History Main / StarfishLanguage

** One thing it got right (at least in episodes IV-VI) is that most aliens are incapable of speaking human languages, and vice versa. Unlike many other science fiction narratives that rely on unrealistic translation devices, Star Wars depicts characters who either possess fluency in multiple languages or utilize sentient translator robots known as "protocol droids," such as [=C-3PO=].

** One thing it got right (at least in episodes IV-VI) is that most aliens are incapable of speaking human languages, and vice versa. Rather than using implausible TranslatorMicrobes, the characters are all either fluent in a variety of languages, [[BilingualDialogue so they can understand alien languages even if they can't speak them]], or else they rely on sentient translator robots -- "Protocol Droids" -- like [=C-3PO=] to interpret for them.
*** The most prominent (and famous) example would be the conversations between Han Solo and Chewbacca. Humans are physically unable to speak Shiriwook (the language of the Wookies) and vice-versa, Wookies cannot properly vocalize Galactic Basic. Han and Chewie ''know both languages'', though, so they just answer to each other in their respective languages.

* ''Film/MenInBlack3'' also has O giving an alien-language eulogy that's a bunch of shrill cries something like a cross between howler monkeys and various tropical birds.

* An adaptation depicts the language of the Film/{{Transformers}} as sounding like a cross between a howling velociraptor and a burst of computer noise. This is reasonable, given that they're robots.
** The movie proper gives them [[https://youtu.be/zZJgZw4KsR4?t=54 deep muttering noises.]] Frenzy, for some reason, has a much higher and more frenetic series of noises, though it certainly fit him.
** One of the myriad [[AllThereInTheManual manuals]] explains that spoken Cybertronian is extremely efficient -- a few sounds can contain lots of information -- and the prequel comics show that they are also capable of "texting" each other soundlessly (this is how Bumblebee communicated with the other Autobots after having his throat destroyed), but this is highly impersonal and typically only used for battlefield orders and such like.
** The Mini-Cons talk in bleeps and whistles similar to the droids in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' universe. Each major Minicon has a distinct "voice," his or her range of noises being unique. Humans and large Transformers who are partnered with Mini-Cons learn to understand their partners (although the English dub didn't really make this clear). The Mini-Cons eventually learn to speak English as well.
* The native language of the Tenctonese in the first ''Film/AlienNation'' movie resembles the popping of bubble wrap run through a synthesizer; technically, they're all sounds humans can make, but few human languages use them.

* The virtually indescribable language spoken by Thermians among themselves in ''Film/GalaxyQuest''. It's sort of screechy. The DVD, in typical ''Film/GalaxyQuest'' fashion, offers the option of watching the movie dubbed into Thermian. ''Someone'' at Dreamworks was having a lot of fun.
* ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'' featured a musical {{motif}} throughout the film, which turned out to be a variant of ArcWords. Specifically, the aliens communicate through musical notes. However, it is not clear whether it represented their own language so much as the idea that music is a universal language and can thus be the first step in interspecies communication.

* The aliens of ''Film/{{District 9}}'', due to having mandibles and tentacles in place of teeth and lips, speak with insect-like clicks and chirrs, which means they can't even pronounce the [[FantasticRacism human names]] that are foisted upon them by the MegaCorp. By the time the movie takes place, however, the humans who regularly work with the aliens have apparently managed to learn their language, and vice versa, so the film is full of BilingualDialogue.
* In ''Film/ReturnToOz,'' two of the Wheelers briefly communicate in what is presumably their native language, which sounds a bit like a bicycle horn.
* In the film ''Film/GhidorahTheThreeHeadedMonster'', Mothra, Godzilla, and Rodan start communicating with one another... in roars, chirps, growls, and various other animalistic languages. Since the human characters don't understand what the monsters are saying, they rely on the Shobijin to translate for them.
* In ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'' Kirk and his crew must travel back in time to acquire live humpback whales (extinct InUniverse by the early 21st century) and transport them to the 23rd century because whales are the only beings capable of communicating with an alien ship that is unwittingly devastating the Earth. Originally, no one knew what the ear-piercing screeches that the probe was emitting were, until Spock had the bright idea of running them through a water environment filter, making them sound like whale song.
* In ''Film/DateWithAnAngel'', the angel's speech resembles birdsong, though she can understand human speech just fine. At the end of the movie, she takes on human form and speaks English.
* The HumanAliens and their RidiculouslyHumanRobots in ''Film/MoscowCassiopeia'' initially communicate through a series of short whistles that are incomprehensible to humans. They are, however, understood by the [[TranslatorMicrobes translation devices]] worn by humans. It's stated by one crewmember in her log that the human ear is incapable of telling the whistles apart. Fortunately, the aliens and the robots are quick learners and switch to Russian fairly quickly (to the point where ''all'' robots communicate in Russian even if they're talking to one another with no humans present). The robots also quickly pick up human mathematical symbols, even though (a + b)[[superscript:2]] should look like gibberish to them without proper references. The aliens' own written language looks like a series of lines, crossing one another at 45- and 90-degree angles. When reading them, an alien appears to use his palm as a reading aid by turning it to follow the line.
* In ''Film/BattleBeyondTheStars'', Caymin has two henchmen of the Kelvin race who communicate by radiating heat. Their excitement to greet Nanelia causes them to almost burn her, and they later weaponize it against a Malmori tank using sonic cannons (since the Kelvins also have [[DisabilitySuperpower no ears]]).
* ''Film/TheMarvels2023'': The people of Aladna can only communicate by singing and can't understand normal speech. Prince Yan is "bilingual" for being able to speak plainly to the heroines.

