pop up most often are Basic, Huttese and Durese. Everybody who can form the sounds can speak Basic (and those who can't can at least understand it) as it's the language of the two largest 'civilisations' in the TOR universe- the Republic and the Empire. The Duros are supposed to be among the most widely-spread and widely-traveled races in the galaxy, and also among the most common traders as well as being one of the first species to invent space travel, so their language would be pretty widely spread and well-known. Also, Durese was the ancestor of Basic in a way, so some degree of mutual understanding is to be expected, like you could happily get by reading Chaucer. The Hutts have tremendous influence in the commercial world, so it's only expected that their language would spread far and wide. As far as Khem Val's language goes, I think an educated Sith would have to have some experience in ancient languages that related to gaining more power. They'd go for any advantage they could get, really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Cuu Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 (edited) During the Hundred Years' War, it was common for educated English and French to speak both languages as well as Latin, as all three were very important in their own ways- it's no stretch of the imagination that most educated humans and aliens in the TOR universe could at least get by in the three most common languages around them. It's a better idea than universal translators, anyway..... Edited February 6, 2012 by Mr_Cuu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DigiFluid Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 There are a great many people even on this world who speak more than one language. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zhkkt Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Marvelous, I have no Idea what you just said my indelicate friend, but simply marvelous! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyNightArrow Posted February 6, 2012 Author Share Posted February 6, 2012 Your explanations make sense and I can see people understanding/speaking some of the basic, mainstream languages. To an extent, I can even buy into people understanding all of the beeps and blips of the astromech droids. But, what gets me is that everyone (player characters) seems to understand Wookie, Urdnot (sp?), and some of the other not so mainstream languages. I can see how understanding every language a character runs into fits into game mechanics. But, I don't think I'd be able to buy into this aspect of a character when speaking about story and lore. As I said before, I haven't read the comics or books. I am going to add the books onto my summer reading list. I just hope I don't run into the character understanding every language under the stars, unless he or she is a linguist. To me that's just not believable for a character. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SinjinMMZ Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Babel fish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tullianus Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Remember that in this era implants are commonplace, so some sort of translator implant isn't too much of a stretch of the imagination Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kainsec Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Force users can understand the general meaning of almost any language through the force. Revan once used a more extreme version of this power when he ripped the Rakata's language straight out of a Rakata's head so he could understand them fully. For others I would imagine the computers in ear pieces and implants have some sort of basic language software or that the more common languages they would encounter would be learned as part of a basic education. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natherillen Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 There is a translation device mentioned during the late movies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bravedave Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Subtittlllessss!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibmachine Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Tbh, what baffles me even more than humans understanding Hutt language and so on, is that everyone, regardless of race, understand a droid that goes "bzzz bzzz bzzzt bzzz" and can translate it without even looking at their datapad or something. Now those are some linguistic skills right there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jellison Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Well, the languages that pop up most often are Basic, Huttese and Durese. Everybody who can form the sounds can speak Basic (and those who can't can at least understand it) as it's the language of the two largest 'civilisations' in the TOR universe- the Republic and the Empire. The Duros are supposed to be among the most widely-spread and widely-traveled races in the galaxy, and also among the most common traders as well as being one of the first species to invent space travel, so their language would be pretty widely spread and well-known. Also, Durese was the ancestor of Basic in a way, so some degree of mutual understanding is to be expected, like you could happily get by reading Chaucer. The Hutts have tremendous influence in the commercial world, so it's only expected that their language would spread far and wide. As far as Khem Val's language goes, I think an educated Sith would have to have some experience in ancient languages that related to gaining more power. They'd go for any advantage they could get, really. Ha-ha, yet you cant play as duros. Wtg bioware xD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sjwhite Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 (edited) I always thought everone had an uunderstanding implant... super simple with that tech and easy to believe. Edited February 6, 2012 by Sjwhite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLazarillo Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 I just sort of assumed that most folks were educated multilingually but with the wide number of species across the galaxy, not all species had the proper vocal boxes to actually speak the languages in question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZacharyHill Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Generally with the astromech droids it is like someone posted earlier that some people can understand basically what they want through the force. In the original trilogy Luke seemed to have a basic understanding of R2-D2's beep's. But mostly it could be that the character's have been around droids so much that they can just make an educated guess what they want. And if I remember correctly in the books that I read there are sometimes when the characters don't understand what is being said and need someone to translate. But yeah alot of it could be attributed to the Force and habit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLazarillo Posted February 6, 2012 Share Posted February 6, 2012 Generally with the astromech droids it is like someone posted earlier that some people can understand basically what they want through the force. In the original trilogy Luke seemed to have a basic understanding of R2-D2's beep's. But mostly it could be that the character's have been around droids so much that they can just make an educated guess what they want. And if I remember correctly in the books that I read there are sometimes when the characters don't understand what is being said and need someone to translate. But yeah alot of it could be attributed to the Force and habit. Actually, with R2, IIRC, Luke can't understand him. As mentioned, he can guess from the tone of the sounds and R2's behavior, but it's rather like humans communicating with dogs. The only times I can remember that they hold actual conversations without C3P0 interpreting are when Luke's in the X-Wing and his little readout displays what R2 is "saying". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZacharyHill Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Yeah that's pretty much what I meant lol. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elivapor Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 I always thought everone had an uunderstanding implant... super simple with that tech and easy to believe. This. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordSokhaan Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 there is no explanation, Star Wars universe is full of such weird examples. C-3PO is the one who did most of the translation in the movies - from R2-D2 to Jabba. We can only assume that ppl speak multiple languages, but considering how many species Star Wars has, it is a bit streched language system is not so deneloped in SW as it is in some other Sci-Fi or Fantasy franchises Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talimar Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 I have no idea what you're talking about. I can't understand a word they're saying. I was so happy when I learnt about all the voice acting, then so incredibly disappointed to learn more than half of it went on gibberish. I didn't come here to read subtitles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomanson Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 TTM Tardis Translation Matrix obviously. XD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CyianAyde Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 TTM Tardis Translation Matrix obviously. XD How did this tread NOT degenerate into a Time Lord vs. Jedi "discussion"? I are disappoint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pipehacker Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I have no idea what you're talking about. I can't understand a word they're saying. I was so happy when I learnt about all the voice acting, then so incredibly disappointed to learn more than half of it went on gibberish. I didn't come here to read subtitles. and I was so happy that they kept that from Kotor. Feels more real, than everybody speaking... english! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mechavomit Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 and I was so happy that they kept that from Kotor. Feels more real, than everybody speaking... english! It's BASIC! *nerdrage* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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