The world of Dragon Ball is inexhaustible. Akira Toriyama imagined a planet full of adventures capable of filling the imagination of entire generations with elements of fantasy and science fiction in which humans, monsters, androids and even aliens coexist. When Son Goku, the protagonist of his work, grew older, he took us by the hand to the ends of the universe. But, have you ever wondered how it is possible that beings like Frieza, the God of Destruction, and even the children of planet Earth speak the same language?
The curious thing about all this is that Toriyama, who often pretends to be clueless so as not to have to go around the bush in his answers, had already thought about it more than thirty years ago. But let’s start with the essentials: What language does Goku speak and how can he ask a dolphin for directions in his own language?
What is the official language of Planet Earth?
the planet earth of Dragon Ball it is governed by a single federal state divided into 43 zones. To put it badly and quickly, there is only one country in the entire world and it is ruled by a king, who manages the rest of the regions from the Great Castle located in the central Capital. And they all speak the same language.
The curious thing is that these areas can read texts in English, Japanese, Chinese and even strange signs. An example of the latter is Fungus Town, the city that was once under the control of the Toninjinka Rabbit Gang. So there is a common language and, in addition, there are cases in which an autochthonous language is used.
That animals can talk is also explained. Technically there are three classes of animals:
- The animal-men, such as Oolong, Puar or Shu, from Pilaf’s band, who have the same characteristics as humans, although some can transform. And they speak the common language.
- Animals with the ability to speak, like Old Roshi’s Turtle. They usually speak in common tongue, but some carry traits of their species into conversation.
- Finally, animals without the ability to speak. For example Bee, the dog of Mr. Satan and Buo, or the dinosaurs of the Capsule Corporation.
Earthlings generally get by in English with the occasional exception. Trunks wrote “Hope” (hope) in his time machine, and there we have the logo of the Capsule Corporation or the Kame House. However, the seal to contain Piccolo was written in Japanese, as well as the symbol on his clothing or those worn on the Turtle and Crane school uniform. But, for practical purposes, there is a shared language called “universal language“.
So far we can understand that all earthlings can talk to each other. But how is it possible that when the space warriors began to arrive they communicated so happily? To find the answer we have to do a trip to the planet Namek.
Piccolo means “Another World”, but only an Earthling knows it.
Until now we have talked about the fact that many languages and dialects coexist on planet Earth, but there was a time when only three people knew a strange language and none of them knew where it came from: the namekian. Basically, the language of the planet Namek.
The history of the dragon balls itself is born of an alien whose name was forgotten who, escaping from a natural catastrophe on his planet, ended up on earth. Given his enormous power and determination, he applied to Kami-Sama, the God of the Earth, but not before detaching himself from his evil, which broke free and wreaked destruction. under the name of Piccolo.
That was not a name chosen capriciously, but the first word of the one who will be Dragon Ball’s first alien language. It meant “Another world“and, for practical purposes, it was used to open the door of his spaceship. Only Kami-Sama, his assistant, and Piccolo knew Namekian, until Bulma, Son Goku’s adventure partner, needed to take a trip through space and decided to learn it for one purpose: to translate the ship’s voice commands to the world language.
Does that mean that in the space of the universe Dragon Ball are there many languages? Definitely yes. There are literally thousands. According to Dragon Ball: Compendium 4, there are more than 7,000 just in the universe where Son Goku and his friends live. But, for practical purposes, they all speak the same common language.
Regarding the language, apart from Namekian, their mother tongue, it is also confirmed that they are fluent in the universal language, which is the language used throughout the universe, including Earth.
Planets scattered throughout the universe often have many cultural peculiarities. Since all aliens know how to speak more or less the universal language, beings from different planets can communicate without problems when they meet. Even so, there seem to be more than 7,000 languages in the universe.
The best? It is not information that Toriyama thought afterward, but that it was already shown the first time that Frieza spoke with the Namekians during the namek saga.
In fact, a peculiarity of the Namekian dragon balls, in addition to their enormous size, is that you can only make wishes in the namekian language. If the universal language is used, even though the holy dragon of Namek can understand it, there is no effect. After all, and as the Great Elder of Namek said, it is an effective measure toTo prevent the spheres of desires from being misused.
The way in which the universes of Dragon Ball
That said, it can even be said that there is a hierarchy of its own within languages: despite the fact that angels and gods speak the universal language, and as is the case with the namek dragon balls, to invoke the Super Sacred Dragon in Dragon Ball super you have to know the language of the gods. The funny thing about the latter is that, for practical purposes, it’s basically Japanese spoken backwards.
So, was everything thought out from the beginning?
The first time Akira Toriyama showed the namekian language he still hadn’t figured out that Piccolo was an alien. Possibly, he hadn’t even considered Goku’s Saiyan origins. It was during the celebration of the 23rd Edition of the Great Martial Arts Tournament in which Piccolo and Shen (a human whose body Kami-Sama borrowed) spoke without being understood.
The idea was simple: the two were able to understand each other in a completely unknown language. But, until then, there were no more language barriers in Dragon Ball than Goku’s own ignorance of concepts such as what is “that bitter soup called coffee” or what “marry” means.
As the ambition and scale of Dragon Ball As they grew, Toriyama knew how to tie up many loose ends and build different cultures and symbols with what was already published. Just as it’s no coincidence that King Piccolo Daimaoh’s throne is almost identical to that of the Great Old One of Namek. And despite this, the father of Goku and Arale kept in mind, between adventures and tremendous battles, that something as simple and simple as language should be present in the Dragon World and far beyond, but, never considered it an obstacle neither for its characters nor for its readers.
Something that makes a lot of logic: for real Saiyans, words are superfluous: the best way to express yourself is quenching his endless thirst for combat.
