190
votes
Accepted
What language(s) were Yoda's speech patterns based on?
In an article addressed, this subject was.
“Surprisingly, there are a very few languages—it seems to be in single digits—that use OSV [Object Subject Verb] as their basic or normal order,” Pullum ...
- 7,562
117
votes
Accepted
Elvish tattoo - can it be translated into English?
What is seen in the image means "The world is ahead". The first part is hidden, but it is likely a variation of "Home is behind".1
In The Lord of the Rings books
The quote Home is behind, the world ...
- 10.8k
115
votes
Why does Fleur say "zey, ze" instead of "they, the" in Harry Potter?
Rowling is using alternate spelling to bring across Fleur's accent. In English-speaking popular culture, it's common to stereotype French people speaking English as replacing voiced dental fricatives (...
- 161k
92
votes
Accepted
Were the Smurfs the first to smurf their smurfs?
It is hard to say for certain, as the search terms to apply for "smurfing" aren't very clear. However: Although there's likely to be many stories for children where a character replaces a ...
- 816
84
votes
Why does Binary exist?
I'm not aware of canon answer, but an in-universe common sense answer makes perfect sense. Have you EVER tried to network modem-equipped laptop with a Ethernet-equipped server with an Apple product ...
- 340k
80
votes
Accepted
Is Picard actually fluent in French?
Picard speaks fluent French. Not only was he born and raised in France but we see him speaking French confidently with a French accent, swearing in French under his breath and singing French songs on ...
- 652k
71
votes
Did Balrogs have their own language?
They almost definitely could talk, probably Melkian.
Balrogs are corrupted Maiar. We know that other Maiar can speak (e.g. Gandalf, Sauron). If balrogs can't speak, it would mean they lost that ...
- 2,399
65
votes
Accepted
How did C3PO know the Ewok Language?
C-3PO learnt the Ewok language through observation.
A few points from Legends have to be made to come to this conclusion:
The 3PO-series protocol droids are equipped with a TranLang III ...
- 34.1k
65
votes
Did Balrogs have their own language?
We don't know
There are no instances in any of Tolkien's writings of a Balrog speaking, so it's not clear whether they could, or what language they would have spoken. They were, however, definitely ...
- 161k
65
votes
How does “Valar morghulis” translate to “all men must die”?
It likely doesn't, at least not properly. George R. R. Martin has said several times he only creates words as he needs them and is no linguist. In fact the actual language itself is only a handful of ...
- 142k
60
votes
What language(s) were Yoda's speech patterns based on?
There is some evidence to suggest that Yoda's speech is based on, well, English.
In this The Week article (I suggest reading the whole thing, the argument seems pretty convincing to me), Yoda's speech ...
- 11.8k
60
votes
Accepted
How is Yoda's speech translated to non-English languages?
There's an interesting extract from The Open University's OpenLearn website on precisely this:
This is easily replicated in other languages that also have follow the SVO order, but others have to ...
- 612
60
votes
Does this website provide consistent translation into Wookiee?
We actually know several Wookiee words and phrases, courtesy of the Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know factbook.
How to speak Shyriiwook
"WYAAAAAA!" = "Hello!"
&...
- 652k
58
votes
How did C3PO know the Ewok Language?
Based on what 3PO tells Han, it sounds like he doesn't explicitly know the Ewok language, and that he's extrapolating based on what he does know. He notes that they're using a "primitive dialect" and ...
- 134k
57
votes
Accepted
How many fictional languages did Tolkien create?
Ardalambion, a fansite dedicated to analyzing Tolkien's invented languages, has asked this very question; according to him the answer is somewhere between 2 and 20, depending on how permissive you are ...
- 161k
53
votes
Accepted
Are the similarities between Tolkien's Dwarves and Jews intentional?
I believe that the truth lies somewhere in the middle: While Tolkien stated his dislike for allegory many times (as Cearon O'Flynn stated), it is a known fact that he did borrow much from European ...
