Spanish

This article is non-canon within the Star Wars Legends continuity.

This article covers a Star Wars Legends subject that was published under the Infinities label or that Lucasfilm otherwise declared non-canon within the Legends continuity.

"I am C-3PO, human cyborg relations, and I'm fluent in over 6 million forms of—"
"Uh-oh! En este clase, nosotros hablamos en español. Bueno? Bueno."

―C-3PO and Alfonso^[1]

Spanish was a language that utilized the High Galactic as its script. To speakers of the language, it was known as español. The Ithorian Alfonso taught a class of students—including the protocol droid C-3PO—how to speak the language. In 0 BBY, the moisture farmer Owen Lars questioned C-3PO regarding his fluency in Spanish.

Description

"Me llamo Alfonso. Y tu? Como te llamas?"
"Me… llamo?"
"Sí."
"C-3PO."
"Sí. 3PO."

―Alfonso and C-3PO^[1]

Spanish—known in the language itself as español—utilized the High Galactic as its script. The word sí was used to express affirmation and sounded similar to the High Galactic letter "C" spoken in Galactic Basic Standard.^[1]

History

"Well, do you speak Spanish or not?"
"Sí… 3PO."

―Owen Lars and C-3PO^[1]

Spanish was spoken by the Ithorian Alfonso, who taught students how to speak the language^[1] by 0 BBY.^[2] Members of the class attempting to learn the language included the droids C-3PO and R2-D2, the Human Lobot, and the Aqualish Ponda Baba. C-3PO struggled to introduce himself to the class when Alfonso requested that the protocol droid introduce himself using the language, initially speaking in Galactic Basic Standard. Due to the letter "C" in his name sounding like the Spanish word sí, C-3PO attempted to correct Alfonso—once again in Basic—when they misinterpreted his name as simply "3PO." Alfonso eventually angrily ordered C-3PO to take his seat and demanded that R2-D2 speak in Spanish when taking his turn, misidentifying the astromech droid as "Arturito."^[1]

Some time later, when the moisture farmer Owen Lars purchased C-3PO^[1] in 0 BBY,^[2] he asked the protocol droid in Basic if he spoke Spanish. C-3PO responded affirmatively with the word sí, though dejectedly followed it with "3PO" after remembering his experience in Alfonso's class.^[1]

Behind the scenes

Spanish appeared in a sketch from the 2010 sketch comedy special Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III.^[1] It is named after and derived from the real-world language of the same name.^[3]

The name by which Alfonso refers to R2-D2 in Spanish^[1] is derived from the Latin American Spanish language dub of the film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, in which his name is pronounced "Arturito." As a result of R2-D2's name not being translated to Latin American Spanish, his name is presented as "Arturito," the diminutive form of "Arturo," implying that he is nicknamed "Little Arthur" in Spanish. The use and reasoning behind R2-D2's identification as "Arturito" in the Latin American Spanish dub of A New Hope is elaborated upon in "Arturito and Me," a 2021 StarWars.com article by Carlos Miranda.^[4]