History Main / AliensSpeakingEnglish

** In "The Man Who Came to be Dinner", Homer says "Wow! This place is completely Alien, but everything's in English! [[CanadaEh Just like Canada!]]"

%%->'''Marge:''' You... you speak English?\\
'''Kang:''' I am actually speaking Rigelian. By an astonishing coincidence, both of our languages are exactly the same.
%%-->-- ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''

** Parodied in the first ''[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E3TreehouseOfHorror Treehouse of Horror]]." The family expresses surprise at the Rigellians apparently speaking English, but Kang explains that he's actually speaking Rigellian, which just happens to be identical to English.

** The Yeerks are apparently ''teaching'' various hosts (Hork-Bajir especially) English so they can talk to each other. Their alternatives were Taxxon (good luck pronouncing it without a several-foot tongue), the Hork-Bajir or Gedd languages (too simple), or some other Earth language (pointless as most of their human hosts knew English already). On the whole though this isn't too improbable. Human-Controllers' Yeerks would know English from their hosts' memories, and Hork-Bajir speak a strange mix of [[CommonTongue Galard]] and English ("''Stop that'' gafrash ''shooting'', logafach."). Taxxon-speak is said to be almost impossible to decipher, even for Controllers.
** The free Hork-Bajir likewise speak mostly (crude) English mixed with their native language, but their Seer (who has genius-level intelligence by human standards, even) speaks flawless English -- leading a National Guard commander to remark about the "aliens speaking more perfect English than [his] troops." In the fifth book of the series, the characters interact with a Hork-Bajir that speaks perfect English, that Marco describes as sound liking "he'd been educated at Harvard". One Seer is apparently born per generation to the Hork-Bajir, so maybe this one was the Seer for his generation. It is also revealed in "Visser" that Hork-Bajir brains actually mangle the different languages together naturally. Which means even when controlled by a Yeerk, the Yeerk will find themselves mixing the languages as well.
** The Andalites are a telepathic species so when they "speak" an English speaking listener hears English and translator chips so they can understand languages spoken to them.

** Gensokyo, Makai, and the various connected afterlives where the games take place all appear to speak Japanese. They're implied in ''Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom'' to all be a part of a set of [[AnotherDimension extra-]]/[[PocketDimension pocket-dimensional]] "Otherworlds" when the heroines fight Hecatia Lapiszuili, the Greek Goddess in charge of all 3 Hells (namely those of Earth, the Moon, and Otherworlds).

* Lum, Ten, and Lum's father from ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'' speak Japanese, but Lum's mother cannot (her speech is rendered as TabletopGame/{{Mahjong}} tiles). Rei can say just a few words, and Lum forgets Japanese for an episode after getting hit by a baseball. But... practically every alien other than Lum's mother is fluent. Benten, Oyuki, Ran, Elle, the taxi driver...

* Zig-zagged in ''Film/PlanetOfTheApes1968''. The apes all speak English, but that's because [[spoiler:[[ItWasHisSled they were on Earth all along]]. Yet the fact that the human astronauts believe they are on a different planet for most of the movie, and are somehow never clued in to the truth by the apes' English fluency, demonstrates this trope regardless of the ending]].

* The resident of Byston Well in ''Anime/AuraBattlerDunbine'' are able to communicate in Japanese language. This is most likely an ability of Aura Power, which is shared among the people of Upper Earth as well.

* Downplayed in ''Anime/DogDays''. The people of Flonyard all speak Japanese, but it's a minor plot point on several occasions in the first season that they have a different written language.

* Also in ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'' the aliens already managed to take over the world but for some reason they all learned Japanese instead of making the humans learn their language. However, there seem to be quite a few different species of aliens, so they might have just all learned the language of the oppressed to spare them the possibly multiple language courses.

* ''Anime/{{Robotech}}'':
** Justified with the Zentraedi, at they explicitly learn english.
** Also justified with the Invid. We pick up the heroes during the Third Robotech War well after the Invid have occupied earth and have had time to learn the language of their new labor force.
** However, unlike the other two, the civilian population of the Robotech Masters' city ships have no real justification for this.

* In ''ComicBook/BillyBatsonAndTheMagicOfShazam'', the Space Ghoul speaks English.

** In a Creator/CarlBarks comic, Uncle Scrooge went underground ([[AccidentalPun No Pun Intended]]) and met the Terries and the Fermies. They talked like cowboys, because through the ground they listened to the radio. As a side effect, [[FridgeBrilliance they thought that money was worthless because people try to give it away on the radio.]] Oh, and they make earthquakes.

* {{Justified|Trope}} in the ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'' series ''ComicBook/{{Sleepwalker}}'', when the eponymous alien hero learns to speak English because that's the language his human host speaks. The letters page stated that if Sleepwalker had been trapped in the mind of someone who spoke another language, like French or German, he would have begun using that language when he first appeared in the human world.

