Star Wars: Galactic Phrase Book & Travel Guide

"The Galactic Phrase Book & Travel Guide" is an unusual concept and one that works surprisingly well. While a guide book, it is written of course for entertainment value and reads quickly. The book is packed with humorous drawings, expressions and cultural suggestions so that one never commits a faux pas, something which could get a traveler killed on the wrong system. One humorous extraction is that there is no word for "please" or "thank you" in Huttese. From the deep core to the outer rim, learn to count and speak basic phrases in Huttese, Bocce, Ewok, Wookiee, Jawa and even Gungan. While the Star Wars universe has no equivalent to a work like "the Klingon Dictionary," this is not only the next best thing, it's more enjoyable. From young children to adults, all Star Wars fans will enjoy this linguistic adventure.

This invaluable resource is a necessary guide on the basics of effective communication for anyone planning to travel through the Star Wars universe. Written in an easy-to-read, humorous style and divided into eleven chapters, part one of this volume covers many commonly used phrases and terms in languages that range from Huttese to Bocce to Droidspeak. It also offers essential cultural advice and protocol rules that you will need to familiarize yourself with in order to increase your chances of survival as you come across numerous different situations in your voyage. All the phrases presented are printed out phonetically, so no bothersome pronunciation guidelines are given or needed. Part two, "Behind the Sounds," is an engrossing, well written, 43-page account, complete with behind-the-scenes photos, of the author's journey of inspiration and creation of the sound effects and languages of the original trilogy films. Included in his story are fascinating technical details mixed with often hilarious anecdotes such as having spent a whole day recording bear sounds to be used when putting together Chewbacca's speech, and mixing and re-mixing mechanically and electronically generated beeps, chirps and bleeps to give R2-D2 an "emotional" voice. Printed in an attractive pocket-sized format, this book is thoroughly illustrated in the best Star Wars style with laugh-out-loud drawings by Sergio Aragones of MAD Magazine fame. As a bonus, an appendix with selected scenes from A New Hope and Return of the Jedi is included to help you practice your alien speech. Although this book doesn't contain any information on the Star Wars universe subsequent to The Phantom Menace, it is an entertaining, fun and enjoyable way to explore the societies, their languages and activities, of the galaxy far, far away. As the Ewoks would say, this book is "yun yum di goot" (very good). --Reviewed by Maritza Volmar

I bought this book chiefly because I am a fan of Sergio Aragones' artwork; I am only a mild fan of Star Wars stuff. I was not blown away by the quality or humor of the Aragones illustrations herein: there are not a lot of them, and none of them are really very funny. Plus, Aragones did not do the cover art. But if you're one of those people who collect everything Aragones does, then this is a must-have. If you're just looking for some Sergio stuff on Star Wars, I'd recommend a comic that came out a couple of years ago called "Sergio Stomps Star Wars." That should be enough for you; this book doesn't really add anything to that. As for the section on the translations of various alien phrases to be found in the Star Wars universe, it's strictly for pre-teens. Doubtful you'd spend more than a few minutes with it. What makes this book a winner, though, is the 43-page gem of an essay by Ben Burtt, the sound prodigy on the Star Wars movies, on the creation, inspiration, and various techniques for his award-winning effects. I wasn't expecting much from this piece, but it turned out to be well-written and completely engrossing. This essay alone (and I'm not aware of its being available from any other source) justifies the price of admission. Here is a typical excerpt: "Anyway, the sounds for the Tusken Raiders were inspired by the odd and often chilling donkey braying the crew heard in Tunisia during the location shooting. Donkeys were used to pack the tons of film equipment into the remote locations. Occasionally they would burst into barks and screeches during the shooting and be audible in the background of a take, thus ruining it. But their vocals echoing off the canyon walls proved weird and scary, so they were recorded and sent back to me. I added more to this collection back in the United States and incorporated some other elements of animal breathing and wheezing. Cut and blended together, the result was the speech of the Tusken Raiders." [p.139] If you find this kind of stuff interesting, you're unlikely to rue purchasing this book. Regrettably, Burtt's essay was written just the Attack of the Clones came out, so that movie is not discussed. Also note that this is one of those smallish, subsized paperbacks. Handsomely printed, though.

An amazingly funny and informative little book. It is really a textbook on several different languages from the Star Wars universe, but with all the comedic phrases and cute comics, you will soon forget that. This book is truly very informative when it comes to alien languages, from huttese to bocce, and even droid-speak! this book will have you saying such phrases as; "Da beesga coo palyeeya pityee bo tenya go kaka juju hoopa!" or "Wua ga ma uma ahuma ooma!" or perhaps if you are like me, "Kavaa kyotopa bu whirlee backa?" Overall, this is a fantastic book, and if you don't buy it to learn another language, buy it for the supercute family of Aleenas on the front and back! Mee jewz ku, coo ya maya stupas!

Who knew that Ben Burtt was so funny? But he is.Do not...I repeat, do not sneak a read of this book while at work or school. You will get caught when you laugh out loud. It is that funny.You not only get the phrases that you've probably seen in the previews, but you get "cultural information" that is priceless. And the illustrations by Sergio Aragones are destined to become classics.But wait! There's more! There's also a "Behind the Sounds" section that goes through how Ben Burtt created many of the sounds Star Wars fans hold dear. And there are also great translations of scenes from the Classic Trilogy that use alien languages.If you're a Star Wars fan, you'll really love this book. (Thank you DelRey for putting out some humor!) If you're not a fan, but trying to find something for someone who is, then get this book. They'll thank you for it.