Many would probably agree that Star Wars is one of the greatest sci-fi film franchises of all time. Although George Lucas did not expect that he’ll even film the second film in the franchise, Star Wars have become so iconic that they are being filmed even 40 years after the initial release. Since its debut in 1977 Star Wars was translated into over 50 languages and, as the franchise popularity grows, there are more to come. At the same time, languages within the franchise also play an important role and influence the success of the films.
Languages of Star Wars
There are many curious facts about one of the greatest sci-fi franchises in the world. For example, George Lucas did not plan to film more movies as he was unsure about the first release’s success. So, what is now known as Episode IV: A New Hope was released simply as Star Wars and has quite a complete ending. Also, Jabba the Hutt was intended to have been played by an actual human actor and spoke English with a Scottish accent.
At the same time, there are lots of interesting language facts about the franchise you probably didn’t know. Aside from having been translated into numerous languages, the world of Star Wars includes many planets and galaxies, with their own societies and tongues. On top of all of that, translating such a massive movie series is quite challenging, and even some of the best online translation agencies admit that they would be puzzled should they be ordered a translation. So, here are some interesting language facts about Star Wars.
- Star Wars were never exactly translated, they were mostly localized. Considering the specifics of some names encountered in the movie, there’s no wonder about the fact of localization. Because some names found in the franchise would be simply impossible to pronounce in certain languages, they were replaced by something more convenient. For example, Chewbacca became Chiktabba in French, while Darth Vader was translated into Icelandic as Svarthöfði (which means “blackhead”).
- The alien languages that we hear in the movies are heavily based on actual human languages. As such, the Huttese language, in which Jabba the Hutt speaks, is based on the Quechua languages widely spoken in South America by the native peoples. At the same time, Watto and Sebulba from Episode I speak in something closely resembling the Finnish language. What’s even more interesting, in many cases, those languages were created not by linguists but rather by sound designers and voice actors who performed the roles.
- Some of the official translations were performed by language students and enthusiasts. Perhaps, one of the top 5 things we all hate about film translation is that there’s no translation available in our language. Yet, not with Star Wars and the Navajo. One of the most known nontrivial translations of Star Wars was made in the Navajo language. This is a language spoken by nearly 170,000 Native Americans in the United States and is one of the languages of the Navajo tribe, which accounts for around 300,000 people. Some time ago, the Navajo Nation Museum director assembled a team of five translators to work on the 90-pages script of A New Hope. The team worked almost without rest for more than 36 hours but managed to make it after all.
- The language that Chewbacca and Wookie speak comes, in fact, from several animals. Like a few other alien languages, we can hear in the original trilogy, the Wookie language (officially called Shyriiwook) that was created by Ben Burtt, the film’s sound designer. To produce believable vocalizations that would come out of Chewbacca’s mouth, Burtt had to record bears, lions, badgers, and a few other animals. The sound designer explained that Chewie’s mouth was very limited in movement, so the language the Wookie speak just couldn’t be anything else.
The Whole Linguistic Universe
It is absolutely no wonder languages play a crucial role in the Star Wars franchise. On the one hand, movies have become extremely popular and recognized all around the world. On the other hand, the films explore new planets and galaxies, all of which inevitably have their own languages. George Lucas and his team did a fantastic job of developing those idioms, which allow the fans to immerse themselves in this universe completely. And this, in turn, is one of the key factors to the success of the franchise.
AUTHOR BIO:
Michael Carr never misses a beat of this rapidly moving modern world. Adventures are everything to him and play a vital role in his articles. Whenever Michael has something new to tell, he’s always there, at his trusty laptop, to deliver all his new experiences to you.