Whenever Jabba says something to Leia in Huttese she never seems confused at all - she seems to understand what he's saying. Also, when Jabba gives Leia an order or talks to Leia, does he do it in Basic or Huttese?
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Does Jabba speak Basic? It's been awhile since I saw the film or read a book with him in it – The Fallen Mar 07 '14 at 00:04
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Not that I can recall. Jabba talks through Threepio in ROTJ. Han seems to understand Huttese in the new New Hope sequence. Leia, being a diplomat, might well know Huttese. – joshbirk Mar 07 '14 at 00:08
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In Star Trek: The Clone Wars TV series, Jabba was able to speak English. – user931 Mar 07 '14 at 00:21
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4I'm pretty sure Star Trek: The Clone Wars is not at all canon. – phantom42 Mar 07 '14 at 00:36
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In the Han Solo trilogy, Jabba knows human language but refuses to speak it, IIRC – DVK-on-Ahch-To Mar 07 '14 at 00:36
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1@DVK read the comments again. – phantom42 Mar 07 '14 at 00:37
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1Where did all these Rikers come from??? – joshbirk Mar 07 '14 at 00:39
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2@DVK Star Trek:The Clone Wars. – phantom42 Mar 07 '14 at 00:40
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Nice! I missed that too – The Fallen Mar 07 '14 at 00:51
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1@phantom42 - Oh! – DVK-on-Ahch-To Mar 07 '14 at 00:56
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@SachinShekhar - do you have a specific episode to reference? I randomly found one and he uses a translator droid. Assuming you meant Star Wars, of course... – joshbirk Mar 07 '14 at 07:08
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@joshbirk It was probably the first season... In that episode, Bounty Hunters attacked Senate to free him from prison. – user931 Mar 07 '14 at 15:07
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@SachinShekhar - I'm rewatching the whole series now so I'll update if I see a contradiction, but in three different instances he specifically uses a translator. Zero, on the other hand, is another matter. Zero clearly speaks Basic. – joshbirk Mar 08 '14 at 04:11
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@SachinShekhar - you are definitely thinking of Ziro. Ziro is rescued from prison, not Jabba. I'm almost done with the series, but Jabba very pointedly seems to only speak Huttese in the show so far and always relies on a protocol droid. – joshbirk Mar 21 '14 at 21:52
4 Answers
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Probably, but not necessarily
While Leia reacts to Jabba directly, there isn't a scene where she is doing so verbally that Threepio is not translating.
From the transcript:
While
Leia is disguised as Boushh
We see:
Jabba continues speaking, as Threepio nervously translates. Boushh listens, studying the dangerous creatures around the room. He notices BOBA FETT standing near the door.
THREEPIO Oh. The illustrious Jabba bids you welcome and will gladly pay you the reward of twenty- five thousand.
BOUSHH (in Ubese subtitled) I want fifty thousand. No less.
Later, Leia may be reacting as much to Jabba's physical actions as verbal ones:
LEIA We have powerful friends. You're gonna regret this...
JABBA (in Huttese subtitled) I'm sure.
Inexorably her lovely face moves to within a few inches of Jabba's ugly blob of a head, and Leia turns away in disgust.
LEIA Ugh!
Which is pretty much the last bit of dialogue for her and Jabba. They don't seem to have much to discuss after this...
However, considering the following:
- Leia was a Senator and diplomat and therefore probably knew quite a few languages. She apparently learned Ubese by this point, for instance.
- The Hutts are a powerful business entity in the galaxy, so Alderaan has possibly done business with them.
- Han certainly understands Huttese, so it isn't uncommon for Humans to learn.
It's not unreasonable to assume she understands the language. But from the movies at least, no confirmation that she does.
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According to C-canon, Liliac (and Jabba) spoke Basic.
Han bowed again. “Lord Jiliac,” he said, in Basic, “it is a privilege to meet you, Your Excellency. Your cousin Lord Tagta says that you are always in need of good pilots.”
“Pilot Solo”-Jiliac turned bulbous eyes layered in fat upon Han, and peered down at him with faint curiosity-
“do you speak and understand Huttese?” (Clearly, he spoke in Basic as he didn't know if Han understood Huttese)
“I understand it, Your Excellency. I do not speak it well enough to convey the beauty of the language, therefore it is not proper for me to attempt to utter it,” Han said earnestly.
...
Han bowed to the younger Hutt. “Greetings, Your Excellency.”
“Greetings, Captain Solo,” Jabba replied with a gracious wave of his small hand. “Your reputation precedes you.”
Jiliac held out his own hand. “Enough chitchat. The holocube, Captain?” “Certainly, Your Excellency.” Han produced it, handed it to Jiliac.
(src: Han Solo series Book 2 - The Hutt Gambit)
Please note that if you search for "Huttese" in book, you will see that it's very frequently mentioned that Hutts speak in Huttese specifically in various situations (including to Boba Fett). Therefore, the lack of such clarification here makes me assume it was Basic.
