UPDATE: International Titles for Star Wars: The Last Jedi Suggest That “Jedi” is Plural!
Since the announcement that Star Wars Episode VIII would feature the subtitle of The Last Jedi, there’s been a bounty of speculation on whether “Jedi” is singular or plural (as the plural form of “Jedi” is “Jedi”). Just now, we got a big hint from the official French Star Wars Twitter account that the title could refer to multiple characters instead of just Luke Skywalker.
#StarWars : #LesDerniersJedi, décembre 2017 au cinéma. pic.twitter.com/Qzgoy5Aq5e
— Star Wars France (@StarWarsFR) February 17, 2017
As you can see, the title is listed as Les Derniers Jedi. Obviously, the grammatical structure of this particular title is the same as it is in English. However, the middle word is what could be potentially revealing. “Last” may be spelled two different ways in the French language with two completely different connotations – “Dernier” is singular, while “Derniers” is plural. The obvious takeaway is that the French are treating “Jedi” as though it is plural.
Some would take this as a sign that “Jedi”, in this case, is absolutely plural in the English version of the movie name, along with all subsequent translations. However, when it comes to translating English to a foreign language for the purposes of marketing something like a movie, it’s to my understanding that the general meaning of a word can take precedence over making grammatical sense. I do not speak French, but this information seems to line up with what actual French reports are writing about this subject. Any additional insight on language barriers from anyone familiar with the language would be greatly appreciated.
Special thanks to The Cantina user Bandini for pointing this story out to us.
UPDATE!
It seems that we have the same situation in Spain as well:
#StarWars #TheLastJedi the Spanish title “Los Ultimos” references Jedi in the plural sense, the singular would’ve been “El Ultimo” (1/2) pic.twitter.com/0J7u0LisTy
— SW Comlink (SWNN) (@starwarscomlink) February 17, 2017
#StarWars: #LosÚltimosJedi, 15 de Diciembre en cines. pic.twitter.com/G5AF9yPccg
— Star Wars España (@StarWarsSpain) February 17, 2017
Italy revealed their title as well:
Gli Ultimi Jedi, dicembre 2017 al cinema. pic.twitter.com/t0AuvTrmSK
— Star Wars Italia (@StarWarsIT) February 17, 2017
Germany is also in on this:
Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi is about several Jedi. The German name has a plural in it. https://t.co/nCvKjOTrs7 pic.twitter.com/6s3QMi7mQc
— All Movies (@PaulahWhite) February 17, 2017
Along with Portugal/Brazil:
E acabou a espera. @StarWarsBR: Os Últimos Jedi! Em Dezembro nos cinemas! #StarWars #OsUltimosJedi #TheLastJedi pic.twitter.com/gXoQeb8B01
— GamesBrasil (@GamesBrasil) February 17, 2017
So it definitely looks as though there’s a pattern going on here. Perhaps it might not be too early to presume that the title is plural after all!
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
Italian title has just been released: it also suggests plural.
Gli Ultimi Jedi
I hope so.
It would be so awesome if Rey and Luke became a duo and went on these adventures together instead of Luke being a Yoda-guy who sticks to his planet like glue. It would be different from the original trilogy, to have an old master put on his Jedi cloak again, not only to train a new apprentice but also to accompany her.
It’s about time we see a Force god at work! We’ve seen that kind of stuff in games, often in ways that aren’t justifiable, but this is Luke Skywalker, said to be the most powerful Force User, if not one of, to have ever lived. Let’s see if he can show us that!
New Jedi, “Rule of two” ?
Same in Italy. https://www.facebook.com/StarWars.it/photos/a.203961709670593.50781.173080906092007/1316654055068014/?type=3&theater
Saw the TFA crawl lied
The new Jedi came about only during the events of VII?
I think it refers to Luke and Rey. (yes i know she’s not a jedi yet, but symbolically by the end of the movie there will be two new jedi)
that would be a really fast training.. 😉
We don’t know how much time will pass during the movie, though.
my guess – hours or days. Yours? 🙂
Months, for all we know. ESB skipped a few months for Luke’s training.
