Top 10 Alien Languages

March 25, 2013 by totalityservices

Get a Free Quote

Our Accreditations

  • ATA Logo
  • ATC Logo
  • BSI 9001 Logo
  • BSI 9001 Logo
  • DIN EN 15038 Logo

Recent Updates

Language oppression: The Treachery of the Blue Books

Prompted by the long dark evenings that dominate January and February in the UK, I am finally catching up and watching David Olusoga’s highly praised 2023 BBC series “Union”, which describes the historical origins and evolution of the country… Read More

Narrative stories around the world have been using alien languages for generations. Sometimes completely made up, sometimes real but distorted, these languages add some mysterious dimension to their speakers.

 

Below is a non-exhaustive list of some of the most popular representations of these alien languages in movies and TV shows:

 

1. Star Wars

Remember the Ewoks, the fluffy rebellious teddy bears living in the forest moon of Endor? Their language, although made up, was largely based on Tibetan, Kalmuck and even Tagalog, after the movie’s sound engineer was inspired by a BBC documentary and decided to use this as a basis to create Ewokese.

 

2. Lord of the Rings

The language spoken in Mordor is called the Black Speech. Created by the books’ author Tolkien, along with several other languages spoken by different characters, the Black Speech has a linguistic value, but being spoken by the evil Sauron, it was quite restricted, not allowing for instance for any poems or songs to be created in that language.

 

3. Star Trek

The hugely popular TV show had its own language: Klingon. Spoken by the fictional Klingon characters in the series, the language became so popular that some adepts around the world started learning it, and four works of literature (including Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing) have now been translated into it.

 

4. Avatar

The inhabitants of Pandora speak Navi. The objective of the screenwriters was to create a language that would be more detail-oriented than Klingon, that would both sound exotic and not be too close to any existing human languages. The result was a mix of Polynesian and some African languages.

 

5. Stargate

This TV show created a language, Ancient, that can actually be read. Quite close to the English alphabet, it was spoken by the Ancients in the series. An interesting aspect to this language is that some characters have a different meaning when read upside down.

 

6. Superman

The superhero’s home planet had its own language, Kryptonian. As the story progresses, Superman discovers places where Kryptonian words are engraved, helping him find out more about his background.

 

7. Mars Attacks!

Alien languages are not always to be taken seriously, as shown in this parody of sci-fi movies. The language spoken by Martians there only consists of a few words, spoken at different pitches and volumes, to convey different meanings.

 

8. The Time Machine

In the 1895 epic novel from H. G. Wells, the Eloi people speak their own language, quite a primitive one, indicating their lack of social intelligence.

 

9. The fifth element

The Divine language, spoken by the main character, is a limited language consisting of only 400 words, and created by the director of the movie, Luc Besson, and the female lead, Milla Jovovich. As practice, they were sending each other letters in Divine language when preparing the movie.

 

10. Game of Thrones

The increasingly popular TV show displays a language called Dothraki, created especially for the series. As the actors had to be able to pronounce and learn the language easily, this restricted the possibilities of making it a true alien language, limiting its grammar and phonology.

 

The examples shown above have been created for various reasons: whether it is to make fun of alien languages, like in Mars Attacks, to emphasise the dark side of a particular character, like in Lord of the Rings, alien languages are becoming increasingly popular through a developing fan base that is helping to keep them alive. We can’t say for sure that Klingon will end up being widely spoken, but I doubt that the writers of Star Trek thought that it would get this popular when they first created it.

Share This Post

Comments

Add Comment








Andreea Mohan

Taylor Wessing LLP

We are very pleased with the services provided by Rosetta Translations. They always send very prompt responses, transparent prices and deliver their work product at the highest standards.

More Testimonials

Jackie Brook, Sr Product Manager

American Express

Thank you very much for your prompt and efficient service.

More Testimonials

Conor McLarnon

Maximus Crushing and Screening

I have translated multiple projects with Rosetta now and I cannot emphasise how great the service they provide is; quality, turnaround time and pricing is the best I have found yet. The qualities of translations we receive are of the highest standard and communication from the start of a project to the end is consistent.

For a company looking into translations, I would highly recommend Rosetta as first pick, as the support and service they provide is first class.

More Testimonials

Get a Free Quote

© 2024 All Rights Reserved
Rosetta Translation, 133 Whitechapel High St, London E1 7QA · 0207 248 2905