- 784
49
votes
Accepted
Why would the binary language of moisture vaporators be that different from the binary language of other machines or droids?
The binary language of vaporators is different from Binary, the language of droids
Binary is specific a language , sometimes called droidspeak,
Astromech droids such as R2-D2 communicate through ...
- 6,197
48
votes
Accepted
What kind of English does Hagrid speak?
From a Blue Peter BBC interview with JK Rowling in 2001:
BPP2: Good question, good question. I've got another good question
here ... what accent is Hagrid supposed to speak in?
JKR: West ...
- 10.1k
48
votes
Did Balrogs have their own language?
No: they don't talk at all.
From Tolkien's Letters, Letter #210:
The Balrog never speaks or makes any vocal sound at all. Above all he does not laugh or sneer. ... Z[immerman] may think that he ...
- 133k
48
votes
Were the Smurfs the first to smurf their smurfs?
Like the Smurfs I am Belgian, French-speaking native and also a comic fan since my childhood. I grew reading the smurfs, in their original version. I emphasis on this because it has an importance in ...
- 589
45
votes
Accepted
Did Tolkien think about language evolution when the speakers are immortal?
Tolkien wrote an essay on this subject in 1960, called "Dangweth Pengolod." The essay is rather long, so I'm not going to quote the whole thing, but the highlight for me is this passage:
[T]o the ...
- 161k
41
votes
Accepted
In Iron Man 2, what does Black Widow say to Tony Stark in Latin?
I believe what she says is Fallaces sunt rerum species. This translates roughly as “the appearance of things is deceptive”, or more poetically, “appearances deceive”. A subtle reference to her cover, ...
- 102k
41
votes
Accepted
How did Finn learn to understand Chewie so quickly?
Vanity Fair reported in their The Rise of Skywalker preview that the gap between the two movies is "about a year." Assuming that was based on conversations with producers and is likely accurate*, that'...
- 39.5k
39
votes
Accepted
Was the Tamarian language in "Darmok" inspired by Jack Vance's "The Asutra"?
According to an interview with Star Trek Magazine, the show's co-writer Joe Menosky came up with the idea of a metaphor-based language from two key concepts; the linguistic notions of John Ciardi (...
- 652k
39
votes
Accepted
Was Tolkien's concept of an Oliphaunt borrowed from Afrikaans?
Probably not.
When guiding translators on how to properly render the word "Oliphaunt", Tolkien explicitly said that he had derived it from the Old French 'Olifant', saying that the intent ...
- 82.9k
38
votes
Accepted
How is it possible that Gollum speaks Westron?
The Stoors lived in Eriador before Smeagol's people moved to the Gladden.
Firstly, the Hobbits had began to learn letters and languages long before Smeagol was even born, let alone before he left ...
- 75.9k
37
votes
Elvish tattoo - can it be translated into English?
The best I've been able to do is "- the world is -d".
There are five separate words visible in the image, but only four of them are distinct enough to make out the characters.
I'm 100% confident ...
- 161k
36
votes
Accepted
What is the strongest profanity used in a Star Trek show?
Some of this will depend on how you personally rate the offensiveness of the words:
Pre-Discovery
Bloody, bollocks - Uttered by Miles O'Brien on a few episodes of DS9 (Also Scotty on "Relics")
Son ...
- 19.5k
35
votes
Accepted
Who understands Chewbacca?
Obi-Wan Kenobi both speaks and understands Shyriiwook.
From the script for A New Hope:
Ben is standing next to Chewbacca, an eight-foot-tall savage-looking creature [...] He is a two-hundred-year-...
- 133k
35
votes
Accepted
How can Rey and others understand BB-8 in the Force Awakens?
Found the answer in the Alan Dean Foster novelization (all quotes form there unless otherwise stated).
Not everyone understands BB-8. Finn does not. So it's plausible that Rey - being mechanically ...
- 340k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible