Should they ever have Sharpteeth talk in English?

LittlefootAndAliTogether · **on:** January 05, 2015, 11:54:42 PM

We all know Chomper can talk in English (as, Lord knows why, Dil and Ichy can too.) I'm wondering, while Sharpteeth have their own language, and perhaps Leaf Eaters do too (as might be seen in Through the Eyes of a Spiketail.) , can they actually speak to Leaf Eaters anything that makes sense and vice versa?

There are some theories for them actually being able to speak (or at least understand Leaf Eaters.) and some against.

For

1.) As their primary purpose is to kill and eat Leaf Eaters, mainly, when encountering them, they probably have nothing important to say to them anyway.

2.) Dil and Ichy can understand the kids in film IV (not to mention they appear to talk in English.)

3.) It would make more sense as to why Chomper can talk to Leaf Eaters so fast.

4.) Thud seems to be able to understand Ducky and Chomper talking in "Escape from the Mysterious Beyond" as he replies, when they are worried that they might not be found, that the others won't be coming back for them and he doesn't specifically address Chomper but appears to be addressing both of them.

5.) Perhaps Thud (and other Sharpteeth) feel Leaf Eaters are only meant for food and inferior animals incapable of speech. He certainly seems to see Ducky as only food and actually believes Chomper would be the same way and is shocked when he says that she is his friend and Thud even laughs about it.

Against

1.) The fact that Chomper's parents wouldn't use this mutual language when talking just, as they supposed, with him there.

2.) The fact that the Old One says "A Talking Sharptooth! I've never seen such a thing before!"

Anyway, it would be nice to "flip the switch" and have Sharpteeth speak in English so Red Claw could sing a villain song or something and it wouldn't just be all roars, grunts, and snarls (which makes pretty poor singing.

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Ludichris1 · **Reply #1 on:** January 06, 2015, 01:12:10 AM

lol that last part

LittlefootAndAliTogether · **Reply #2 on:** January 07, 2015, 01:21:56 AM

So, is it a good idea?

(On the other hand, Sharptooth scatting like Spike does might catch on.

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Ducky123 · **Reply #3 on:** January 07, 2015, 06:33:13 AM

Quote

We all know Chomper can talk in English (as, Lord knows why, Dil and Ichy can too.) I'm wondering, while Sharpteeth have their own language, and perhaps Leaf Eaters do too (as might be seen in Through the Eyes of a Spiketail.) , can they actually speak to Leaf Eaters anything that makes sense and vice versa?

English = leafeater
Grunts & roars = sharptooth

Leafeaters are the protagonists of The Land Before Time (except for certain villains that is) while sharpteeth are always the bad guys (Chomper is an exception) so the leafeater language has to be english. Imagine the kids whom the series is aimed at can only understand sharpteeth... bad idea. LBT wouldn't have had any success to say the least.

LittlefootAndAliTogether · **Reply #4 on:** January 07, 2015, 11:20:18 AM

Quote from: Ducky123,Jan 7 2015 on 05:33 AM

Quote
We all know Chomper can talk in English (as, Lord knows why, Dil and Ichy can too.) I'm wondering, while Sharpteeth have their own language, and perhaps Leaf Eaters do too (as might be seen in Through the Eyes of a Spiketail.) , can they actually speak to Leaf Eaters anything that makes sense and vice versa?
English = leafeater
Grunts & roars = sharptooth

Leafeaters are the protagonists of The Land Before Time (except for certain villains that is) while sharpteeth are always the bad guys (Chomper is an exception) so the leafeater language has to be english. Imagine the kids whom the series is aimed at can only understand sharpteeth... bad idea. LBT wouldn't have had any success to say the least.

Not what I meant. I meant they could do a voice over for it so they could sing like they did with Spike in "Through the Eyes of a Spiketail" (though preferably a voice that sings better than his.

)

DarkHououmon · **Reply #5 on:** January 07, 2015, 11:24:53 AM

I think the reason why they don't have the sharpteeth speak usually is because it's a kids movie and they want the kids to associate with the "good guys", the leafeaters, while showing how bad and awful the "bad guys", the meateaters are, by not having them speak usually. They make the sharpteeth out to be feral (most of the time), sort of dehumanizing them, while giving human-like qualities to the good guys so you are able to associate with them more. It's a common tactic in children's animation.

There are of course exceptions to this rule. In An American Tale, both the good guys and bad guys can speak. And in The Jungle Book, both Kaa and Shere Kahn can speak despite being the bad guys of an animated film. So yeah it can happen. Though in the second case, I think that was because some of the good guys were also carnivores.

Interestingly enough, Sharptooth was supposed to be a more cunning, calculating villain instead of just a "mindless hungry beast". I don't know if he was going to talk or not, though. I heard that he ended up the way he was because two of the three directors for the film felt that him "just being a snapping mouth" was scary enough. I wonder what the movie would have been like had Sharptooth been intelligent like he was originally intended to be.

LittlefootAndAliTogether · **Reply #6 on:** January 07, 2015, 01:07:10 PM

What about the voice over thingy? They could still roar and grunt but be understood like Spike was in "Through the Eyes of a Spiketail".

Also, Chomper isn't the only Sharptooth to talk in English.

Also, the characters above are villains. Also, the Sharp Beak from film V that grabs Ducky and the Belly Draggers from film X and the TV Series can't talk in English. Why are these two singled out?

And, as for Chomper's bilingualism, that could be quite useful to the good guys (leaf eaters) or very harmful to them, depending on his alignment when he is older.

Good Future Chomper

Chomper: (Speaking in Sharptooth) The Leaf Eaters went that way. (Points some direction)
Sharptooth: (Speaking in Sharptooth) Thanks. (Heads off with other Sharpteeth)
Gang of Five: (Coming out once the other Sharpteeth are gone) Thanks Chomper!
Chomper: No problem.

Bad Future Chomper

Chomper: (Speaking in Leaf Eater (English)) Hello, over here. I need to talk to you.
Spike Tail: Ok. (Heads toward Chomper, who is hiding on the other side of a ledge and hence can't be seen) (Comes near Chomper) What the?!
Chomper: (Speaking in Leaf Eater (English)) Glad you joined me for dinner! (Attacks Spike Tail)

Also, if Chomper gets a girl friend when he is older, it might be nice to show her at first unable to understand Leaf Eater and only hear leaf eater grunts and stuff. Eventually, she'd pick on the language and come to speak Leaf Eater well.

Also, I would need to have Sharpteeth sing in at least some parts of my fanfic.

I admit, sometimes one must ignore cannon. For instance, I'd have Ptero, a Pteranodon/ Sharp Beak hybrid able to speak in English, as is his Sharp Beak mother, yet he is shocked that Leaf Eaters can talk.

Also, the caption thing limits multi-character dialogue so if I had a whole herd of Sharpteeth, some wondering if Chomper is nuts for liking Leaf Eaters as friends while others are ok with it, it might be better to have some English version of them.