Everybody knows the Minions, the lovable little mischief-makers that star in the Despicable
Me franchise.
The small, yellow creatures live to be henchmen, trusted followers of the most villainous villain
they can find.
That's why they serve anti-hero extraordinaire Gru.
Minions have a unique look, but what's even more unique is their language.
On the surface it sounds like they're speaking complete gibberish, but if you listen closely,
it's really an intricate and nuanced vocabulary.
Very nuanced.
Here's what it all means.
Minionese, as it's known, is a constructed language created by Despicable Me co-directors
Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud.
While it may sound like incoherent babbling, the practically indistinguishable words are
actually a handcrafted dialect specifically designed for the Minions.
"Haha"
"What?
Oh, what did I say?"
Minionese is a combination of several real languages, including French, Italian, Spanish,
Hindi, and Japanese, among others.
One example of how these words are blended together to create the jumbled language comes
from Despicable Me 2.
"Poulet tikka masala?"
"Masala?"
The phrase he uses there is a combination of French and Hindi that describes the popular
Indian-style chicken dish.
A lot of what Minions say consists of silly sounding words strung together from various
different languages with some actual gibberish thrown in.
So no matter where you are in the world, you probably recognize something that comes out
of the Minions' mouths.
"Thank you."
It's not inconceivable that the Minions would know so many languages, considering their
origin movie the aptly titled Minions established that they've been traveling the world since
the beginning of time in search of the perfect villain to serve.
Why wouldn't they speak multiple dialects?
"Huh?"
"Ooh la la."
In addition to all the foreign languages the Minions use to express themselves, English
is also in there loud and clear.
In fact, "banana" is one of the Minions' favorite words.
"Banana"
"Banana!"
There's usually a recognizable word or two thrown in every few sentences when Minions
talk, which allows English-speaking viewers to feel as though they're following along.
"Minions..."
But that feeling of "Ah, I understood that!" isn't just for American audiences.
The filmmakers make sure the movies are dubbed so particular words and phrases still stand
out.
That means that people all around the world can also have that "a-ha!" moment when they
watch the movie in their own languages.
There's more to Minionese than just words.
Like any other language, there's tone, body language, gestures, and expressions, among
other things, that help convey a message.
When a Minion is happy, he may squeal, smile, and excitedly jump up and down.
When he's annoyed, he may mumble, cross his arms, and roll his eyes.
These are all pretty universal symbols of communication, so even the youngest kids in
the audience can pick up on a Minion's feelings without trying too hard.
Also, context is very important in the Minions movies, as it helps make the language easier
to understand.
An example is when the Minions run to an ice cream truck, chanting "gelato!" in Despicable Me 2.
"Gelato!"
That's Italian for "ice cream," and it's also the kind of word that probably sounds like
gibberish to young ears especially since the minions kind of mispronounce it but it totally
fits in context.
As simple as it may seem, this helps you know what's going on without needing to fully understand
what's being said.
Phonetics also comes into play.
Humans are wired to understand a word if it sounds similar to a word they're already familiar
with.
When Gru orders some of his Minions to replace a toy unicorn for Agnes, the Minionese word
they use rhymes with toy and conveys that they understand their mission.
Papoy?
"Papoy?"
"No no no no no, papoy."
"Ah, papoy!"
There may be thousands of Minions, but for the most part, only one man voices them: Pierre
Coffin, who also co-directed several of the movies.
While Coffin and fellow director Chris Renaud both created the Minions' language and contributed
voices to the characters at first, Coffin quickly became the go-to guy.
By the time Minions came out, he was the sole voice of the creatures.
"Oh ho ho!"
Coffin didn't originally intend to take on such a big role outside of directing.
But the ball quickly started rolling when, during the early stages of the original film's
production, he made a test voice-over to demonstrate how the Minions should sound and the producers
immediately handed the job over to him.
The rest, of course, is Minion history.
If things had gone differently, however, Coffin may not have had the chance to develop the
Minions' bizarre language because the Minions weren't always supposed to be so cute.
In fact, during the early stages of the first film, they were supposed to be big, ugly brutes.
Coffin told The Guardian:
"We quickly realized that they were very unappealing and made Gru a totally unsympathetic anti-hero.
To make him charming, we had this idea that he'd know all of his little helpers by their
forenames, even though there were hundreds, and suddenly Gru was sympathetic.
And from that first scene we knew the Minions gave the other characters counter-balance,
had great comedic potential, and were super cute."
"Alright! Go! Go! Go to bed."
Thanks for watching.
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