What Language Do Minions Speak? (Find Out!)

Minions speak a language called either “Minionese” or sometimes the “banana language”. This is a constructed language invented for the Minions to speak in the films they are in. It is constructed of vocabulary of many real world languages as well as a fair share of nonsense words thrown in too.

The Minion language is a little more complex than you might think, then.

It’s more than just a collection of nonsense words and sounds—though that’s certainly how it can come across at times.

Though Minionese is naturally a kind of silly joke for the purposes of the film, constructed languages are a fascinating topic and Minionese is interesting from this point of view.

Let’s find out more.

What is banana language?

Banana language is one of the common names for the language of the Minions, from the Despicable Me movies as well as their own spin off solo movies.

This language is what’s known as a constructed language.

Let’s start by considering what a constructed language is.

There have been numerous constructed languages over time, and most commonly they are used in fiction of one kind or another.

Undoubtedly the most famous example is the Elvish of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth. Tolkien created many languages for his fictional world, indeed there are even multiple forms of Elvish.

These languages are rich and complex and you can even have long conversations in it.

The languages are entirely fictional but based on languages such as Finnish and Welsh.

Tolkien spent essentially his entire life creating these languages.

Klingon of Star Trek is another famous example, but its differences highlight the variety of constructed languages.

It has become an entire language in itself, too, since it was created for the express purpose of being a “complete” language—Tolkien, on the other hand, merely took pleasure in spending his life developing the languages.

He himself said he never finished making it.

Klingon, on the other hand, was constructed to be a more or less complete language.

But constructed languages aren’t only used for fiction.

Esperanto was a proposed universal language, which combined elements of the most widely spoken languages in Europe and other parts of the world.

The idea was that it would be easy for everyone to learn as a second language.

It never really caught on, unfortunately, but it goes to show the potential broader application of constructed languages.

This leads us back to the banana language.

The Minions in the movies could well have just spoken real human languages—but instead the creators opted to have them speak this bizarre jibberish to add to their character and humor.

Most would certainly agree that one of the funniest things about the Minions is their silly ramblings.

So, though it was not constructed with the kind of love and care which Tolkien spent his life using to build Elvish, you could arguably say that Minionese and Elvish are similar in at least one sense.

What language do Gru’s Minions speak?

So, let’s look at this Minion language in a bit more detail.

This language is either called Minionese, banana language, or Minion language.

For the most part, when you simply listen to it without knowing what it’s constructed of, the Minion language simply sounds like complete gibberish. For the most part, there certainly is a good degree of gibberish infused into the language.

Language is understood in a variety of ways.

You understand words, so you have lexical understanding; you understand grammar, so you understand the relationship between words in a sentence; but you also understand a language tonally.

You understand the subtle changes in inflection, volume, tone, pitch, and so on, and how each of these subtly influences your understanding of word’s emotional undertones.

For example, if you take the phrase, “I never said that”, you can get a very different implied sense by putting emphasis on each word in turn.

This final aspect, the tonal one, is the only way anyone really understands the Minion language.

You don’t understand what the words mean, and you don’t have an understanding of Minion grammar.

You do, however, understand what is meant to be conveyed in terms of emotion and conflict.

So, in other words, the Minions do not speak a language you understand, but they do use aspects of language you will understand.

As mentioned, Minionese itself is constructed out of a few languages—let’s look at which languages make up Minionese.

How many languages do the Minions speak?

Firstly, just to clarify, the Minions technically only speak one language—Minionese.

This is, again, a fictional language, and while the language itself is constructed of several real languages,

it is not meant to come across this way. the audience are meant to believe it is a real language that the Minions speak exclusively.

However, one other factor to consider is that within the logic of the Minions universe, the idea is that humans can understand them—even though they don’t speak the same language.

But what languages make up this invented language, then?

The simple answer is many, and no one language seems to have priority.

It’s also worth mentioning that in different counties, the minions will be dubbed in different ways.

So, not only is Minionese invented by combining many different languages, but that language also has to be tweaked slightly for different audiences.

Firstly, let’s look at English words the Minions use.

Some simple ones are “bello”, which is the Minion word for “hello”.

When a Minion is hungry, they will say “me want banana”.

When a Minion wants to say “I swear”, they say “underwear”.

The Minion word for “bottom” is “buttom”.

These are all slightly altered English words which fit the Minions overall comedic tone, while also still being fairly clear in what they mean.

The Minions also use some Italian words.

Their word for ice cream is simply “gelato”, which is also the Italian word for ice cream.

“Macaron” is something you hear Minions say when exasperated, similar to the Italian term “madon!”

They use some French words and phrases, loosely speaking. “et pis c’est tout” is the Minion equivalent of “that’s all”, which is roughly translated French.

Similarly, “poulet tiki masala” is the Minion for “open sesame” and is very similar to how French speakers would say this.

Beyond these languages, Minionese includes a variety of languages from outside Europe.

Their term for sorry, “bi-do”, is equivalent to the Arabic for “I’m sorry”.

To say cheers they use the Japanese “kanpai”. For thank you, they sometimes use the Indonesian term “terimakasi”.

For wedding they borrow the Spanish “la boda”.

Names, of course, are also important to Minion language.

They use names from many parts of the world, though they certainly primarily use European names. Bob, Gary, Gene, Finn, Fred, Joe, John, Lewis, Larry, are all names used by Minions.

This is one thing that is often changed depending on the region a given film is playing in.

Finally, they even use a bit of Esperanto, in their “para tu” meaning “for you”.

So, Minionese is a rich tapestry of many different languages from around the world, combined and altered slightly to make them funny while still having understandable words.

Speakers of any of these languages will understand some of these words here and there, but they will still feel as though the Minions are speaking a foreign language.

