Talk: Galactic Basic Standard/Legends

Basic is English

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)

• • FYI, Marck, this is SCI-FI, not FANTASY. A comparison of Star Wars to Lord of the Rings is as ineffective as a comparison of an orange to a leech. P.S. why doesn't anyone just ask George Lucas? (no, he's not dead. Were he dead, he'd yet live on in the force). ~Sithstress~
  • Actually, Sithstress, many people refer to Star Wars as being SCIENCE FANTASY, a subgenres of fantasy, mostly due to some more mystical elements such as the Force. It is more science than fantasy though. You might also call it soft science fiction. People also refer to it as space opera. Also, the comparison with LOTR certainly does work. The comparison the person made have nothing to do with genres, and whether one or the other are fantasy or SF is completely irellevant with the language comparison the person made. The person above never said the stories are similiar or that they use similiar genres. Luka1184 (talk)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

• The commandos' accents may vary depending on their training seargent, who most commandos revered and picked up personal fighting styles and mannerisms from, presumably accents as well. -- Darth NWNN 00:18, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

97.120.44.29 04:28, November 30, 2009 (UTC)Merely because they are clones of Jango does not necessarily mean that they must share the same accent. That view would be mistaken, as an accent is a learned characteristic, not an inborn trait, and as seen in Star Wars episode II: Attack of the Clones, the clones are being trained by persons other than Jango. Jango did not take the time to personally rear all of his clones, so one could not expect them to speak as he does, especially considering that they were not raised on Concord Dawn, which would be where Jango got his accent. Boba Fett retained his 'father's accent through spending the larger part of his childhood with him. The case is not the same for the Clone Troopers, especially after Jango was killed by Mace Windu in Ep. II. The only reason some of the clones would have "Jango's" accent would be if another indivudual sharing that particular accent had consistently been among the first moulding human/humanoid interactions that a particular clone had, such as a mentor or other clones who that one spent his time with. Some of these were likely Kaminoans, considering that the cloning base itself was on Kamino. In fact, I have always found it quite intriguing that the clones that I saw all happened to share Jango's accent simply because they were his clones. 97.120.44.29 04:28, November 30, 2009 (UTC) Sithstress

"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.

Imperial & Rebel Accents

The article says "As a general rule, Imperial characters have English accents while Rebels usually have American accents." although this could be valid from a certain point of view, I was under the impression that the reason for the difference in accents was simply mise-en-scene from George Lucas, as traditionally 'bad guys' have colder, neater English accents and 'good guys' warm friendly American accents. To support this link, I find Imperial officers, like Cmdr. Praji, with American accents sound rather cheap & cheesy and Rebels such as Mon Mothma with English accents sound cold and untrustworthy... (And I'm not trying to make a general statement about peoples' accents here! simply within films :) Would this detail warrent a place in the article or does it have to stay 'in-universe'? -- Darth NWNN 12:17, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

Chiss accent

New York/Brooklyn, the Chiss Bartender in Jedi Knight 2 Outcast and presumably other Chiss (Grand Admiral Thrawn)

I'm sorry, but the idea of Thrawn sounding like he's from Brooklyn...has been making me laugh non-stop since I saw it. Thanos6 14:53, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Is this full name used in canon anywhere?

• I've found Basic, Galactic Basic, and Galactic Standard used in sources, but not the full three-word term at which this article is currently located. Is there a canon source for this full name, or is it unverified extrapolation? jSarek 10:48, 16 December 2008 (UTC)
  • If no one has chimed in with one in the past four years, should we go ahead and assume "Galactic Basic Standard" is a non-canon invention, and move the article accordingly? Asithol (talk) 03:34, July 28, 2012 (UTC)
    • Please do not post to old threads. If you want to reopen this discussion, start a new one. NaruHina ^Talk 03:49, July 28, 2012 (UTC)

Trivia section unnecessary

The trivia section contains information that in mentioned almost word-for-word just above it, and is therefore highly redundant. I'm removing it.76.190.153.174 04:24, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