* [[https://www.omniglot.com/conscripts/rikchik.htm Rikchik]], a creation of Denis Moskowitz, is a sign language for tentacled aliens (rikchiks) with no sense of hearing. Humans can't speak it, though they could theoretically learn to understand it. From the rikchiks' perspective, human languages are even more of a Starfish Language -- we communicate over a completely foreign medium.

* The Manji tribe from ''WesternAnimation/{{Jumanji}}'' speak a language consisting of clicks, hoots, raspberries and apparently full arm gestures. Humans can learn it, and Alan and Peter do, but to Judy it remains utterly incomprehensible. It also includes five hundred words for pain.

* ''Crystal Balls'', a one-off programme where Griff Rhys Jones riffed on old examples of science fiction prediction, included a short piece from TheFifties in which a scientist explained this possibility and suggested communication with such aliens based on creating the shapes of recognisable constellations using magnets or onions (if they 'saw' in terms of magnetism or smell, that is). [[FridgeLogic Of course, why then would they recognise the shape of a constellation?]]

* The Jan in ''Literature/AlienInASmallTown'' have a natural sonar sense, and communicate by projecting a rough approximation of the echoes that different objects would give off. The author acknowledges that the idea first appeared in the novel ''A Deeper Sea'' by Alexander Jablokov -- a novel in which this is how whales and dolphins communicate.

** There's an earlier example, too, appearing in Wheelie's ''Spotlight'' issue. Stranded on a planet whose natives' langue seems untranslatable for a time, it turns out they can only understand people who [[RhymesOnADime talk in rhyme]].

* ''Film/TheMarvels'': The people of Aladna can only communicate by singing and can't understand normal speech. Prince Yan is "bilingual" for being able to speak plainly to the heroines.

* ''Film/TheMarvels'': The people of Aladna can only communicate by singing and can't naturally understand normal speech. Prince Yan is "bilingual" for being able to actually speak to the heroines.

** [[OurKoboldsAreDifferent Kobolds]] are capable of full communication via fine, rapid nose twitches. As this is a racial ability raher than a language, it's not possible for an individual of any other race to learn to ''understand'' what a kobold is communicating.

* The Mor-tax in ''Series/WarOfTheWorlds1988'' speak a mixture of English ("speak as the body would speak") and Mor-taxian. Although a thorough lexicon wasn't developed, the Mor-taxian version of their {{catchphrase}}, "To Life Immortal" was consistently presented as "tu doe nok tay".

* [[http://jbr.me.uk/euro/ Europan]], a language used by a long-extinct species of aquatic aliens on Jupiter's moon Europa. Besides being "spoken" through a combination of bioelectric signals and tentacle configurations, it has the supremely bizarre property of not having a hierarchical sentence structure. While words do form clauses with "parent" and "child" words, there is absolutely no requirement for there to be a "root" node or for all words in a sentence to fit into a single graph. Some Europan sentences have a ''cyclical'' structure, with parent-child relations going around in an endless loop.

** The language used by the Vakhi, which are fully robots rather than biomechanical, constructed to act as law enforcement, was originally believed to be a starfish language because it was outside of normal range of hearing, and could only be translated with a special device that only the ruler of the city had access to. The Toa Metru were shocked when they returned to the abandoned city and encountered malfunctioning Vakhi who spoke normally. They theorized that the Vakhi had secretly been speaking in normal language all along but in ultrasonic.

* In Creator/RobinMcKinley's 2010 novel ''Literature/{{Pegasus}}'', Pegasus' language consists of much whuffling, tilting of heads and/or ears, body language/limb placement and gesturing with 'alula-hands' (tiny vestigial "fingers" at the joint of the wing) as well as a modified form of telepathy with certain humans. Humans, leave us say, are not... terribly good at learning it, though it is required for certain ceremonial occasions involving royalty.

%% * The Enelsians from ''ComicBook/AstroCity''.