CT Do you speculate what Chewie is saying?

Personally, I do. I do so for him more than R2. Share what you believe Chewie is saying in certain scenes.

For example, in this one, I imagine that Chewie's reply to Lando is this: "He's no loser!"

 

Maybe this whole time Chewie did think Han was a loser?

 

Yeah, I admit that after that weeks-long chase, when I was a little kid, I thought Chewie said, "Yeah!" mournfully.

 

Never gave that any thought. However I would have preferred him to have a real LANGUAGE, not just grunts. We see that could be done even in SW, like Huttese. But frankly I never bought that the human ear, even Han's, could really make sense out of those grunts/growls that to me honestly always sound the same. I know it's fantasy, but there are some things I'm just not buying even in fantasy. One single growl in any world can't possibly express a complex meaning like "where did Luke find that old guy?". There physically is just no way. A sound is only made up of wavelengths, and the human ear can not filter out subtle meanings like that, even if that human has super-human powers, which Han does not.
It doesn't really bother me, it's just one of the things I have accepted. It's different with R2 and 3PO. 3PO is a ROBOT and therefore has the ability to decode what to us just sounds like beeps from R2. But a human? No way.

 

Nope. It never mattered to me with Chewie or R2 because I got the gist of the convo based on whoever was replying be it Anakin, Han, Luke, Leia or Rey.

I actually love the sounds. R2's blips and Chewie's growls.

 

Great thread! It's one of those things that really deserve attention, IMHO (Most definitely I'm not going to watch Solo just because of Solo! Hope the official subtitle is "and the mighty Chewbacca" ).

Yeah, I'd really love to know more what Chewie actually did say. One of the few occasions was this one in ANH:

HAN Boy you said it, Chewie.
HAN Where did you dig up that old fossil?

Or how Solo reacted to Chewie's heads-up in ROJ:

HAN Wait. I can't see, pal. What's goin' on?
Chewie barks an excited blue streak.
HAN Luke? Luke's crazy. He can't even take care of himself, much less
rescue anybody.
Chewie barks a reply.
HAN A...Jedi Knight? I--I'm out of it for a little while, everybody gets
delusions of grandeur.

 

I've always tried guessing what Chewie means in his replies. In the conversation mentioned above, in Chewie's reply about Luke being a Jedi Knight, it sounds like Chewie is actually saying Jedi Knight in reply to Han. It's the only time I remember him saying anything that sounds closest to being English.

 

I always got the impression that the humans could understand Artoo because what he beeps also displays in Aurebesh on his console, or alternatively on the X-Wing console.

 

One of the things I loved about Ian Doescher's The Force Doth Awaken is that it includes translations of Chewie's lines. He's really quite well-spoken and literate.

 

In Shyriiwook, that's what "A Star Wars Story" means

 

"I have had it with these **********ing Porg on this **********ing ship!"

 

^ Traveling fare shouldn't interfere with the controls of the ship...

 

Now, you know.

 

@SateleNovelist11

Yes, I do try to imagine what Chewie is saying.

I picture myself communicating with my own dogs using speech with heavy body language. Dogs understand a whole lot more than we give them credit for. If you motion in a certain direction, they get it. They understand context and are able to remember commands that go with particular syllables (speak, sit, roll over, turn, stand, shake, etc). You have to properly set up the context for them to understand your intentions. They might bark a few times at you either in excitement or frustration.

Han and Chewie generally seem to understand each other using context cues and body language. Generally, Han is leading Chewie. So, Chewie can only comment on a few things to add to what Han is saying.

If Han is talking about Lando, the name Lando probably registers with Chewie, then Chewie throws in a few moans. Han understands Chewie is helping him remember a few details about Lando. The body language and tone that Chewie uses (head nodding, sad or happy, etc) is probably more important than him referring to anything specific.

Sometimes the roles are reversed with Chewie leading Han. In those situations, Han seems generally more confused about what is going on. With the roles reversed, Chewie now creates the context for Han to follow.

 

More of those, please!

 

Here's a sample of what Chewie is really saying.

Well, here's the onset audio of Darth Vader....

He kind of sounds like Rick Moranis, actually.

 

Staying on topic...