Kit Fisto's accent

It's more Haitian than Jamaican. Republic Captain 00:56, September 30, 2009 (UTC)

Watto

Is it really fair to say that Watto has a Jewish accent? It is the only accent that is NOT from a nationality, but instead a religion. Yes, I understand where people are coming from with this calim, I am Jewish and this claim is not absurd. This also troubles me because, along with his accent, Watto fits a couple of Jewish stereotypes. This was originally made by an anon on 21:39, November 20, 2009; Watto had previously listed as Ukrainian. Should it be switched back/Is Ukrainian accurate enough? Or should it be changed to something else? --Darth Shohet 21:21, February 7, 2010 (UTC)

• To heck with it, I'm changing it back to Ukrainian unless someone suggests something else. --Darth Shohet 03:03, February 20, 2010 (UTC)
• I thought it was an Italian accent? I play a lot of Mario games (forgive me), and I've heard lot's of additional "a"s added before consonants in words when spoken by Italians. Watto did the same thing with "Let-a-me take-a-thee out a-back, then, huh?" Of course, It may not only be Italian; other languages have this thing when speaking other-other languages. IDK> MasterRamsobi: "The Force will be with you. Always."

Analogue

At 20:41, February 18, 2010, I expanded a "Usage" paragraph to read " High Galactic was a dialect (perhaps a vocabulary of alternative words and/or grammatical elements, like various Asian languages on Old Earth) intended for displaying reverence and honor to religious figures." Apparently instantly, one Grand Moff Tranner reverted this out. Would someone please explain why a plausible speculation should be suppressed, apparently without anyone having taken time to read it, let alone think about it?

If the difficulty is that the additional phrase (namely, "and/or grammatical elements, like various Asian languages on Old Earth") is not "from a canon source and verifiable", I would be VERY interested to know exactly what canon source exists for the remaining "perhaps a vocabulary of alternative words", which is not footnoted either, and why it begins with "perhaps".

Thank you.

GeorgeTSLC 20:18, February 20, 2010 (UTC)

• I reverted your edit because you inserted an out-of-universe reference into an in-universe part of the article. Additionally, all speculation, no matter how "plausible," is not allowed on Wookieepedia. As for the issue brought up in your second paragraph, I have removed the phrase in question, as it appeared to be speculation as well. Grand Moff Tranner ^(Comlink) 20:51, February 20, 2010 (UTC)

Thank you for the clarification and correction, sir! I would have had trouble accepting that the paragraph was in-universe if the original speculation, marked as such, had been retained; presumably one would know or be able to find out the indicators for High Galactic.

GeorgeTSLC

Now: I don't suppose you see any place, either here or in the High Galactic article, where either or both speculations would have a place? GeorgeTSLC 03:51, February 22, 2010 (UTC)

Numbers

Okay, I get that the characters in the SW universe speak Basic and write like how the picture of the Aurebesh shows, but do they write numbers same as we do: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9, or do they have some special set of characters they use for writing numbers? Anyone have any info on this? Skaughtey 15:52, April 16, 2010 (UTC)

• Indeed, I would also like to know that.92.84.37.232 16:59, January 22, 2012 (UTC)

High Galactic not a dialect of Basic

Why is High Galactic listed under "dialects and accents" ? High Galactic is an alternative descendant of the Old Coruscanti tongue used by Coruscant's colonists to Alsakan. Listing High Galactic as a dialect of Basic would be like saying Swedish to be a dialectal form of English ! It just happen both have the same source; Old Coruscanti was the origin of both High Galactic and Old Galactic Standard, but the two evolved differently. LelalMekha 23:33, September 1, 2010 (UTC)

Owen Lars' Aussie accent+Clone troopers' NZ accent

Well I can't perceive it that way. I'm living in Australia and I can't pick up any Aussie traits in Owen's accent. It is rhotic and his feature of speech doesn't fit in any of the 3 Australian sociolects. As for the clone troopers, they don't sound NZ either. They speak perfect RP, except for the merging of /e/ and /i/. They don't have any distinct characteristics of Southern Hemisphere dialect. I doubt the source of this, greatly.110.174.12.47 05:52, October 11, 2010 (UTC)

