Twi'leki | the Twi'lek Language

In the Star Wars universe, Twi'leki (known as Ryl when accompanied with precise lekku movements) is the language spoken by the Twi'leks.

First of all, here are some important grammatical notes:

1. The word 'tun' ('you') becomes 'tuno' ('you') when being used directly following a verb. For example, 'damn you' would be translated as 'ixta tuno' rather than 'ixta tun'. This is not an automatic mechanic of the translator, and needs to be added manually by the user.

2. Definite ('the') & indefinite ('a' or 'an') articles are not words in the Twi'leki language, due to the fact that such articles are determined by lekku movements made during speech. For example, the term 'the rock' would be spoken simply as 'nat', with the definite article ('the') added with a subtle upward inflection of both lekku tips at once. However, if the speaker does not have lekku, or the Twi'leki is in writing and needs explicit specification, the words for 'one' ('uza') and 'a' ('uza') are used interchangeably when needed, and a definite article is implied otherwise.

It started simply as a lexicon, created by many dedicated fans and Twi'lek roleplayers, back in the days before the prequel saga had ended. This lexicon was far from perfect—with many internal inconsistencies, and lacking a cohesive grammatical structure among other things—but it was still inspired, and had the bones of a really beautiful language. Sometime afterwards, elements of Twi'leki were included in the Clone Wars TV series, which means there are currently very limited bits of Twi'leki that are considered to be canon. The good news of this is that means there is lots of room for the language to grow.

That's where this translator comes in. I've read the language as it was in the 'good old days' of Twi'lek Roleplay, and am working on shaping this conlang into a language that is fully usable by fans and characters alike... Not unlike Elvish, Klingon, Dothraki, Mando'a, Na'vi or any other conlangs (constructed languages) from popular culture. My dream is to make the language fully cohesive and applicable to both the current Star Wars canon as well as Legends. As with any kind of fanon, though, this site is meant to serve as a jumping off point for shaping roleplay and is in no way the final word on what is or isn’t Twi’leki.

And yes, I totally just quoted Kiva Seela'Blen, I'm a big fan of her contributions to the Twi'lek lore and would very much recommend her site here if you want to trace where much of this conlang originated. EDIT: That link is redundant. I still encourage checking the link out through archive.org, though.

For the time being though, this translator is still a massive work in progress, and not an actual operating translator, yet. If you want to help out, or discuss this more, feel free to PM me (username: Sakie) on Star Wars: Legacies (thestarwarsrp.com)! Also note that this is designed primarily for Basic to Twi'leki, not Twi'leki to Basic. It does have some limited function in the latter regard, but it is likely to appear very poor English, as well as come up with incorrect outputs when using words including apostrophes (glottal stops).