Language

Language is an organism. The entity of language is born, germinates, hybrids itself, and through the earnestness of social and political forces, languages can even die.Arner Figgis, Chief Linguist at the University of Be'nal on Issor

There were a number of languages throughout the galaxy, of which the most common was Galactic Basic. It was not uncommon for beings to speak at least two languages in addition to their native tongue, particularly among those involved in spacefaring occupations and those who had attended military or educational academies.

Common languages

The ability to speak does not make you intelligent.Qui-Gon Jinn

Galactic Basic Standard

Galactic Basic Standard, also known as Galactic Standard, was a constructed language, inspired largely by the languages of the various founding species of the Galactic Republic: the Humans, the Duros, and the Bothans. It was the lingua franca of the galaxy, and almost all Humans spoke it instead of their historical language.

Galactic Basic used the Aurebesh script.

Some aliens had difficulty speaking Basic, often due to the structure of their vocal cords or analogous organ.

Binary

Binary, or Droidspeak, was a language of beeps, trills, and whistles spoken primarily by astromech droids such as R2-D2. It was also spoken by other models of droid. Organic beings who spent a lot of time with droids could often pick up a basic understanding as well.

Bocce

Bocce was an artificial language used by spacers. It was composed of elements from several languages.

Bothese

Bothese was the language of the Bothan species, natives of the planet Bothawui, and barthalemeu.

Catharese

Catharese was the language spoken by the Cathar species, natives of the planet Cathar.

Cheunh

Cheunh was the language of the Chiss species, a dominant force in the Unknown Regions.

Dosh

Dosh was the language of the Trandoshan species, natives of the planet Trandosha.

Dug language

Dug was the language of the Dug species, natives to the planet Malastare.

Durese

The Duros language remained a popular language among space travelers due to the abundance of Duro spacefarers, despite the predominance of Basic.

Ewokese

Ewokese was the language of the Ewok species, natives of the Forest Moon of the gas giant Endor.

Gamorrese

Gamorrese was the language of the Gamorrean species, natives of the planet Gamorr.

Geonosian language

Geonosian was the language of the Geonosian species native to Geonosis. It consisted of click consonants, possible through the dual-mandibles of Geonosians—one moving vertically, and a second, internal set moving horizontally.

Hapan language

The Hapan language was spoken by residents of the Hapes Cluster.

High Galactic

High Galactic was a prestige language, most commonly used among Imperial courtiers.

Huttese

Huttese, the language of the Hutts, was popular among criminals, especially in the (considerable) sections of the galaxy where the Hutt criminal network was powerful.

Jawaese

Jawaese was the language of the Jawa species, natives of the planet Tatooine.

Kaleesh language

Kaleesh was the language of the Kaleesh species, natives of the planet Kalee.

Kaminoan language

Kaminoan was the language of the Kaminoan species, natives of the planet Kamino.

Mando'a

Mando'a was the traditional language spoken by Mandalorians.

Olys Corellisi

Olys Corellisi ("Old Corellian") was the language spoken by the original settlers of Corellia. It became extinct around 4000 BBY.

Pak Pak

Pak Pak was the language of the Neimoidian sub-species, native of the planet Neimoidia.

Rodese

The native tongue of the Rodians, Rodese, was popular due to the large number of spacefaring Rodians.

Shyriiwook

Shyriiwook was the main language of the Wookiees. It was considered the most emotive of Wookiee tongues, as opposed to the technical Thykarann or tribal Xaczik dialects. It could be understood by those who spoke Basic, but it was nearly impossible for non-Wookiees to pronounce.

Snivvian language

Snivvian was the language of the Snivvian species, natives of the planet Cadomai Prime.

Sullustese

Sullustese was the language of the Sullustan species, natives of the planet Sullust.

Sith language

Sith was the native language of the people of Ziost and Korriban. Later it, became the language of the Sith. The language had at least two dialects, Sith and High Sith.

Tarc language

The Tarc language was spoken by the Tarc species, who were unable to speak Galactic Basic Standard.

Togruti

Togruti was one of the main languages of the Togruta species, natives of the planet Shili. The language was often spoken partnered with Galactic Basic Standard.

Twi'leki

Twi'leki, commonly known as Ryl, was the language of the Twi'lek species, natives of the planet Ryloth.

Tusken

Tusken was the language of the Tusken Raider species, natives of the planet Tatooine.

Yuuzhan Vong

The language of the extra-galactic Yuuzhan Vong invaders and their Chazrach slaves was guttural and grammatically different from Basic, but otherwise straightforward.

Droids and computers

Droids and computers used either the natural languages that their masters used, usually Basic, or special machine languages. Protocol droids such as C-3PO were "fluent in over six million forms of communication" and were often employed as translators, with the ability to also download new language packs for languages such as Tusken.^[3] Astromech droids such as R2-D2 were able to understand commands in Basic and perhaps other languages, but could only communicate through an information-dense language of beeps and whistles; devices existed that could translate this language into Basic, such as the display in an X-wing cockpit that allowed the ship's astromech and pilot to commmunicate. Simpler droids communicated only through sounds indicating affirmative/negative, or other simple replies.