There were a number of languages throughout the galaxy, with Galactic Basic being the most common. It was not uncommon for beings to speak at least two languages in addition to their native tongue, particularly among those involved in space-faring occupations and those who had attended military or educational academies. For a comprehensive list of languages, see the category languages linked to at the bottom of the page.

Contents 1 Common languages 1.1 Galactic Basic 1.2 Binary 1.3 Bocce 1.4 Bothese 1.5 Cheunh 1.6 Dosh 1.7 Dug language 1.8 Durese 1.9 Ewokese 1.10 Gamorrese 1.11 Hapan 1.12 High Galactic 1.13 Huttese 1.14 Jawaese 1.15 Kaleesh language 1.16 Kaminoan language 1.17 Mando'a 1.18 Olys Corellisi 1.19 Pak Pak 1.20 Rodese 1.21 Shyriiwook 1.22 Snivvian language 1.23 Sullustese 1.24 Sith language 1.25 Togruti 1.26 Twi'leki 1.27 Tusken 1.28 Yuuzhan Vong 2 Droids and computers 3 Behind the scenes 3.1 Language building 4 Appearances 5 Sources 6 Notes and references 7 See also 7.1 In other languages

Common languagesEdit

Galactic BasicEdit

Galactic Basic, also known as Galactic Standard, was a constructed language, inspired largely by the languages of the various founding species of the Galactic Republic: the Humans, the Duros, and the Bothans. It was the lingua franca of the galaxy, and almost all Humans spoke it instead of their historical language.

Galactic Basic used the Aurebesh script.

Some aliens had difficulty speaking Basic, often due to the structure of their vocal cords or analogous organ.

BinaryEdit

Binary, or Droidspeak, was a language of beeps, trills, and whistles spoken primarily by astromech droids such as R2-D2. It was also spoken by other models of droid. Organic beings who spent a lot of time with droids could often pick up a basic understanding as well.

BocceEdit

Bocce was an artificial language used by spacers. It was composed of elements from several languages.

BotheseEdit

Bothese was the language of the Bothan species, natives of the planet Bothawui.

CheunhEdit

Cheunh was the language of the Chiss species, a dominant force in the Unknown Regions.

DoshEdit

Dosh was the language of the Trandoshan species, natives of the planet Trandosha.

Dug languageEdit

Dug language was the language of the Dug species, natives to the planet Malastare.

DureseEdit

The Duros language remained a popular language among space travelers due to the abundance of Duro spacefarers, despite the predominance of Basic.

EwokeseEdit

Ewokese was the language of the Ewok species, natives of the planet Endor.

GamorreseEdit

Gamorrese was the language of the Gamorrean species, natives of the planet Gamorr.

HapanEdit

The Hapan language was spoken by residents of the Hapes Cluster.

High GalacticEdit

High Galactic was a prestige language, most commonly used among Imperial courtiers.

HutteseEdit

Huttese, the language of the Hutts, was popular among criminals, especially in the (considerable) sections of the galaxy where the Hutt criminal network was powerful.

JawaeseEdit

Jawaese was the language of the Jawa species, natives of the planet Tatooine.

Kaleesh languageEdit

Kaleesh language was the language of the Kaleesh species, natives of the planet Kalee.

Kaminoan languageEdit

Kaminoan language was the language of the Kaminoan species, natives of the planet Kamino.

Mando'aEdit

Mando'a was the traditional language spoken by Mandalorians.

Olys CorellisiEdit

Olys Corellisi ('Old Corellian') was the language spoken by the original settlers of Corellia, becoming extinct around 4,000 BBY.

Pak PakEdit

Pak Pak was the language of the Neimoidian sub-species, native of the planet Neimoidia.

RodeseEdit

The native tongue of the Rodians, Rodese, was popular due to the large number of spacefaring Rodians.

ShyriiwookEdit

Shyriiwook was the main language of the Wookiees. It was considered to be the most emotive of Wookiee tongues, as opposed to the technical Thykarann or tribal Xaczik dialects. It could be understood by those who spoke Basic, however it was nearly impossible for non-Wookiees to pronounce.