Where in the movie is hidden this information? I can’t cout how nmany times I watched it and didn’t notice. Even the novelisation doesn’t inform us about it. Like any other saga movie – it’ days and Last Jedi will be the same…of course, we will find out in december, until then….
I’m assuming.
Not for me.. He was the last jedi in TFA events, it’s pretty obvious. These are different events. The story goes on. Luke will train Rey or someone else. There will be more than one Jedi.
No son, the crawl refered to THAT POINT IN TIME. The Ep. VIII title don’t need to describe the entire movie, only a theme on it, or a especific event. Example: Ep. II Attack of The Clones. That titular assault only occurred way foward in the movie, in the third act.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c1ded7a8b1fb95957b2c4431f2298e86152c34fee00d67ed8d25344b5b0c7cb5.jpg
“So the TFA crawl lied?”
Maybe it did,
…from a certain point of view.
No it didn’t. Luke was the last Jedi which is why the First Order wanted to hunt him down. They failed and now Luke has a chance to train a new Jedi which is what they wanted to prevent. After the events of the Force Awakens Luke will now no longer be the last singular Jedi but among the last. If the First Order would have succeeded in getting the map they would have killed Luke who at that point was the last and the Jedi would have been extinct forever. That never happened so now the Jedi can once again increase their numbers. How many the title means beyond Luke and Rey is up for debate. I’m not sure how anybody could doubt Rey would be a Jedi. Thats kind of the entire point of her traveling to find Luke so he can train her. The Force Awakens pretty much beat us over the head with the fact that she will be trained as she handed the lightsaber out to Luke as a gesture of I’m here to become a Jedi.
So Rey becomes a Jedi just by meeting with Luke? So why Luke had to wait 4 years?
no ambiguity in the French title. It means “several Jedi” as in plural. More than one 😉
Ah! Je vous remercie!
– Pomojema
The same in German: “Die Letzten Jedi” – definitive plural!
(Was first revealed via the German “Rolling Stone”, I believe)
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8ce281b1901124410f664ebf51674de2fa5548e9112e3911d8b4beb9ae93a64f.jpg
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/91b3a4522b080d645f4aa74bbca8b50f1895138fb5964f98143266e1df3a2fd6.jpg Here in Brazil too. It is plural indeed. Great!!!
It came from the oficial facebook page.
Lol that’s funny. with all those theories and rumors. My first thoughts were that jedi could be someone.
It’s curious because spanish and catalan titles the first day suggested only one Jedi (El último Jedi / L’Últim Jedi), I supouse without the legal permission to translate it.
Now it seems logic Lucasfilm said something. Clearly they have send specifications to all countries.
Probably this is not that ambiguous, because we know there will be more than one Jedi:
If appear more hidden Jedi could be so great.
No, it came from the oficial accounts of Star Wars of those countries. In Brazil facebook page too, plural.
It doesn’t suggest it. It is plural. There is no dancing around that.
Yes, it is officialy confirmed around the world.
I agree. It is officially plural. There’s absolutely no “Perhaps it might not be too early to presume that the title is plural after all!”. It is plural and it is an official fact.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c1ded7a8b1fb95957b2c4431f2298e86152c34fee00d67ed8d25344b5b0c7cb5.jpg
And? That may well have been true, but we are now past that, so it is really irrelevant considering the context of that line.
It’s supposed to be just days later is it not?
And… what’s the point? Does she need to have a certificate stating that she is officially a Jedi? Or does she have to achieve a particular numbers of level in order to gain the prestige class, like in a RPG? C’mon…
So she’d a Jedi at the start of TLJ
By the beginning of TFA Luke was the only last Jedi. In TLJ, considering Luke trains Rey, there are two last Jedi.
But can he really train her as a Jedi within one film, a film that follows on straight from the other in terms of time. Luke didn’t become a Jedi until mid-RotJ….
