Star Wars Galactic Phrase Book & Travel Guide

Star Wars Galactic Phrase Book & Travel Guide
by Ben Burtt

Whether doing business with the Hutts of trying to get a decent haircut on Coruscant, the Galactic Phrase Book & Travel Guide is an invaluable tool for galactic travelers. Vividly illustrated by Sergio Aragonés , this handy volume covers the basics, including:

• Greetings – H’chu apenkee, o’grandio lust: “Greetings, glorious host” in Huttese. It doesn’t hurt to be nice, and it might hurt you not to.
• Travel arrangements – Zat x’ratch keezo bompoz ha sheep: in Bocce, “That scratch was there when I rented the ship.”
• Bargaining for your life – Huwaa muaa mumwa: “Can I buy you a drink?” in Wookiee-speak. Try it. It just might work.

A must have when travelling without your protocol droid!

The Galactic Empire has collapsed and NOW is the time to travel. Hitch a ride and joy scenic Kashyyyk. Looking for happening Tatooine nightlife? Now you can travel freely throughout the galaxy without fear of verbal blunders with the new Star Wars Galactic Phrase Book & Travel Guide, which will help you navigate through more than seven languages and the most popular tourist spots in the most unlikely of places.

This book includes greetings, partings, common phrases, and even ways to avoid getting yourself killed.

In all seriousness, the travel guide and phrase book part of this book is pretty interesting. You’ll recognize some lines from both the prequels and the original trilogy and you can start to see how the languages were arranged and how they mirror real Earth languages.

But the really interesting thing for me was the second half of the book. In this half, Ben Burtt describes what it was like to be the head sound guy on all of the Star Wars movies, how he was inspired to use specific sounds in new ways, and how he turned sounds into languages. It’s really interesting from a Behind the Scenes point of view and if you’re one of those people who buys DVDs for the extra stuff, this might be something for you.

It’s a little for fun book and probably isn’t something you would necessarily go out and look for, but if you happen across it and are a Star Wars fan with a couple spare dollars, I’d say go ahead and pick this one up.