Snivvian languageEdit

Snivvian language was the language of the Snivvian species, natives of the planet Cadomai Prime.

SullusteseEdit

Sullustese was the language of the Sullustan species, natives of the planet Sullust.

Sith languageEdit

The Sith language is the native language of the people of Ziost and Korriban. Later it was the language of the Sith.

TogrutiEdit

Togruti was one of the main languages of the Togruta species, natives of the planet Shili. The language was often spoken partnered with Galactic Basic Standard.

Twi'lekiEdit

Ryl was the language of the Twi'lek species, natives of the planet Ryloth.

TuskenEdit

Tusken was the language of the Tusken Raider species, natives of the planet Tatooine.

Yuuzhan VongEdit

The language of the extragalactic Yuuzhan Vong invaders was guttural and grammatically different from Basic, but otherwise straightforward.

Droids and computersEdit

Droids and computers used either the natural languages that their masters used, usually Basic, or special machine languages. Protocol droids such as C-3PO were "fluent in over six million forms of communication" and were often employed as translators, with the ability to also download new language packs for languages such as Tusken.^[1] Astromech droids such as R2-D2 were able to understand commands in Basic and perhaps other languages, but could only communicate through an information-dense language of beeps and whistles; although devices existed that could translate this language into Basic (such as the display in an X-wing cockpit that allowed the ship's astromech and pilot to commmunicate). Simpler droids communicated only through sounds indicating affirmative/negative, or other simple replies.

Behind the scenesEdit

Language buildingEdit

The languages of some fictional worlds have been worked out in great detail, with grammatical rules and large vocabularies, such as J. R. R. Tolkien's Elvish languages and the Klingon language of Star Trek. The Star Wars languages, in contrast, are not systematically worked out. The Wookiee growls and the beeps of the astromechs mainly carry emotional indicators for the audience via intonation, and Huttese is mainly a jumble of words taken from numerous real Human languages.

Other languages heard are longer chunks of actual Human languages, albeit ones likely unfamiliar to most of the audience. In A New Hope, for instance, the language spoken by the character Greedo in conversation with Han Solo (in the cantina) is actually a simplified version of Quechua, an indigenous language of the Andean region of South America. In Return of the Jedi, Lando Calrissian's copilot, Nien Nunb, speaks the real Human language Haya, a dialect spoken in Tanzania (page 31, Star Wars Insider 67). Similarly, the Ewok language was based on Kalmyk, although some fans claim that they also hear English being spoken by the Ewoks at some points during the film. When C-3PO rises from the undergrowth, it seems that the Ewoks exclaim, "It's a robot!", while when the assumed "god" says hello to the diminutive aliens, one appears to say, "That guy's wise.".^[source?]

One can also hear some Finnish in the Phantom Menace. After the first lap of the pod race competition, Watto yells 'Kiitos!' ('Thank You!' in Finnish) to Sebulba, and Sebulba answers 'Ole hyvä!' ('You're Welcome!' in Finnish).

In the The Clone Wars episode Liberty on Ryloth, an all Aurebesh Republic display includes the text "UND UBERHAUPT", German for "and anyway". In The Academy, when Soniee and her fellow students break into the Government warehouse, her datapad says "ENTRARE" - Italian for "enter".^[2]

Despite these inconsistences however, a language guide to the most common Star Wars languages such as Huttese and Bocce exists: The Galactic Phrase Book and Travel Guide, which collects much of the data given in the books and movies surrounding the saga, forming some kind of official vocabulary, rules and phrases. Also covered in the book is Droidspeak, Ewokese, Gunganese, Jawaese, Neimoidian, Shyriiwook, Sullustan, and Tusken.

Recently however, Mando'a has evolved in a useable conlang by author Karen Traviss.

AppearancesEdit

• Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
• Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
• Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
• Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
• Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
• Star Wars: The Old Republic

SourcesEdit

•  Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (Pack: Swoop)
• Star Wars: The Art of the Brothers Hildebrandt

Notes and referencesEdit

See alsoEdit

• Writing system