How does Rey understand BB-8?

in the OT, c3p0's whole purpose in life was to interpret R2 and other foreign/droid languages. yet bb-8 goes around whistling and beeping, and everyone understands him. i accept that poe may have learned to interpret the language of his own droid (not really, but it's at least plausible), but how does rey know his language?

at first i though maybe those lights inside bb's eye were actually a text message window like in luke's xwing, but half the time rey replies to him, she's not even looking at him.

unless they've standardized droid language, how is this even possible?

did jj abrams get confused and take universal translators from the star trek universe? is this just a gaping plot hole? help me.

I was always under the impression that Luke and Anakin could understand him.

in ESB we see luke reading r2's messages in text form via his xwing's dashboard. when out of his ship, and lacking the assistance of c3p0, luke only has one-way conversations with r2, like one might have with a cat or dog. i dont recall anakin ever understanding r2's language. then again i dont recall much from the PT.

I guess they have canonised that it is possible for an organic to learn droid beepy-speak.

Rey was also able to understand Chewie as well.

Perhaps BB uses a different form of beep speech that humans can understand.

Rey does seem extremely gifted with languages generally though, perhaps force related, though would make more sense with living things rather than droids.

Originally posted by juggernaut74
Rey was also able to understand Chewie as well.

i didnt notice that. if you're correct that would just be awful, lacking a future explanation.

Originally posted by Ushgarak
I guess they have canonised that it is possible for an organic to learn droid beepy-speak.

i could accept it in the case of pilot and bb unit, since it could stand to reason that they made a new astromech droid language which pilots could understand, for safety's sake, since reading texts while driving is dangerous. no but seriously it would just be more efficient if they didnt have to rely on text like with r2/luke, especially in an intense situation.

that aside, rey had no reason to ever study bb'ese so how could she just happen to know it? all i can guess is that she's like rain man and just spent all those years in her AT-AT-hut studying weird languages she'd likely never need to speak.

Originally posted by Bashar Teg
i didnt notice that. if you're correct that would just be awful, lacking a future explanation.

Originally posted by Bashar Teg
i didnt notice that. if you're correct that would just be awful, lacking a future explanation.

How is it awful? Han can understand Chewie no problem and that never needed an explanation.

Rey has been bored on Jakku while waiting for her parents, maybe she taught herself a ton of seemingly useless skills.

Originally posted by NewLanceWindu
How is it awful? Han can understand Chewie no problem and that never needed an explanation.

i don't know, maybe han understood chewie because he lived with him all his life, and rey likely never even met a wookie before. am i grasping for straws?

Originally posted by NewLanceWindu
Rey has been bored on Jakku while waiting for her parents, maybe she taught herself a ton of seemingly useless skills.

this is the only thing that makes sense to me. but i just said pretty much exactly that. however if rey has this ability of "i know as many languages as c3p0", imho it's very significant and should have been referenced in the film. i hope it's addressed later, at least in some minor way.

Originally posted by Bashar Teg
in the OT, c3p0's whole purpose in life was to interpret R2 and other foreign/droid languages. yet bb-8 goes around whistling and beeping, and everyone understands him. i accept that poe may have learned to interpret the language of his own droid (not really, but it's at least plausible), but how does rey know his language?

at first i though maybe those lights inside bb's eye were actually a text message window like in luke's xwing, but half the time rey replies to him, she's not even looking at him.

unless they've standardized droid language, how is this even possible?

did jj abrams get confused and take universal translators from the star trek universe? is this just a gaping plot hole? help me.

Didn't Rey understood two other non-standard languages during the film (other than BB-8's beeping and Chewie's growls)?

Originally posted by Lord Lucien

babelfish. of course. why didn't i see it sooner.

You should have. But now you have taken your first step in a larger universe.

Being a scavenger trading on jakuu with many aliens and probably droids, she picked up a few things while see was there....

I wonder if Luke could understand R2 fully now????although, not much is said on how much time r2 had with Luke in the past 30 years. Just a vision of them together

i guess it's possible, but i dont like the idea of disney messing with that. of course it never made much sense that an astromech droid isn't able to speak other languages. of course it also doesnt make a lot of sense that they had to make a whole other type of droid, the size of a human, to do nothing more than interpret and shuffle about awkwardly and slowly. if they go too far and try to make sense of it, it's going to be shitty. i just hope they dont continue tinkering with that whole dynamic.

Originally posted by NewLanceWindu
Rey has been bored on Jakku while waiting for her parents, maybe she taught herself a ton of seemingly useless skills.

Originally posted by Bashar Teg
in the OT, c3p0's whole purpose in life was to interpret R2 and other foreign/droid languages. yet bb-8 goes around whistling and beeping, and everyone understands him. i accept that poe may have learned to interpret the language of his own droid (not really, but it's at least plausible), but how does rey know his language?

at first i though maybe those lights inside bb's eye were actually a text message window like in luke's xwing, but half the time rey replies to him, she's not even looking at him.

unless they've standardized droid language, how is this even possible?

did jj abrams get confused and take universal translators from the star trek universe? is this just a gaping plot hole? help me.

I got both "The Force Awakens: The Visual Dictionary" and "Rey's Survival Guide" for Christmas so I can answer this.

No, he did not get confused and no, this is not a plot hole. In both books it is explained that Rey learned non-human languages, including Wookie and astromech binary, from her interactions with off-worlders. Also she herself notes in her survival guide that she managed to get a computer working at her wrecked AT-AT. She used it to study droid-speak and alien languages so that she could better communicate with people in Niima.

You should check them out. They're great books.

^ That's what I was thinking/hoping would be the case, so cool. 👆

Originally posted by chilled monkey
I got both "The Force Awakens: The Visual Dictionary" and "Rey's Survival Guide" for Christmas so I can answer this.

Is this true?