Tag: StarWars

re: Imperial Internet

I think of it kind of like the early Internet, where you might be able to telnet to one server, then telnet from there to another server, then download a file by FTP to that one, then figure out how to get it from the second telnet server to the first, and then download it at the computer lab and save it to a disk you can carry home because you only have dial-up at home (but meanwhile you can carry on a live phone call with someone in the same room as the original FTP server). #

What is Yoda’s syntax in other languages?

What is Yoda’s syntax in other languages?

allthingslinguistic:

Sometimes people ask the best questions on Reddit:

What does Yoda’s syntax look like in non-English versions of Star Wars? For those who aren’t familiar with Star Wars (all two of you), Yoda is an alien who, when speaking English, uses what seems to be an OSV syntax instead of the traditional SVO syntax.

So how do foreign translations of the script handle this? I am particularly interested in what it looks like in non-SVO languages. Are there any translations where Yoda’s incorrect syntax is emulated by using an English-like syntax? Or are other languages’ syntax so free that mistakes in the use of case or verb conjugations must instead be used to emulate Yoda’s “alien” speech?

And some answers so far:

  • Czech: Free word order. Yoda speaks consistently in SOV. Interestingly enough, putting an object before a verb does sound unusual to most speakers of Czech.
  • Estonian: Free word order language. Yoda retains the English OSV order. This is grammatical in Estonian, but does make it seem as though Yoda is constantly stressing the object phrase as the main point of his statements. This gives his speech an unusual quality.
  • French: An SVO language. Yoda speaks in OSV.
  • German: A SVO or SOV language. Yoda brings the Object to the front (OSV), like in English.
  • Hungarian: A free word order language. There is nothing unusual about Yoda’s speech.
  • Italian: An SVO language. Yoda speaks in OSV. Note: OSV is also the syntax used in the Italian of the less-proficient speakers of Italian from the region of Sardinia.
  • Japanese: An SOV language. Yoda seems to use a more or less correct syntax, with a more archaic vocabulary.
  • Korean: An SOV language. Nothing is unusual about Yoda’s grammar.
  • Norwegian: An SVO language. Yoda speaks in OSV.
  • Romanian: An SVO language. Yoda speaks in OSV. He also places adjectives before the noun instead of after the noun, and uses an archaic form of the future tense.
  • Spanish: An SVO language. Yoda speaks in OSV.
  • Turkish: An SOV language. Yoda speaks in OSV. Note: This order is also used in classical Ottoman poetry, so the syntax may have been chosen in order to emphasize Yoda’s wisdom or age.

Review: Star Wars: The Last Jedi

I learned long ago that “things happened that I didn’t like” and “it was badly made” are two different complaints about a movie. And while a lot of stuff happened that I didn’t like, it was interesting and creative in a way that Star Wars hasn’t been able to be in decades. We knew where the prequels were heading, we knew where Rogue One was heading, and The Force Awakens followed essentially the same plot beats as A New Hope.

It’s dark, yes – but not really much darker than Revenge of the Sith, another film that features the slow, inexorable snuffing out of hope by a powerful galactic-sized force, leaving only a handful of heroes at the end. But with RotS, we knew things would get better (eventually). This time, we get a triumphant return at the end, and a hint at a better future in the epilogue.

The Last Jedi made it possible for Star Wars to be surprising again, and unless Episode IX goes out of its way to reject it (or even if it does), I suspect it’ll be received better in the long run than it has been in the moment.

Every time someone complains about the Canto Bight storyline being pointless I have to wonder if they left the movie early and missed the final scene.

Every time someone complains about the Canto Bight storyline being pointless I have to wonder if they left the movie early and missed the final scene.

The last scene shows the spark of hope taking hold. Removing Canto Bight removes the epilogue, which leaves an unremittingly bleak story, bleaker than Revenge of the Sith…but only because we already knew where RoTS had to go.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi Thoughts – It’s Complicated.

We’ve tried to introduce J to Star Wars a few times

We’ve tried to introduce J to Star Wars a few times over the years, but while he’s liked the toys, he’s never really been interested in the movies…Until now. A few weeks back we watched A New Hope (*we* wanted to watch it, he could go do something else if he wanted) and he stayed through the whole thing. Then over the weekend we asked if he wanted to watch “the next Star Wars movie,” and he did. That night I read him the two ROTJ stories out of the 5-minute Star Wars book to assure him that yes, things do get better for the good guys. He also had questions about why Darth Vader started to follow the dark side. Tonight, he asked to watch the next movie, and while we didn’t have time for the whole thing, we suggested we could watch up through the rescue from Jabba’s palace. Paused at takeoff from Tattooine, no freak-outs. We’re going to pick up where we left off tomorrow night!

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Connecting with your kids through shared fandom.

“The Force Is What Binds Us”: One Mom Uses the Greatest Power in the Galaxy to Connect With Her Son

I thought that it might be too much for Colin. He had trouble following directions. He lacked the fine motor skills to engage his lightsaber. I knew he would get frustrated. Maybe it was the ‘Star Wars’ fan in me, but autism or no autism, I believed that he could do this.

Connecting with your kids through shared fandom.

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