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  • Subject: Covenant Speak English
Subject: Covenant Speak English
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Okay I just got the halo le xbox which is really sweet and faster than my old one and i was playing halo again for the umpteenth time and on truth and reconciliation in one of the cutscenes where you rescue captain keyes. he says that he overheard the guards saying that halo was a weapon of some sort. I know there have been other topics saying that the mc can understand them because of the translators in his suit but how about captain keyes. anywayz i thought that was kind of interesting that he could understand them when he was in the cell on the truth and reconciliation.

  • 05.29.2004 8:07 AM PDT
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i think he was interigated right before he was put in his cell. And during that they spoke english. i think they asked him if he knew where the key for halo was.

  • 05.29.2004 9:22 AM PDT
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Okay...

The Covenant DO speak some English. This was shown in their first words to humans, in the declaration of war, "The Gods have willed your destruction and we are their instrument."

This struck a bit of horror into the humans because this act showed that the Covenant had been watching us for some time, and long enough to learn at least one of our languages.

Jacob Keyes is also an intelligent man. Not only does he have knowledge of how to pilot Covenant craft, as seen at the end of that chapter, but I'm sure he also understands a bit of the Covenant's language.

Anytime you've heard the Covenant speak English in the game, it's their own talent, not translated.

  • 05.29.2004 12:49 PM PDT
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FYI guys, everything the Elites say in the game is Sarge's voice. They took what he said.. and played it in reverse.

Some info about this is on halo.bungie.org, dont remember where though.

  • 05.29.2004 1:25 PM PDT
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you know what i think, thats if it even matters...i think that it was just something they just added i mean come on! an alien race bent on destroyin human life and they want to pick up the language! aint that abit far fetched! if you went and killed everyone in france, would you want to speak their language all of the time?

  • 05.29.2004 3:20 PM PDT
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Posted by: dagoth ur
you know what i think, thats if it even matters...i think that it was just something they just added i mean come on! an alien race bent on destroyin human life and they want to pick up the language! aint that abit far fetched! if you went and killed everyone in france, would you want to speak their language all of the time?


Yes, if I was to kill everyone in France (hmmm...might put that on my to-do list sometime!) I would want to speak their language for a variety of reasons. First, it's far easier to conduct espionage and intelligence gathering when you can understand the communications of a culture based heavily on language (not just France, but all of humanity in this case). Second, threats are much easier to make and propaganda much easier to spread if one utilizes one's enemy's own tongue. There's a few other reasons too, but i dont want to ramble :)

  • 05.29.2004 7:53 PM PDT
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Yeah, yeah, he's got you there.

The one thing that I never understood about the whole "Covies speaking english" thing is that they spoke it to each other. When you died in Legendary, a Grunt would ask, "Can I keep his helmet?" I don't know why he'd ask YOU that, seeing how he just blew you away. Eh. Just a thought.

  • 05.29.2004 8:21 PM PDT
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I Once found this on bungie website as a link i think. Any way it was playing the elite speak backward and it sounded exactly like sargent johnson sayin thing like stay low soldire, Dont even think about it, and Unstopable arrrrrrgggghhaa. Ill look for it and post a link if i can find it. Very interesting stuff tho.

I found it!!!! http://www.billmackenzie.net/xbill/xbox/halo/stuff/elitespeak .html

[Edited on 5/29/2004 8:25:35 PM]

  • 05.29.2004 8:22 PM PDT
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The grunts are translated and the elites at least are able to speak some english

  • 05.29.2004 8:28 PM PDT
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Even there launguage is english im telling you!!!!

http://www.billmackenzie.net/xbill/xbox/halo/stuff/elitespeak .html

Just copy and paste ( i dont know how to make it a link)

[Edited on 5/29/2004 8:36:46 PM]

  • 05.29.2004 8:32 PM PDT
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kidder...great one mate you made some great points which i didnt think about.

  • 05.30.2004 2:19 AM PDT
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Granted, the Covenant can speak some English, some more than others and beleive it or not, it the book 'The Flood' it would seem the Elites are the most capable of our language (though it is abit contradictory to the grunts in the game). anyhoo i feel that Keyes overhearing them was just to get the plot moving and the main theme of the game going. because wheter the Covenant can speak it or not, would you give away such VITAL knowledge of the Halo ring to prisoners whom you despise, IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE?!? I don't think so. you only have to go abroad and when someone looks at you and says their language which you don't understand in a snooty way the power of language. why would the covenant slip up so badly? therefore i think its purely for story perposes, but i hope it doesn't happen again in halo 2 as it is a little farfetched don't you think?

  • 05.30.2004 2:57 AM PDT
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Since Covenant have been messing around with Humans for a little while by the time of the events in the game, I thought that it implied that Keyes learned a bit of the Elites' language. They let him overhear because they didn't expect him to know it. Cortana didn't seem to assume that the cap'n would know how to pilot the enemy dropship out, so I think he's picked up more from the Covenant than most humans get a chance to.

I think that Bungie used reverse speech in the game just so that the Elites' speech would seem convincing. It sounds like it could be something coming out of a mouth that's not human, but still a mouth. I don't know of an easier way to produce such sound than reversing authentic creature sounds to get something unfamiliar yet realistic.

  • 05.30.2004 11:13 AM PDT
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Posted by: ApoKalypse
Yeah, yeah, he's got you there.

The one thing that I never understood about the whole "Covies speaking english" thing is that they spoke it to each other. When you died in Legendary, a Grunt would ask, "Can I keep his helmet?" I don't know why he'd ask YOU that, seeing how he just blew you away. Eh. Just a thought.


It's humorous. That's why. We wouldn't understand otherwise.

  • 05.30.2004 12:06 PM PDT
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It is a videogame, some things are neccesary to make the video game have a plot and a interesting story line, so unless you want the captain to just assume halo is a weapon and go from there be my guest. Then everyone would wonder how they knew what halo was and there would be more -blam!-ing. So let it go.

  • 05.30.2004 6:13 PM PDT
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just a thought. how do elites possibly speak english with their amazing quadra-mouths?

  • 05.30.2004 6:35 PM PDT
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Posted by: banksboy51
just a thought. how do elites possibly speak english with their amazing quadra-mouths?

An Elite would ask how we can speak with only one!

  • 05.30.2004 9:32 PM PDT
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Posted by: hlrmsfrk14
Okay I just got the halo le xbox which is really sweet and faster than my old one.


It's faster? Cool, I'll get a replacement since my Xbox died on me yesterday.

  • 05.30.2004 10:00 PM PDT
Subject: halo le xbox
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at least it seems to run things faster. my other friends who have it say the same. it loads stuff up better and is pretty cool looking 8-)

  • 05.30.2004 10:25 PM PDT