Why do aliens in movies speak English and other obvious questions.

[bcla]

I don't know if my kid has a lack of imagination or is just too smart. But we've been watching all sorts of movies, and my kid has the obvious questions - especially about various sci-fi movies showing life on other planets. Why do they speak English? Shouldn't they be speaking some sort of language we don't know? If they look like humans, why do most look Caucasian? Granted, quite a few major sci-fi franchises (Star Wars and Star Trek) have established humanoid characters who aren't all white. I remember when a black Vulcan character was used a sight gag in a sketch comedy bit, although Star Trek had already done that before.

Granted we've occasionally seen various depictions of what aliens would look like around the world. I think my kid gets that it's often based on available actors. I guess the same goes for trying to explain race in TV and movies when it may be easier to cast actors without worrying about it.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Space aliens usually speak English because they know that most of us wouldn't understand them if they spoke in Klingon or whatever else their native language is.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Aliens have studied earth long enough to learn the language of most earthling movie goers.

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

I don't know if my kid has a lack of imagination or is just too smart. But we've been watching all sorts of movies, and my kid has the obvious questions - especially about various sci-fi movies showing life on other planets. Why do they speak English? Shouldn't they be speaking some sort of language we don't know? If they look like humans, why do most look Caucasian? Granted, quite a few major sci-fi franchises (Star Wars and Star Trek) have established humanoid characters who aren't all white. I remember when a black Vulcan character was used a sight gag in a sketch comedy bit, although Star Trek had already done that before.

Granted we've occasionally seen various depictions of what aliens would look like around the world. I think my kid gets that it's often based on available actors. I guess the same goes for trying to explain race in TV and movies when it may be easier to cast actors without worrying about it.

They don’t! Oh, you don’t know what you have been missing....

 

[MillauFr]

The creatures in Arrival sure didn't speak english.

 

[kdonnel]

Because many people would not watch a sub titled movie. The same reason Sean Connery switches to english in Red October.

 

[JaxDad]

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Glad to see the Babel Fish explanation has already been taken care of, but just in case anyone is still confused:

“The Babel fish is small, yellow and leech-like, and probably the oddest thing in the Universe. It feeds on brainwave energy received not from its own carrier but from those around it. It absorbs all unconscious mental frequencies from this brainwave energy to nourish itself with. It then excretes into the mind of its carrier a telepathic matrix formed by combining the conscious thought frequencies with the nerve signals picked up from the speech centres of the brain which has supplied them. The practical upshot of all this is that if you stick a Babel fish in your ear you can instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language. The speech patterns you actually hear decode the brainwave matrix which has been fed into your mind by your Babel fish.
Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mindbogglingly useful could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen it to see it as a final and clinching proof of the non-existence of God.
The argument goes something like this: "I refuse to prove that I exist," says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing."
"But," says Man, "the Babel fish is a dead giveaway isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED."
"Oh dear," says God, "I hadn't thought of that," and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.
"Oh, that was easy," says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets killed on the next zebra crossing.”

 

[bcla]

I guess the follow up would be why so many aliens have English or American accents? At least Talos in the Marvel movies sounds Australian.

Maybe Lucasfilm got it right when they had a Kenyan student (studying in the US) whose native language was Kikuyu voice an alien.

 

[Brett Wyman]

Its simple. So we can more easily enjoy the movie.

 

[karen4546]

I don't know if my kid has a lack of imagination or is just too smart. But we've been watching all sorts of movies, and my kid has the obvious questions - especially about various sci-fi movies showing life on other planets. Why do they speak English? Shouldn't they be speaking some sort of language we don't know? If they look like humans, why do most look Caucasian? Granted, quite a few major sci-fi franchises (Star Wars and Star Trek) have established humanoid characters who aren't all white. I remember when a black Vulcan character was used a sight gag in a sketch comedy bit, although Star Trek had already done that before.

Granted we've occasionally seen various depictions of what aliens would look like around the world. I think my kid gets that it's often based on available actors. I guess the same goes for trying to explain race in TV and movies when it may be easier to cast actors without worrying about it.

It is sort of like they are translating for us instead of using subtitles. Like on Vikings, Medici, and any other program based where the primary language is/was not English. They do throw in some of the native language.

As far as "why do most look Caucasian". I would think that an "alien" from a planet that does not have sunlight would be very pale not white but pasty looking i guess. I mean some could be scaly. the predator alien for example-may have many sun(s) on its planet.

Talking animals - now that is a totally different dynamic lol.

May the Force Be with You and Live Long and Prosper

 

[starvenger]

I kind of enjoyed the conceit in Ocean's Trilogy where everyone apparently understood Mandarin but couldn't speak it, and the opposite with English for the Amazing Yen. It wasn't a big deal or anything. But It happened to be something that was accepted as almost normal.

Anyway, Star Trek had the Universal Translator, which in theory works the same as the Babelfish, except when they want a group to speak in their own language within earshot of the Terrans, in which case it doesn't.

Star Wars established Basic (which sounds a lot like English) as the standard galactic language, so if a species vocal chords allow for it, they speak Basic. But they at least understand it, as evidenced by the Hutts, Wookies and Rodians understanding the word coming out of human mouths.

 

[seashoreCM]

I guess the follow up would be why so many aliens have English or American accents? At least Talos in the Marvel movies sounds Australian.

Maybe Lucasfilm got it right when they had a Kenyan student (studying in the US) whose native language was Kikuyu voice an alien.

(IMHO and possibly OT) Not nice to use some foreigner's native language to represent the villain while English represents the hero. So either use the same language for everything, or create a special brand new language or set of syllables on the spot for the alien and use subtitles.

 

[BrianL]

Its simple. So we can more easily enjoy the movie.

This is the only real answer to the question. Different movies tackle it in different ways in-universe, but the filmmaking decision really just comes down to this.

 

[Skywalker]

(IMHO and possibly OT) Not nice to use some foreigner's native language to represent the villain while English represents the hero. So either use the same language for everything, or create a special brand new language or set of syllables on the spot for the alien and use subtitles.

Have you ever watched a Star Wars movie? "alien" doesn't equal "villain" at all, and all the bad guys are the ones who all have English accents so...

 

[MrsPete]

If these hypothetical aliens are smart enough to build a ship /travel through space, they must be more advanced than we are. So it's not a terrible leap of the imagination to say they might be capable of learning English quickly and/or they have translators.

But -- more to the point -- it's plot armor. It's something that allows the plot to work.

Same reason the Professor could build a radio but not a raft. If Gilligan's crew had the ability to leave the island, the show would've ended. Plot armor.

 

[Darklord77]

Aliens have studied earth long enough to learn the language of most earthling movie goers.

Aliens have been living among us for the last 500 years. They have been sitting back, watching, and waiting for their time to strike. They have been the cause of all the recent health and civil strife. Covid19: a disease planted and spread by aliens. The DOJ says Antifa is behind the agitating in these protests/riots. False, its aliens in disguise as Antifa. They are laying the groundwork by trying to divide us for an imminent invasion. It's obvious they speak many different languages, English being one of them.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

Well, in Doctor Who the Tardis translates all languages into English (or whatever language) so long as the Doctor is conscious, because his mind is linked with his ship. You might like to watch the short clip below:

On a completely unrelated note: Eeeeeeeeeeee! David Tennant!

 

[chickapin parterre]

..........because using musical notes will only win you a Grammy and not an Oscar..... for sure John Williams 1939 in 1978

 

[teller80]

I rather enjoyed the use of subtitles in the movie District 9, I thought it added an element of realism. Did others find it distracting?