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In Guardians of the Galaxy, a human from Earth is taken to this other galaxy filled with many space-faring races. He was picked up when he was old enough to speak, and in the film we don't see any communication issues (besides idioms and metaphors). The various races and states seem to not have issues communicating between each other either.

Is everyone speaking English, or are they speaking some standardized language, or is there some translation mechanism in place to enable universal communication?

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  • Also, when he tried to play his Awesome Mix for Gamora
    – Izkata
    Aug 23, 2014 at 22:31
  • 73
    ??? I have just seen the film and they speak in Spanish :-p
    – SJuan76
    Aug 23, 2014 at 22:35
  • 10
    Nothing goes over SQB's head, s/he is too fast.
    – RoboKaren
    Aug 25, 2014 at 3:34
  • @RoboKaren Well waddya know, I missed the :-p
    – SQB
    Aug 25, 2014 at 12:45

3 Answers 3

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No.

As suggested by Thaddeus, and confirmed by the director James Gunn, there’s a universal translator that bridges the language barrier:

How does everyone speak English?

They don’t. In the mug shot sequence, you'll see that Quill has a translator in his neck.

— James Gunn on Facebook (4 August 2014)

I didn’t spot it, but apparently it’s there. I thought he meant us to see the actual implant, but instead, it’s listed in his rap sheet:

enter image description here

Note the final line, “enhancements: translator implant in neck”.

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  • 2
    Are you sure that's his translator and not his folded-away helmet?
    – Mr Lister
    Aug 24, 2014 at 8:05
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    @MrLister: are you asking alexwlchan whether he's willing to consider the director a reliable source, or are you asking the director whether he's sure things in his movie are what he says they are? ;-)
    – Steve Jessop
    Aug 24, 2014 at 15:26
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    @KutuluMike Not everything in one language translates cleanly into another even just for Terran languages; you can lose nuance/subtlety (or be forced to add nuance/subtlety that wasn't there originally), and trying to explain that nuance/subtlety could add too much verbosity to the translation. It's possible the translator just gives up rather than trying to explain metaphors to Drax.
    – JAB
    Mar 1, 2017 at 22:30
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    Next question: If everyone has a universal translator, then why can't anybody apart from Rocket understand Groot?
    – Möoz
    May 2, 2017 at 1:20
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    Easy: because Groot doesn't have a translator. ;) It could well be that the translators work in tandem so both parties have to have them.
    – The Real Bill
    May 8, 2017 at 20:32
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In the Marvel Comics, commerce between the species is supported by universal translator common to the more advanced races. I suspect the MCU is utilizing the same technology without mentioning it.

In the comics, Starlord is fitted with a universal translator implant so he is able to speak with and understand known alien languages.

Video Clip from Guardians of the Galaxy, shows the notation for the translator chip in the lower left corner of the screen display.

enter image description here

Translator Implant: Star-Lord (Peter Quill) has a translator implant on his neck allowing him to understand various alien languages.

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  • 3
    This still is from the trailer rather than the film, right?
    – Samuel Edwin Ward
    Aug 24, 2014 at 4:04
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    I saw it in the film. I hadn't known it was in the trailer until I went to look for it.
    – Thaddeus Howze
    Aug 24, 2014 at 4:17
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    @SamuelEdwinWard The "Obscene Gesture Imminent" censoring wasn't there when I saw it in theatres; we just saw his finger. It didn't make much sense that way.
    – Izkata
    Aug 25, 2014 at 11:38
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No, they are not all speaking English. According to James Gunn, the writer and director of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, all of the Guardians (except for Groot) have implanted translators. It can be presumed that most of the other GotG characters, like the Ravagers, have these implanted translators too.

These translators are not universal, however, and may fail to translate some languages. For example, in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Nebula, Drax, and Mantis encounter a group of children who have been imprisoned by the High Evolutionary for his experiments. Mantis says upon hearing them speak, “That language isn’t in my translator.” This implies that the translators have a limited database of languages that they can recognize and translate. Nebula and Mantis didn’t understand the children, despite them both having an implanted translator. Only Drax knew their language without needing a translator.

Relevant James Gunn tweets (2023-03-26):

Question: James, is it true that all the guardians talk in the language of their planets but manage to understand each other thanks to translators present in their necks?
James Gunn: Yes.

James Gunn: Translators work both ways. All of the Guardians other than Groot have implanted translators. They understand and can be understood by others.

Relevant James Gunn tweet

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