Can humans understand R2D2's beeps?

It seems in some scenes that people are able to understand R2D2 but most of the time Threepio seems to translate for him. An example of being understood is when Luke and Artoo are on Dagobah...

 

I think most of the time, Luke guesses at what R2's saying.

 

I'm thinking speed and duration of beeps can kind of tell luke what R2-D2 is sort of saying.

 

You mean, you DON'T understand him???

 

repair guy: this R2 unit seems a bit beat up, you want a new one?


luke: not on your life. that little droid and i have been through a lot together, you okay artoo?

artoo: bleep, bleep, bleep
(translation: no, im not feeling too good after getting zapped and everything, plus i havent known you that long and im still pretty bummed about my master dying, so if you dont mind, i think i'll skip this suicide mission.)

luke: good!

 

In the books,it tells how Luke can uselly get the general drift of what R2 is saying,but needs a computer to tell exactly.

 

I always thought that Luke talked to R2 like we would talk to a dog. Through the inflection of its beep's, and in context of the situation, Luke can tell what R2 is trying to convey, and alot of time Luke is just self-reflecting when he talks to R2.

The exception, of course, is when in the X-Wing, the computer translates R2's beeps.

 

[Nick Gillard:] You don't speak droid, do you?

 

They only understand him when they're in a fighter. Artoo's beeps are translated on a screen, I think.

 

they are? i can't beleived i missed it!

there's a book that tells you how to speak droid, it interprest the buzzes, chrips, whistles and grunts

 

hey, for people like me, who can connect to the internet without a computer or modem, understanding R2's chirpings is child's play.