We still say that Obi-Wan in TPM and Anakin in AOTC were Jedi, even though they were apprentices. She’ll probably be just a Jedi Apprentice (hopefully called Padawan) by the end of the movie but, still, a part of the Jedi.
Good point.
Re: “Luke didn’t become a Jedi until mid-RotJ”
Not to be too dogmatic here… but “mid” probably isn’t accurate.
I think it could be argued that Luke didn’t become a Jedi until the END of RotJ.
After Luke says “then I am a Jedi”, Yoda’s response:
“Not yet. One thing remains: Vader. You must…confront…Vader. Then,
only then, a Jedi, will you be. And confront him, you will.”
So Luke became a Jedi after his confrontation w/Vader.
He confronted Vader on Endor “You must…confront…Vader. Then,
only then, a Jedi, will you be” . I think it was the ability to control his fear and confront him without aggression that finally made him a Jedi. Not the outcome of the confrontation.
Remember his failure at the cave, triggered by entering with his lightsaber on guard. He did well against the Emperor, despite losing control at several stages.
Sometimes I wonder if official accounts from other
countries act with the permission (specially in Spain, where mass media
very often don’t know what are they talking about). Its curious because
first title was “El último Jedi” (singular), and now is “Los últimos
Jedi” (plural).
As you can see, the title is plural in Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian and German. All of those are acting without permission??
Yes, i know all are plural. I’m talking about the titles appeared in January, they are different from today. I wonder if they acted without permission with the singular title. Not now. You clearly don’t know nothing about spanish mass media. I have read stories completly different from original, in any theme.
all those translated titles we had when it was first revealed were not offocial annoucements but the media…what we read today in france, germany, spain etc.. are the official annoucement from Disney in each of those countries. So the title never changed.
Exactly, were not official anouncements and there were in media (social network, magazines everywhere…). Today is the offical announcement. That’s why i wonder where came from those singular titles. It could not be from official accounts.
Of course it’s plural, it had to be, did anyone really think Rey wasn’t going to become a Jedi in this trilogy.
I too always tought of plural. Make much more sense, and it don’t restrain the movie plot, but expands.
Totally agree, though she’s not a Jedi yet, more so considering Episode VIII is following straight on time wise from VII.
I hoped and still hope she turnes to the dark side.
Re:” it had to be”
No it didn’t have to be…
If it was singular (meant to understand it to be that after watching it)… it could’ve meant:
1) Rey doesn’t become a traditional Jedi, perhaps rejecting or Luke realizing the dogmatic teachings are wrong (maybe some *balance* where emotions such as anger/fear can be experienced?) – Rey is something *new* & Luke is the last
2) If Luke dies by the end of Ep8 (or Ep9, after Rey finishing training) – Rey could be the last *singular* Jedi. This would mirror Yoda dying & Rey becoming the last.
umm https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c1ded7a8b1fb95957b2c4431f2298e86152c34fee00d67ed8d25344b5b0c7cb5.jpg
Yeah, this is a discussion about episode 8, not episode 7.
Can you please stop posting the picture and saying nothing? It is not painting your argument in a positive light, and is becoming rather obnoxious.
Only showing itself as a noob…
Luke is a Jedi, Kylo has his roots as a Jedi (albeit a fallen Jedi of some level), and Rey is a potential Jedi. I believe all three could be who the title references.
So, what are the implications of the last Jedi (Plural)? It seems it just means Luke and Rey are the last Jedi around? Could this indicate the Jedi are coming to an end and being replaced. Perhaps, Luke is the last Jedi, while Rey is the first of something new. Some kind of Jedi 2.0?
“Could this indicate the Jedi are coming to an end and being replaced.”
This was an idea that a buddy of mine and I kicked around the other day. Yoda tells Luke that he’s going to be the last Jedi. He also tells him to pass on what he’s learned. But that’s not quite the same as telling Luke to continue the Jedi order. I mean, that’s always what I assumed he’s said, but it’s a fun idea to consider.
Perhaps the PT and the OT were about the finals days of the Sith and Jedi…the end of an era, so to speak. The ST would be about what comes next after Luke’s truncated attempt to relaunch the Order.
We’ll see…
Re: “Yoda tells Luke that he’s going to be the last Jedi.”
He says “when I am gone…” before that.
My take –
To me it sounds like he’s talking about the state of things immediately after his death.
Not some “there will never be another Jedi” permanence.
Re: “He also tells him
to pass on what he’s learned. But that’s not quite the same as telling
Luke to continue the Jedi order.”
I seems that he’s telling Luke to continue to teaching & “make more Jedi”, pointing out that after his (Yoda’s) death there’s no one else to carry on the teaching & traditions (/religion?).
Emphasizing the importance of Luke no only “being the last” but that he needs to “pass on” what he’s learned.
I the title (& story) had been about a *singular* “last Jedi”, then I’d have entertained that idea further, Luke being the last & Rey becoming something new/different. But the plural indicates that there’s more than one Jedi in this story, obviously Rey’s the best candidate for at least one after Luke.
The title originated in America. I think whatever form it takes in other countries is purely from the perspective of said countries. I.e., we’re in the same position that we were in when the title was first leaked. IMO
The OFFICIAL pages revealed this. They are monitored bro.
Official pages? I guess the evidence suggests that Jedi is plural but if that’s a fact, then it certainly hasn’t been reported as such. I’m not complaining either way. Lmao
Yes, Officials. Even the facebook account here in Brazil. What more you want, Rian Johnson in a press conference?
Accept bro, IT IS plural.
Hahaha yes that’s exactly what I want. Official word from the makers themselves. Of course it very much seems like it’s plural but I won’t start doing back flips until the news is made in an official announcement.
The fonts in the news are official. This is what we are saying. Official accounts on twitter, facebook…
This is the official announcement….
The info is from several official SW websites and in many different languages. Do you think that a big company like Disney would make a mistake like this with so important movie? They are very coordinated with the translations and a lot of stuff. This kind of companies doesn’t works the way you think.
Uhhhh lol. Yes I’m aware. I’m just saying it strikes me as odd because initially I thought that that title was meant to throw people off. So i guess they weren’t trying to keep that information a secret. I thought the opposite.
they are posted by Star Wars accounts of other countries. they are official like Fred said.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/26d73dcea6b95bc8637e002579d12fa5920476b23217ac36cad92f5549c19483.png
No. Lucasfilm participates in the translation of a title.
Does that information not seem like something they’d keep closely guarded? I might be the only skeptic here. Regardless if it “makes sense” to be plural. Forgive me for thinking that that title was deliberately meant to throw people off. However, in saying that, it’s not farfetched to believe that it refers to more than one Jedi. I’m just saying…
It’s not a hint. It’s a confirmation.
At least two Jedi…
I hope this is confirmation of at least one bantha Jedi.
Will they stumble upon a group of Jedi, like Ahsoka Tano (I really hope so) or will Rey already be considered a Jedi? Luke had to confront Vader first before being considered a Jedi. It took Anakin several years to become a Jedi as well … or is a padawan already considered a Jedi?
In my opinion Jedi and Sith are the names of the respective “religious affiliations” Within each group are names to differentiate between levels of mastery ie a fresh learner is a padawan, then you progress to knight, and eventually master. From what I recall Sith usually just call their learners “apprentices”. So you can be a Padawan and still be a Jedi because that’s the name for a Jedi learner. It’s like in college, for example I’ve been studying Physics for 3 years. I’m not a full blown Physicist until I have the degree that “distinguishes” you as having accomplished your 4 years of training, but I’m still a Physicist… just a learner. So if you can follow those odd analogies I think its easily wholly fair to say that Rey is a Jedi because that’s presumably the path she’s currently choosing to follow. She’s just a learner at the moment. Anakin and Luke had already chosen to be a Jedi the moment they decided to begin training, it just took them several years to achieve the level of Knight/Master, but they were still Jedi the way I see it.