• The clone troopers were originally voiced by Temeura Morrison, a kiwi, without any alteration to his accent. He may have a peculiar kiwi accent, but it is, to me, distinguishably kiwi. Bradley Dee Baker's (or whoever the guy is) impersonation of Morrison on the Clone Wars show may be flawed, but the fundamental accent there is a New Zealander one. Can't say about Lars' accent, though. I remember him being American in ANH. Qwo 03:59, October 27, 2010 (UTC)
• I can say for sure that Owen and Beru Lars do not have Australia accents. I'm not sure where this idea came from, but it's not true. Furthermore, it's unlikely that their accents would spontaneously change from Australian to American from one film to another. The that fact that both Owen and Beru were portrayed by Australian actors in Episode II does not make their characters Australian, nor do they use the accent. The Agents in the first Matrix film were all portrayed by Australian actors, but all three of them spoke in American accents. --Aerid77 03:18, October 21, 2011 (UTC)
• As a Kiwi, the Clone trooper accent in Clone Wars sounds like a bad attempt to mix English and Australian accents to me. 27.252.76.122 09:38, March 20, 2014 (UTC)

Pantoran Accent

I don't think the Pantoran accent is South African. I'm South African and I have never heard anyone with that accent. The Pantoran accent is closer to what we think of the Australian accent (possibly slightly clipped in Riyo Chuh=chi's case) but it's definitely not South African.

197.87.2.10 22:48, August 16, 2015 (UTC)

No, really, is this name used in Legends anywhere?

In seven years, no one has cited a source that calls the language "Galactic Basic Standard." So it's clear this article should be moved.

But to what? What's its most official name—Basic? Galactic Basic? Galactic Standard? For non-character subjects, Wookieepedia:Naming policy suggests "the name most commonly presented in sources," which would be quite a feat to determine given the number of sources. The entries in the second and third editions of A Guide to the Star Wars Universe and in the Star Wars Encyclopedia are all named "Basic," which is a weak consensus but perhaps the best one we have. Anyone want to champion one of the other contenders? Asithol (talk) 09:19, December 31, 2015 (UTC)

• I used "Galactic Basic Standard" quite prominently in "The Written Word." This is one of those instances where Wook usage preceded an official source - while writing "The Written Word," I searched high and low for the very citation you note is lacking; not finding it, I asked the very question that you have ironically linked above! However, I ultimately decided to use "Galactic Basic Standard" in "The Written Word" anyway. It covered my bum if I had merely overlooked the source, and even if I hadn't, it seemed logical, even likely, that the existing terms Galactic Standard, Galactic Basic, and Basic were all different ways of shortening the same term. jSarek (talk) 09:33, January 7, 2016 (UTC)
  • Awesome! I'll add a citation to that effect. Since "The Written Word" isn't on archive.org, is there any chance you can publish it under your Wookieepedia user page? I realize Lucasfilm might own the copyright even though you're the author, but I'm not certain how the legalities work. Asithol (talk) 13:01, January 9, 2016 (UTC)
    • All media tie-ins, to my knowledge, are works-for-hire, which means all copyrights are held by the client (i.e. Lucasfilm for Star Wars), so the author cannot republish without consent of the rightsholder. However, you might find the endnotes blog I wrote to have some useful information. Also, check your email. jSarek (talk) 06:17, January 10, 2016 (UTC)
      • Thank you!! Asithol (talk) 15:31, January 12, 2016 (UTC)

Factual correction: Belgian Accent

I saw that the 'Belgian accent' was listed down below as being represented by 3 characters. However, there is no such thing as a Belgian accent (I'm Belgian myself) as we are bi-(/tri-)langual country. Listening to the given characters dialogue on youtube, i think the original author might have meant Flemish instead of Belgian.

Derek Klivian

In Empire Strikes Back, Derek Klivian has one line. He speaks clearly with a Southern American accent. Should this be brought up in the article?

FyreOnix (talk) 17:45, February 14, 2020 (UTC)