DVK-on-Ahch-To
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1I'd point out that he could have asked the question in Huttese, and if Han responded, he clearly understood. But I find that unlikely, since the author probably would not have written it that way without leaving an actual clue – The Fallen Mar 07 '14 at 00:52
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But is the question whether Jabba can speak Basic, or if he does to Leia? I don't see an instance in the movies where actually uses Basic. – joshbirk Mar 07 '14 at 00:55
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And reading the quote makes me follow @SSumner's logic. It actually seems to setup the fact that Jabba is speaking Huttese to Han, but the writer doesn't have to try to write in Huttese (being a novel and all). It doesn't really seem to prove that Jabba can speak Basic at all, much less that he ever spoke it to Leia - which was the actual question. – joshbirk Mar 07 '14 at 06:26
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1@joshbirk - see the last oaragraph. In that book, there are MANY instances of the author very explicitly noting when Jabba (and other Hutts) speak Huttese. There seems to be a consistent pattern, and assuming that here the author didn't say anything violates that pattern. – DVK-on-Ahch-To Mar 07 '14 at 12:12
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NOTE: I also have another source (Zorba book) but need to dig through it to complete the answer. – DVK-on-Ahch-To Mar 07 '14 at 14:42
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A) That still does not seem clear from the material provided in the answer and B) none of this answers the actual question being asked. We now have two answers focusing on a question from comments not raised by the asker. If people want to ask if Jabba KNOWS Basic, that should be a distinct question. – joshbirk Mar 07 '14 at 15:18
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@joshbirk - fair; but the question is based on (IMHO) 2 false assumptions: (1) that Jabba can't speak Basic in general and (2) that there were examples in the movie where Leia had to understand Huttese to get him. My answer addresses #1, and another answer, #2 – DVK-on-Ahch-To Mar 07 '14 at 15:27
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No, the question only asks if he spoke to her in Huttese or Basic. SSumner asked if it was possible. If anything, the question assumes he can speak Basic. – joshbirk Mar 07 '14 at 15:42
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@joshbirk - if he speaks Basic, there's no reason to worry about whether Leia understands Huttese. – DVK-on-Ahch-To Mar 08 '14 at 03:31
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Only if he actually speaks to her in Basic - which is what the question asked. It does not ask if he is capable of speaking in Basic, but whether he specifically does it to Leia. These are very, very different things and by answering one in now way answers the other. – joshbirk Mar 08 '14 at 03:39
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To put it another way, the question is asking whether or not you understand Spanish, or if I speak to you in English. I always speak to you in Spanish - so the fact that I know English is completely moot. It never even comes up in the actual context of the question. – joshbirk Mar 08 '14 at 04:10
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According to the canon short story 'Eclipse' by Madeleine Roux, Leia is indeed fluent in Huttese.
“According to her diplomatic profile, Princess Leia speaks both Huttese and Shyriiwook fluently. Regretfully, and as Your Majesty is keenly aware, the princess is merely proficient in Shyriiwook. This is, naturally, a failure of mine and not the princess, but I worry that such an error might cause her embarrassment. Oh, it is too, too humiliating.”
Breha allowed herself a smile and turned, putting a motherly hand on the droid’s shoulder. “It’s hardly your fault that Leia did not apply herself more rigorously. I wouldn’t worry. I’m struggling to imagine a scenario in which fluent Shyriiwook would benefit her.” The droid’s eyes flickered, brighter, as if in shock. “On this particular mission, of course,” the queen quickly added.
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There is no mention of Leia understanding Huttese, though she does seem to understand Jabba's comments. She is never spoken to in Huttese or professed to understand Huttese during the EU. She can speak Ubese, which she uses to speak to Jabba in Return of the Jedi.
Jabba, however, to answer the question put in the comments, is shown to both understand and speak Basic during the EU. Putting aside the two occasions DVK mentions in his answer -as I tend to side with SSumner on this, and did so when I read the trilogy in question years ago, that Jiliac and Jabba are in fact speaking Huttese and assuming that Solo understands as he answers - in Shadows of the Empire, Jabba speaks Huttese to Prince Xizor, who requests that he speak Basic. Jabba replies, in Basic, "as you wish," and continues the conversation in that language.
James Sheridan
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As noted in DVK's answer - Jabba's ability to speak Basic is not in the actual question. If someone wants to ask SSumner's question from the comments as a question, they could - but that isn't the question being asked here. – joshbirk Mar 07 '14 at 15:19
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I'm aware of that. That was simply an addendum to the main point, which is that there is no canonical reference to her understanding/ speaking Huttese one way or the other. Also, to be honest, when Harry Pringle is asking the question, I'm more interested in offering information to the other people reading, rather than him. See his question history for why. – James Sheridan Mar 15 '14 at 08:24