So why was Padme so persistent that Anakin is not a Jedi yet?
Because is a Senator and doesn’t know shit.
Hahaha she sound pretty suure of it, I think it was common knowlidge back then. But I like your point of view here and there. I don’t think the title refers of Luke and Rey. Even if she makes it, two are not enough. I think it means something more elusive, like an idea. My bad english doesn’t let me to express it right, damn…
Great so this is what we’ve been perceived about speculating for the next 11-35 months. A technicality and plural tense of a noun. Well I guess thats no different than debating someone’s tax returns, hacking or the legitimacy of a birth certificate. People can b.s. for years on certain topics and not really make any sense.
By the way I don’t think they will ever reveal who Snoke is. He is the new Palpatine, unless they reboot the series by 2050 you will never know. How about a running joke for the next 33 years? See you then. And no, I’m not interested in your video game or comic book movie tweets either or your elitist clickbait complaining about clickbait or Alex Jones retweets or about how you know everything already works #jeremyspokeninclasstoday
Then you’re here why?
I’m hoping he comes back to give another click only to respond to you. lol
His commentary about people making too big a deal about the tense of a noun is actually longer than most people’s commentary about the tense of the noun. Heh heh. I don’t think he’s time is quite as valuable as he’d like us to believe.
And the rest is crazy talk.
The irony of making a big deal out of people making a big deal.
Re: “debating someone’s tax returns, hacking or the legitimacy of a birth certificate”
Could be important!
After stumbling across Luke’s tax returns & finding out he’d listed a child as dependent….it led someone to hack the old Imperial database to find out Rey’s true parents.
Use some imagination here.
In Denmark, the film is called “Seje Bøffer og Hårde Bananer”, which translates in english as “Tough Steaks and Hard Bananas”
ha ha den gamle eastwood title har altid været den dummeste oversættelse af en titel nogensinde 😉
These are good too:
Stroker Ace -> Krudt i røven -> Gunpowder in the ass
Beverly Hills Cop -> Frækkere end politiet tillader -> Naughtier than the police allow
Happy Gilmore -> Golfbanernes skræk -> The horror of the golfcourses
Does it really matter if its singular or plural?
Yes. It matters.
How so? No details at all are out there thus far and you have to assume wit the way that TFA ended that Rey is going to be trained as a Jedi, so it could be one or two. The point is that speculation is just that and until you see the movie, you won’t really get the context of the title anyhow.
It matters because there might be more ´jedi than just Luke (and maybe Rey). When it was singular it was only Luke (or Rey)
If it had been singular it could have many important implications, example:
Luke being the last traditional Jedi – Rey becoming something new/different
Luke dying by end of movie & leaving Rey
Or other scenarios.
Or simply that Luke, as the opening crawl for Episode VII said, is the last Jedi until he trains Rey.
It’s Star Wars. People are going crazy over Rey’s new hairdo. Yes it matters.
Lmaooo
It IS plural, indeed. Native Spanish speaker here 😉
Th German title “Die letzten Jedi” is also plural. The singular form would be “Der letzte Jedi”.
Same here!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/48ae802feadce0eb78d906ebeb2d1f4b20367486b52bff297f834c5b01fdd12f.jpg
Now let’s wait impatiently for the Arabic translation. Arabic has a third form (dual form) for when the number of the subject is 2.
Is it really that ambiguous? Luke Skywalker is a Jedi. Rey trains to become a Jedi. Multiple Jedi.
I believe that the discussion/debate has been over the potential meaning if it was *singular* (vs plural)…which could imply a bit more about the story outcome, examples:
Luke being the *last* of the traditional Jedi
Luke dying and leaving Rey to be the last
etc…
Well it could be talking about Ben Solo also.
And remotely about Kanan or Ezra.
Ben Solo destroyed and left the Jedi academy. Yoda already identified Luke as the last of the Jedi, so that rules out anyone from Rebels.