* Explored by the Vision, from ComicBook/UltimateMarvel. When Vision first landed in an alien world, the locals had been years trying to decipher the alien warning. By the time they did so, Gah Lak Tus was just three months away. They then completely rebuilt her, specifically adding all the available technologies so that she could translate her warning to ''any'' alien language (not just Earth's English) automatically.

* Although they aren't necessarily aliens (they're odd creatures that just so happen to look like aliens), ''Fanfic/AllMixedUp'' has a Tiggle speak in English to Olive and Otto as they ask it what it's doing working the tubes.
* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' as envisaged by Creator/AAPessimal, most Discworld languages, and indeed their social cultures, are pretty much one-for-one correspondences with Earth. [[note]]Ankh-Morpork, Lancre and the Chalk are various parts of England, Far Überwald speaks mainly Russian, a large region of Howondaland speaks Afrikaans, and so on[[/note]]. This is explained by referring back to ''Literature/TheScienceOfDiscworld'' and the creation event that brought Roundworld (Earth) into being: as a male human Discworld wizard created our universe and our planet, it therefore follows on that human life evolves on Earth and the languages it speaks are those of the (human) world that called us into being. Far from their languages being mirrors of ours - our languages are copies of those of the Discworld.
** A major crossover event, inferred from Literature/TheBible, involves exactly where the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel ended up after the Babylonian Expulsion. The Cenotian people of the Discworld allude to a cataclysm in which G-d got ''really'' annoyed with them and decided to double up on banishment and expulsion, by diverting them from Babylon to the rivers of a different world completely. Thus, the Discworld got its [[YouHaveToHaveJews mandatory]] Hebrew and Yiddish-speaking people.

* ''Fanfic/LastChildOfKrypton'':
** Shinji, who is [[spoiler:''Franchise/{{Superman}}'']] and thus has [[spoiler:kryptonian DNA]].
** [[spoiler:''[[Franchise/MartianManhunter J'onn J'onzz]]'']] also plays this trope straight when he communicates with Shinji on the Moon.
* ''Fanfic/SOE2LoneHeirOfKrypton'': Asuka, who [[spoiler:is half-kryptonian]] speaks English, German and Japanese. Several ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' alien enemies show up [[spoiler:like Brainiac]] and play the trope straight.
* When the four arrive on C'hou in ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached'', they immediately meet people who speak accented English (much to their relief). Everywhere else they go, everyone speaks English. However, early on, John and Ringo encounter several books in other languages, and Stal mentions that some names (Idri'en Tagen and Raleka) are "old language names." And different races have different styles of names, suggesting derivation from different languages. As the four have other things to think about and are not linguists, they never delve into this topic.

* There are a few examples in ''Fanfic/TheLionKingAdventures'':

* Averted in ''[[Fanfic/InTheShadowOfGods In the Shadow of Gods]]''. Master Chief can't understand Tali or Garrus, since they don't speak English (or any human language, for that matter).

* In ''Fanfic/NeitherABirdNorAPlaneItsDeku'', aliens like [[Characters/TeenTitansStarfire Starfire]] and the ComicBook/MartianManhunter were presumably able to converse with Earthlings during their time as superheroes, which is justified by their respective powers. Izuku is also one, but he was raised on Earth as a Japanese human in the first place.

* In ''Fanfic/TheInstituteSaga'', Kara struggles to learn English until she gets caught up in [[Characters/MarvelComicsJeanGrey Jean Grey]]'s [[PowerIncontinence power]] [[BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind surge]]. Jean gains the ability to effectively download languages to Kryptonians as a result, and Kara starts speaking fluent English from that moment onwards.

* The Boov from ''WesternAnimation/Home2015'' all speak English, but in a very fractured form. In ''Literature/TheTrueMeaningOfSmekday'', the book ''Home'' is based on, this is actually JustifiedTrope: they had been abducting bilingual humans for some time before the full-scale invasion specifically to learn Earth languages. They still don't speak English very well, but manage to communicate.

* ''Film/GarudaSuperhero'', an Indonesian film, have aliens landing in Indonesia and speaking the native language, no problems.
* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in the Turkish film ''Film/{{GORA}}'', as Akif points out how hard it is to tell apart the Turks and the aliens. However, the lingua franca here in Turkish, and there are several [[PlayedForLaughs non-Turkish earthlings who cannot communicate with the aliens]].

** Some of the finer moments in the original trilogy are when this trope is inverted: [[BilingualDialogue two characters converse, each in their own language, with no subtitles provided]] - Han and Chewie throughout; Uncle Owen and the Jawas, Han and Greedo at Mos Eisley; Han and Jabba in Docking Bay 94; the "spy" and stormtroopers at Mos Eisley; C-3PO and R2-D2 throughout; Luke and R2-D2, Han and the droid at the beginning of ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack;'' C-3PO and the other protocol droid at Bespin; C-3PO and Jabba on Tatooine, Luke and Jabba on Tatooine; and Lando conversing with his copilot in ''Return of The Jedi'' come to mind.

