Questions tagged [languages]
Questions about languages, whether alien, fantasy, or human. Always use in conjunction with the specific work tag the language appears in. If a more specific tag exists use that instead, for example, [tolkien-languages].
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How does “Valar morghulis” translate to “all men must die”?
Near as I can tell from the Valyrian language wiki, it consists of the noun “man” in the collective and the verb “die” in the present active infinite. Essentially, “men collectively (to/do) die.” I do ...
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Why does D.J. translate "liberate me" as "save me"?
In a very early scene in Event Horizon (so no spoilers I would say), D.J., one of the crewman of the rescue ship, interprets an audio recording as having someone saying "liberate me" in ...
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How, if at all, does the TARDIS translate sign languages?
In 2025 Doctor Who episode "The Well," there is a character who communicates in both an oral language and a sign language, which made me wonder about how (and whether) the TARDIS translation ...
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Who invented the Kryptonian language spoken in My Adventures With Superman?
I got dropped into My Adventures with Superman, and in season 1, episode 9, we get some Kryptonian, which...very obviously is based on Romance languages. I believe the phrase was something like
Nos ...
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Eric Flint's "Mother of Demons" Enagulishuc language rules?
I've been trying to figure out the rules for Enagulishuc, the English dialect spoken by Gukuy (and demons) in Eric Flint's 1997 first novel "Mother of Demons". The Gukuy are alien mollusks with ...
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How is Yoda's speech translated to non-English languages?
Yoda infamously speaks using the OSV (object, subject, verb) word ordering
Much to learn, you still have.
rather the SVO ordering used in English
You still have much to learn.
How is this dealt ...
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Do we ever see written English in the Star Wars films?
In Empire Strikes Back, we see a transcription of what R2's beeps and bloops mean, but it's not English (sorry for the low quality, it's from the 2004 DVDs):
I'd assume it's what Basic looks like ...
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Why does C-3PO talk to R2-D2 in English?
Whenever we see C-3PO talking to R2-D2, he talks in English (well, that's what we hear) so at least not in the 'binary' beeps that R2-D2 uses.
Why doesn't C-3PO talk in R2's 'beeping' language when ...
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Why does Yoda speak the way he does?
Yoda's unique speech consisting of reversed grammar is iconic.
Is there any reason he has adopted this speech pattern?
All other alien species encountered seem to have no trouble speaking normally. ...
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Series featuring telepaths, raising children with aliens to learn each other's language
So, I'm trying to remember the name of a series of books that features telepaths who contact people with their minds across the galaxy, and send ships. I remember one of the key ones was on a moon in ...
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Why was the name for Death's End changed in translation?
The final book in Cixin Liu's Three Body series was titled in Chinese, 死神永生. The first 2 characters translated literally mean "death spirit", a personification of death. In English an ...
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Real-world language inspiration behind the fantasy words used in the Tiger and Del series?
I've started reading Jennifer Roberson's Tiger and Del series after discovering it as an incorrect answer to a story-ID question. An important theme in the worldbuilding is the huge cultural divide ...
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Have we ever encountered any Betazoid word besides "Imzadi"?
Like the question says. We know the word Imzadi meaning something like Beloved.
But have we ever encountered any other word?
(Is it possible it's literally the least-developed (>0) language from a ...
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How would schools that take in multiple nationalities address the language barrier issue?
Although Hogwarts has an attendance of mostly British, Scottish, and Irish students, Beauxbatons, Durmstrang, Castelobruxo, Uagadou, and possibly Ilvermorny and Mahoutokoro all accept kids from other ...
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What is the origin of the term Melange in Dune?
The geriatric spice Melange has been a staple of the Dune saga from the beginning. Mr. Herbert is known to have used Hebrew terms and Islamic undertones as well. Also Prana Bindu sounds like a ...
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