Well… mmm we are waiting still for confirmation if it was Ben Solo, as I know, but rumours said it was him, although we need confirmation from Luke, as Han Solo didn´t say directly it was his son.
Yoda, could be mistaken… yes, it is difficult, but he didn´t see Palpatine or Vader coming, well, people can be mistaken sometimes.
And I was talking about a Kylo Ren coming back as Ben Solo as we have not watched The Last Jedi yet… who knows…
Finnally, We don´t know who survived from the Academy, The Force Awakens kept things open, thankfully.
Yes, it is definitely plural in the French, Italian, Portuguese, German and Spanish titles.
I wonder how many other Jedi are out there other than Luke and maybe Rey…
As someone said below, we should know that from the Arabic title as the Arabic has separate singular, dual, and plural forms. If there are only two Jedi, the dual form will be used.
That would depend on whether the actual # was given to the translating team vs saying “there’s more than one”.
Good to know; Star Wars lore is getting more interesting everyday. ^_^
The Top 15 Chinese Translations of English Movie Titles:
15) “Pretty Woman” – “I Will Marry a Prostitute to Save Money”
14) “Face/Off” – “Who Is Face Belonging To? I Kill You Again, Harder!”
13) “Leaving Las Vegas” – “I’m Drunk And You’re a Prostitute”
12) “Interview With The Vampire” – “So, You Are a Lawyer?”
11) “The Piano” – “Ungrateful Adulteress! I Chop Off Your Finger!”
10) “My Best Friend’s Wedding” – “Help! My Pretend Boyfriend Is Gay!”
9) “George of the Jungle” – “Big Dumb Monkey-Man Keeps Whacking Tree With Genitals”
8) “Scent of a Woman” – “Great Buddha! I Can Smell You From Afar! Take a Bath, Will You?!”
7) “Love, Valour, Compassion!” – “I Am That Guy From Seinfeld So
It’s Acceptable for Straight People to Enjoy This Gay Movie”
6) “Babe” – “The Happy Dumpling-to-be Who Talks And Solves Agricultural Problems”
5) “Twister” – “Run! Ruuunnnn! Cloudzillaaaaa!”
4) “Field of Dreams” – “Imaginary Dead Baseball Players Live in My Cornfield”
3) “Barb Wire” – “Delicate Orbs of Womanhood Bigger Than Your Head Can Hurt You”
2) “Batman & Robin” – “Come to My Cave and Wear This Rubber Codpiece, Cute Boy”
1) “The Crying Game” – “Oh No! My Girlfriend Has a Penis!”
[Source of info: The New York Times]
HOLY CHIT!!!! If this means Luke hasn’t been foolin around and was building an army of Jedi I will cry..I WILL cry.
Or maybe Luke and Rey are the last. Could go either way.
Yea I’ll take that too lol
This means nothing. Plural, singular… who cares. The plural means the last of the Jedi(s). Which could just mean Luke. Or is could mean Luke and Rey. Or others. But who gives three jedi-shits? You can read as much into the title as you can “The Force Awakens.” The Force Awakens doesn’t tell you shit, except that some person brings an old lightsaber back to Luke Skywalker. WOW. MIND BLOWN!
NERDS…
We’re on a news site dedicated to star wars, of course we’re gonna’ nerd out about a single word XD. That’s what we do
Not really, the translation in French or Spanish is talking about more than one and not one… latin languages adventage, they give more specific information sometimes.
I am a french canadian and I know that sometimes movie titles will differ in french from the original meaning so that it sounds better. In this case, I can tell you that « Le dernier Jedi » (wich would have been the singular) would have sound better than « Les derniers Jedi ». That translation means « The last Jedi(s) » not « The last of the Jedi » as some of you speculate.
Something that I’ve been speculating on at various levels for YEARS and had the idea dismissed multiple times. I hope that there’s some truth to it, and not merely a coincidence…but either way, we’re going to see!
Yeah, well “Bom” means “fuck you” in Polish. So what’s the point?