Talk:Galactic Basic Standard

From Wookieepedia, the Star Wars wiki.

Basic is not translated to English. Basic is English, except for some SW-specific words (including swear words). This is evident due to the fact that words written in Aurabesh are English. - Sikon [Talk] 00:53, 14 Oct 2005 (UTC)

• Yeah, I was going to edit that, but I got called away to do something else and forgot about it. I think that whole Behind the Scenes bit is unneccesary. --beeurd 02:57, 14 Oct 2005 (UTC)
  • Who says that Basic is english? How can it be possible that English is spoken identically in two galaxies? Except that, why is the word 'Teras Kasi' considered to be Basic? Tolkien used English in his mythology, but it is supposedly translated from 'Hobbitish'. MoffRebus 09:47, 14 Oct 2005 (UTC)
    • It's fiction. What are the odds that there's another species that looks and acts just like us somewhere in the universe? Not very likely. And Teras Kasi is considered Basic for the same reason Wookiee, Twi'lek, and every other Star Wars word is. And just because Tolkien wrote his books one way, that means it must therefore be assumed that every other work of fantasy is the same way? The bottom line is likelihood is thrown out the window when dealing with science fiction. Now, if you can supply a specific source that substantiates your claim, we'll be in business. MarcK 09:54, 14 Oct 2005 (UTC)
    • To MoffRebus: The most logical thing to do would be to simply ignore the question, as Lucas' world is after all just fiction, but for the purposes of Wookepedia, we pretend that the world of Star Wars actually exists. (Though if one pretends Star Wars is real, then absurd conclusions follow.) In that case, then the question should be settled. Is "Galactic Basic" English or not? One could claim that George Lucas concieves of his characters speaking Basic, with the movie acted in English (because nobody wants to read subtitles to a movie in a made-up language), just how Gladiator was in English rather than Latin. If you are correct, then had Mel Gibson made the movies, it follows that they would be filmed in Basic (w/e language that is). On the other hand, many argue that Basic IS English (myself included). For instance, there are many links. Consider that if one applies a letter-to-letter correspondence in translating Aurabesh inscriptions, one gets English words. Also there are references to both the Greek and Latin alphabets (X-Wings, Y-Wings), puns which are mysteriously not lost in translation, and more direct etymological links. For instance, many planets and solar systems of the galactic core have names like Coruscaunt, Correlia, Correa, etc. (Okay, that last one was a pun ;) How did English end up in a galaxy far far away? You could say the same thing about humans in the galaxy. Perhaps their arrival was a time paradox. See this article for more examples.
      • My source is that Teras Kasi is translated as 'steel hands' in English. If Basic was English, there wouln't be an English translation and we wouldn't have 'Masters of Teras Kasi' but 'Masters of Steel Hands'. What I want to say is that we don't have a translation for Wookiee because it's a word bpeculiar in Basic, but since now we have a Basic word with a translation, that makes things more complex MoffRebus 10:13, 14 Oct 2005 (UTC)
      • Where does it say that? The Teräs Käsi article says it's "steel hand" in Basic, not English. MarcK 10:20, 14 Oct 2005 (UTC)

• Hmmmm... ok. I see the misunderstanding. In my native language that would mean 'Teras Kasi is Basic and Steel Hand is English', but now I see it actually means 'Teras Kasi is alien and Steel Hand is Basic'. Makes sense now :S MoffRebus 21:24, 14 Oct 2005 (UTC)

• The fact that puns carry over between English and Basic (for example, Daala renaming the Night Hammer to Knight Hammer, because she was about to use it to destroy the Jedi Knights) seems like sufficient proof of the languages being identical. Normally a pun wouldn't carry over so easily between languages. Words that are homophones in one language usually won't be when translated to another. 68.47.234.131 10:43, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

• • Still, there is no actual source estabilishing Basic as actual English (and I pray to any god that might exist that there never ever is one), just clues. And there are clues that lead to the opposite, such as Earth terms that would not appear in "alien English" by any means (but if we are to assume there is alien English, anything can be possible after that, no matter how stupid or impossible). So, we can't say nothing for sure and come to no conclusion about what Basic is supposed to be. Speculation in the behind the scenes section is very healthy of course. --Master Starkeiller 19:53, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

Contents 1 term "speciesism" 2 Skywalker, Starkiller, etc. 3 One galaxy, two languages 4 Accents 5 Clone Trooper Accents 6 "Original" Etymology

[edit] term "speciesism"

this term does exist in the english language. and its very useful for my daily language. The term was coined by Richard D. Ryder. For example in the "Merriam-Webster Dictionary" from 1973 it says: 1: prejudice or discrimination based on species; especially: discrimination against animals 2: the assumption of human superiority on which speciesism is based

• Then it's an example of words that have different meaning in the SW universe, such as 'bird' MoffRebus 12:08, 12 February 2006 (UTC)
• When I was reading that section, at first I mistook "sentientologist" for "scientologist" because it is capitalized. I'm going to change it to lower-case.

