Undoubtedly, the characters that steal the spotlight in the ‘Despicable Me’ franchise are the Minions, those yellow creatures born to do evil. Although they are quite silly, there’s surely one that has already won your heart, despite not understanding what they are saying.
‘Despicable Me 4’: What Language Do the Minions Speak?
At last, the mystery has been solved: the franchise’s creators have revealed the language these characters speak, known as ‘Minionese’. This language is based on multiple languages, from Korean to Spanish.
Minionese is a language composed of onomatopoeias, isolated syllables, sounds, and words from various languages (French, Spanish, English, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and even Filipino, among others) that together form sentences which, though they may not make much sense, allow us to understand what these yellow characters are saying.
The reason for the language
This language was created by the film’s director and animator, Pierre Coffin (who voices all the Minions in the movie, including Kevin, Stuart, and Bob). He assures that there is a reason why the language of these characters draws from many other languages: they have lived on Earth for centuries and have helped many villains throughout history, mixing languages until creating their own.
An interesting fact about their language is that it can be called a ‘chaotic system’, as it does not follow a defined structure. In other words, it might have some equivalence to ‘Spanglish’, a linguistic variant between Spanish and English where speakers combine words from both languages when speaking.
Additionally, the translation of Minionese changes depending on the language into which the film is translated, mainly to avoid the characters saying something inappropriate or offensive in that language. However, this rule also applies to ensure that some jokes can be understood in each of the languages into which the film is translated.
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Finally, a curious fact mentioned by Adrián Chávez, TikToker and student of Hispanic language and literature, is that the Minions speak similarly to a character from the book (and the 1986 film adaptation) ‘The Name of the Rose’ by Umberto Eco, where Salvatore, a character who was born and grew up in the convent, speaks similarly, combining several languages at once.
@nochaveznada Responder a @jaosinthehouse ¿Qué #idioma hablan los #minions ? #lengua #idiomas #aprendeentiktok #lingüística #fyp #sorbito #banana
This could imply that to speak Minionese (or Banana Language, as it is known by fans), you must first know how to speak French, Spanish, English, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Filipino, and more. However, if you at least want to learn some phrases you can use in your daily life, here is a basic vocabulary:
- Hello – Beló
- How are you? – Come tá ti?
- Goodbye – Pupéi
- Thank you – Tankiu
- I love you – Tulalillo Ti Amo
- I hate you – Tatata Bala Tú
- Sorry – Baidú
- For you – Para tú
- Look at you – Luk at tú
- I’m hungry – Mi want banana