This leads into an interesting question about the Minions nationality—do they have one, and if so, what nationality is it?

What nationality are Minions?

Strictly speaking, Minions don’t really have an explicit nationality.

It’s never outright stated that they are from X country.

However, their home country was apparently Switzerland, though at the same time it still isn’t known how they came to inhabit Switzerland.

They left their Swiss home in the 1960s, so on one level you could certainly say they were Swiss.

However, again, they are not explicitly stated to be Swiss in this sense—they may simply have come there from somewhere else.

Many have theorized that the Minions are Mexican, but there’s no real basis for this.

It’s just that many have thought the language sounded like Mexican Spanish, but as we’ve seen this is not at all the case.

Minions are not Mexican.

Given that they are not human, they don’t really have any nationality in that sense.

They are fiercely loyal to their villain overlords, whoever that may happen to be at a given time—in the past they served Napoleon and other “evil” world leaders, so they are more loyal to their villain overlords than they are to any sense of national identity.

Given, further, that they speak their own language, they plainly are not associated with any one country.

They are their own race, and while some obscure pieces of lore point to the possibility that they were once human, this is also never explicitly stated.

If they were Swiss, for instance, you would expect them to speak either French or German.

Since they don’t, it’s probably best to assume they do not have a nationality.

Do Minions speak Spanish and French?

The Minions do use elements of Spanish and French.

Their language includes a lot of French and Spanish words, but they do not “speak” Spanish or French in that strict sense.

Indeed, it also seems that they are not actually capable of learning ordinary human languages.

They speak a polyglot language which includes both Spanish and French terms.

Again, though, it’s important to remember that vocabulary is not the only aspect of language.

Minion language does not really have any grammar in the way that you would be able to pick up on while watching them in a film.

Even some of the French or Spanish words we’ve looked at that Minions use are still altered slightly, and so to a native ear, it won’t sound strictly correct.

Rather, it sounds like a made-up language using these languages as part of its basis—which is precisely the intended effect!

So, no, Minions do not speak Spanish and French.

The Minion language has elements of both of these languages, but only elements—and it also has elements of many other languages!

Can you translate Minion language?

For the most part, no, you cannot translate the Minion language.

There is no official sanctioned way of doing so, no official translator or English-Minionese dictionary.

When a Minion say something, you are supposed to be able to gather what small “meaning” there may be underlying the gibberish from other factors.

Again, this could include their tone of voice and their inflections, but it also includes their body language, actions, the volume and their facial expressions.

You are supposed to merely glean a feeling and a sense from what they are saying, rather than an outright translation.

Indeed, it is precisely the intended effect that you should be a little confused about what a Minion said anytime they say something.

It’s part of the humor.

They understand each other perfectly, but you can only understand little bits here and there.

Hearing them say the gibberish is simply inherently funny, to everyone but especially to the intended young audiences.

At the same time, it adds a great deal to that humor that every now and then you will hear a real word that you recognize.

This gives you the sense that they are in fact using words and sentences with meaning of their own, even though that meaning is unavailable to us.

They are supposed to appear as bumbling and stupid yet loveable, and given their absolutely unrivaled popularity, it’s hard to say the creators did anything other than a fantastic job!

Do Minions count in Korean?

Minions do indeed count in Korean, though again it is not precisely the same as actual Korean.

They are only ever seen counting to three in the films, and when they do you will hear “hana”, “dul” and “sae”, the words for one, two and three in Korean.

Again, though, Minions are not supposed to be using Korean to count in their own universe—rather, the first three numbers in Korean also happen to be the same as the Minionese words for one, two and three.

They count in Minionese—they don’t count in Korean in that sense.

Were they to carry on counting in their own language, other language’s words for particular numbers may appear.

Does Gru have a Russian accent?

Strictly speaking, Gru does not have a Russian accent.

Again, from the context of in the actual universe, Gru is not supposed to have been Russian.

There are many conflicting possibilities about where he originally comes from, and it is never made explicitly clear.

He claims in an interview to have come from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and certainly the first film gives the impression that he was raised in the United States.

Plainly, though, his accent is not American, so where does it come from?

Steve Carrell, who voices Gru, said in an out-of-character interview that the accent he used for the character was inspired by Bela Lugosi and Ricardo Montalban.

Bela Lugosi was Hungarian American, and was born in the Kingdom of Hungary, or modern day Romania. Ricardo Montalban, on the other hand, was Mexican American.

So, the accent used for Gru was plainly a blending of many different accents, and thus was virtually entirely unique.

The creators of Gru have described the character as being inspired by Italian mafiosos and German officers, so there’s elements of lots of things at play.

For western ears, it is often hard to distinguish Eastern European accents generally from Russian.

There are certainly elements of Eastern European pronunciation in Gru’s speech patterns, and many would say he speaks a variety of Americanized Russian.

The answer is much more complicated than you might think, then!

There’s a bit of everything in there, though to many it does simply come out sounding like a caricature of a Russian accent.

How do Minions say I love you?

To say “I love you”, Minions once again make use of Italian: they say “tulailoo ti amo”, combining classic elements of Minion language with more or less direct use of the Italian “ti amo” to form their way of saying “I love you”.

This is heard frequently throughout the films, though again it may sometimes be changed in other regions of the world for different audiences.

The Minion languages is far more complicated than you might think, then.

While it’s no Elvish, nonetheless a great deal of care and attention went into constructing it.

Its primary aim, of course, is just to be funny.

But at the same time, it’s got to convey actual emotion and tone so that the audience can have some understanding of what the Minions are saying.

It’s surely a difficult balancing act to get the humour across while also still being able to actually convey emotion and feeling.