I was worried for a minute there...Bredd13 03:47, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Skywalker, Starkiller, etc.

Ok, if I understand well, they don't speak English, it wouldn't make sense anyway (a long time ago and far away from Earth - maybe Earth didn't exist during that time, nor English). Basic is an alien language, that's all... Of course, Lucas didn't really think about it at first, as the Aurebesh rules arrived quite late. He used Latin letters in Ep. IV, and they were replaced in the 2004 edition, so it's a clue saying English is not used there. So, now, I think we can consider English as translated Basic, and of course, it gives some inconsistencies, such as weird puns like mentioned above. So, my point is that the names Skywalker, Starkiller (Bandak and the ship), and even Wedge are translations (a mistake that could be rectoned). We could say that they are the only names given in Basic, but I think they're just exceptions, as there are a lot of Basic names given in their original form. So, it of courses differs from Tolkien's system, but it's very close. These old names were kept in English because Lucas didn't think about it from the start, that's why few Earth-related names came up after the first movies.

So, these English names are not given in their original form, and if we went there, "Skywalker" wouldn't exist, yes or no? I think it would be quite consistent.

It's just speculation, of course, but if it appears to be true, it should be cool to mention it... Just tell me what you think!

ps: don't erase the "Behind the scenes" point, I think it's important.

Klow 23:37, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

• Klow, it is possible like in languages on Earth, some names can translate into words like "Laughter of the Pork"(not kidding). I'm pretty sure I heard somewhere that "Joseph" meant "Laughter", so I'll use that for example. If Basic is indeed a foreign language translated to English, (or French, or German, or Japanese based on what country you're watching it in), then it is possible that "Skywalker" is a translated version of Basic, like you said.

In this case, we could also assume that Death Star is Basic into English as well.

Those are my speculating thoughts on your ideas, basically an agreement that if Basic was a foreign language, then these names (Death Star, Skywalker) would indeed be translated versions of Basic.--Jero 12:51, 6 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] One galaxy, two languages

Having noticed that on our Mon Mothma article, the image of her signature is in English, and pointing it out here, and seeing that this mistake has been made numerous times through-out many EU sources; I've come to a conclusion.

Isn't it possible that the English alphabet is also used In-universe, as a kind of Human language, whilst Galactic Basic Standard is the "trading language", or something similar? Jasca Ducato 22:25, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Using two alphabets isn't the same with two 'languages'. Only Basic is used, which is English. Any way, we have such an article, see Latin alphabet MoffRebus 07:55, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

So the asnwer is yes then. Jasca Ducato 12:50, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

No. Most humans talk basic as their first language. - Kingpin13 19:25, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Accents

I can't catch much about dialects by ear but I think the dialects and accents section is a bit off. The article claims that the local accents are exemplified by individuals, only because they are from that certain place. For example, it says that 'Corellian accent' is exemplified by Han and Wedge. Sure they are Corellian, but (as far as the movies are concerned), Han's and Wedge's accent doesn't sound more 'Corellian' than Luke's.

On the other hand, X-wing Alliance has Wedge talking with a scottish accent, quite unlike Han's. Have anyone else heard in other games if Wedge still has this accent elsewhere? MoffRebus 08:15, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Clone Trooper Accents

I wasn't sure if this is the right place to put it, but I was wondering if someone could explain to me why the clone troopers have such varied accents. All of the clones in the movies speak with Jango Fett's accent. In Clone Campaigns and Battlefront I, The clones also have Jango's accent. In Battlefront II, however, the clone troopers and Republic commander have American accents, while the narrator, space commander, and other clones retain Jango's accent. The same is true for Republic Commando, in which Boss is the only Clone shown who has Jango's accent, while Sev, Scorch, and Fixer have unique accents. The regular clone troopers also have different accents from Jango.

One might say that it would be difficult to reproduce Jango's accent for every game. However, the actor who played Jango and the clones in the movie provided voices for both Battlefront II and Republic Commando. For some reason, they chose not to use him for every clone as they did so int he movies. What then is the explanation for this? 75.67.142.56 04:48, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Original" Etymology

This section needs to be completely reworked. The implication that Star Wars authors created such commonly used and venerable SF terms such as hyperspace or blaster is absolutely absurd. Further, the use of 'bird' for spacecraft is simply an expansion a common usage for aircraft which I believe dates to WWI. I can't be certain it was used for spacecraft before SW, but it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.

In fact, the only original word in the entire section as far as I can tell is midi-chlorian. It's possible that durasteel is as well, the other uses I'm certain of do come after SW, though I'm not certain exactly when durasteel made it's first appearance.