Rating: 
Summary: Like studying spanish in school except fun!
Review: 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!
Rating: 
Summary: What a book...
Review: Before I bought this book, I knew Ben Burtt was a Star Wars expert. He is the sound designer for Star Wars. The knowledge of all the languages was astonoshing. I loved the behind-the-scenes part of the book. Ben Burtt shares a lot about how he found all of the different sounds and languages. This book is very funny because if you try to inagine yourself saying these things, it would feel funny. The way it was written was exellent. You could sense that the person telling the story knew his stuff. This book took place six years afer the battle of Yavin, which was intresting because it seemed that it had no difference at all. The illistrations in this book are so funny as well. Sergio Aragones did a very good job, because Star Wars type drawings are not easy at all! I think all the different variety of languages were essenial to this book. At the very ending of this book, it would transilate some of the aliens speech in Star Wars. I found that part wery intresting.Even with the subtitles in the movie, you had a little different experiance reading it. I read this book in two hours. It seemed so short! I would recoment this book strongly to any Star Wars fan. Even non-Star Wars fans would enjoy this book. Buy it, and you won't regret it!
Rating:
Summary: The essay inside by Burtt is thoroughly interesting!
Review: I bought this book chiefly because I am a fan of Sergio Aragonés' artwork; I am only a mild fan of Star Wars stuff. I was not blown away by the quality or humor of the Aragonés illustrations herein; there are not a lot of them, and none of them are really very funny. Plus, Aragonés did not do the cover art. But if you're one of those people who collect everything Aragonés 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 whiz 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 being available from any other source ' justifies the price of admission. Here is a typical exerpt: '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 before the latest movie, The Attack of the Clones, so that episode is not discussed. Also note that this is one of those smallish, subsized paperbacks. Handsomely printed, though.
Rating:
Summary: The essay inside by Burtt is thoroughly interesting!
Review: I bought this book chiefly because I am a fan of Sergio Aragonés' artwork; I am only a mild fan of Star Wars stuff. I was not blown away by the quality or humor of the Aragonés illustrations herein; there are not a lot of them, and none of them are really very funny. Plus, Aragonés did not do the cover art. But if you're one of those people who collect everything Aragonés 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 whiz 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 being available from any other source ' justifies the price of admission. Here is a typical exerpt: '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 before the latest movie, The Attack of the Clones, so that episode is not discussed. Also note that this is one of those smallish, subsized paperbacks. Handsomely printed, though.
Rating:
Summary: The essay inside by Burtt is thoroughly interesting!
Review: 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 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.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent addition to the library of any Star Wars fan.
Review: 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).
Rating:
Summary: Learn the Languages of Star Wars
Review: This is a funny little book. In it, Ben Burtt has compiled a lexicon of several languages from the Star Wars movies. Among the languages that you can learn are Jawa, Ewok, Tusken Raider, Hutt, Neimodian, Bocce, Wookie, Droid and Gungan. This is a pretty impressive list. Each species has their own spotlight, and a list of phrases that are in their own language and in Basic (English). These include for example: Smeekeeya whao toupee upee. (Huttese: Smile when you say that.) and Mesa greeting, In peace mesa comen. (Gungan: I come in peace.)
For die-hard Star Wars fans, this is a must to have. Try memorizing it. ;) Burtt writes this with a funny and upbeat tone to it.
In addition, there is a section on how Ben Burtt (The author and sound technition for all the movies.) came up with the various noises that we hear in the films. This is interesting to read.
Lastly, there is a section with the movie script in it, for A New Hope and Return of the Jedi, so you can impersonate Greedo or the Ewoks.
However, I did find some problems with this book. One is the price. It is about $[money], which is a lot for a small book. The novels are less than that.
Secondly, the words are hard to pronounce, and there is no pronounceation guide included. It would make saying the things so much easier.
Third, I would have liked to have seen more languages, so hopefully they will update this with some dilects from Attack of the Clones.
This is a cool little book to have. If you like Star Wars, check it out!
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious!
Review: Whether you're and expanded universe freak (must read every Star Wars book ever published), or a purist (movies only, please) this book promises to be helpful, interesting, and funny. Any Star Wars library would be incomplete without this this cute little volume, full to the brim of 'information' on languages such as huttese, wookie-speak, the ewok language, and a host of others, making it a must for Star Wars fans of all ages and walks of life. As if all that wasn't enough, there's also a bonus section in the back, detailing just how many of the sounds and languages from the movies were developed. Do yourself a favor and get this book. You won't regret it!
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious!
Review: Whether you're and expanded universe freak (must read every Star Wars book ever published), or a purist (movies only, please) this book promises to be helpful, interesting, and funny. Any Star Wars library would be incomplete without this this cute little volume, full to the brim of 'information' on languages such as huttese, wookie-speak, the ewok language, and a host of others, making it a must for Star Wars fans of all ages and walks of life. As if all that wasn't enough, there's also a bonus section in the back, detailing just how many of the sounds and languages from the movies were developed. Do yourself a favor and get this book. You won't regret it!
Rating:
Summary: What a book...
Review: 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.
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