* Lampshaded in a ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfSamuraiCat'' tale. The duo are on an alien ship trying to decipher the controls, and find that they're actually labelled in Japanese. Then they realise that, despite being from 17th century Japan, they were speaking English.

** Spoofed in ''Literature/StarSmashersOfTheGalaxyRangers''. Every alien race the heroes come across has "listened to your radio broadcasts" and learned fluent English for one reason or another.
** But the radio version is played straight in ''Literature/InvasionEarth''. The aliens in question speak fluent English and Russian, having picked up on the most common broadcasts (having come during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar). Later on, when they need to talk without being overheard, the two protagonists (an American soldier and a Russian linguist) switch to Spanish, which the aliens didn't bother to learn.
* In ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'', it is discussed between Lyra and Will, who are both from Oxford, just in different parallel universes. There are slight differences in certain words, though.
** In Cittigazze, which is supposed to be a Mediterranean land on another parallel Earth, the residents still speak English.
** Averted on the Mulefa's parallel Earth. Mary spends some time trying to learn their language. Being elephant-like creatures, part of their language involves movements of the trunk along with words, so she has to use her arms to speak as well. They also learn a little English from her.

* Used in the 1934 story "[[https://archive.org/details/Scoops_v01n20_1934-06-23/page/n1/mode/2up?view=theater The Mines of Haldar]]" by Maurice Hugi: the "Lokstals of Lok" communicate with the captive humans in English, explaining that "you Earthmen broadcast so freely, that it is simple for us to learn your uncouth language".
* ''Literature/TheNeverendingStory'': Or, in this case, German. When Bastian enters Fantastica, he has no problem conversing with anyone — which actually makes sense, since Fantastica isn't a self-contained fantasy world separate from ours, but made up of dreams, tales and fantasies complementary to our reality. Of course they'd also speak our language there.

* Creator/CSLewis averts the trope at the end of ''Literature/OutOfTheSilentPlanet'': the academic main character, who has lived with the alien planet's natives and learned some of their language, is recruited by a human CorruptCorporateExecutive to translate a speech full of flowery white-man's-burden rhetoric about why they should let him colonize their planet and take their resources. The main character does his best to render it within the grasp of his basic Alienese and ends up completely exposing the antagonist's agenda without twisting a single word. The main character is a Philologist, and it took him several weeks to come up with a basic understanding of the language. In addition, a bunch of the plot of the next two books hinges on the fact that the main character can now speak Alienese, which it turns out is the universal tongue of everything outside of Earth, including Martians, Venusians, and angels of heaven. This allows him to act as an agent for the interests of Heaven in a way that Satan and his minions never anticipated.

* In the pilot episode of ''Series/{{Alf}}'', Willie's radio intercepts ALF's spaceship and then ALF's voice comes out, but he appears to be speaking a different language. Then, when ALF is brought into the house, he not only speaks English, but he speaks English fluently, tells pop culture jokes and apparently, so do other Melmacians. Also, anytime that we see a book from Melmac, it is in English. How contradictory!

* Downplayed in ''Anime/DogDays''. The people of Flonyard all speak Japanese, but it's a minor plot point on several occasions in the first season that have a different written language.

* ''Manga/MyMonsterSecret'': Not only do the members of Aizawa's race speak a perfect Japanese, they even have Japanese names for some reason (at least there is no indication they have a "real" alien-ish name).

--> '''Mark''': "Hey, how do you guys speak English?"\\
'''Martian''': "What's English?"

** ''ComicBook/SupermansReturnToKrypton'' storyline is set almost entirely in Krypton, but everyone speak English. It's assumed they're speaking Kryptonian, and their speeches have been translated for the readers' sake.

* in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' as envisaged by Creator/AAPessimal, most Discworld languages, and indeed their social cultures, are pretty much one-for-one correspondences with Earth. [[note]]Ankh-Morpork, Lancre and the Chalk are various parts of England, Far Überwald speaks mainly Russian, a large region of Howondaland speaks Afrikaans, and so on[[/note]]. This is explained by referring back to ''Literature/TheScienceOfDiscworld'' and the creation event that brought Roundworld (Earth) into being: as a male human Discworld wizard created our universe and our planet, it therefore follows on that human life evolves on Earth and the languages it speaks are those of the (human) world that called us into being. Far from their languages being mirrors of ours - our languages are copies of those of the Discworld.

* ''Fanfic/SOE2LoneHeirOfKrypton'': Asuka, who [[spoiler:is half-kryptonian]] talks English, German and Japanese. Several ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' alien enemies show up [[spoiler:like Brainiac]] and play the trope straight.

'''Fra''': ''(reassuring)'' School bearing, boy boy. I's many cauterizing loops through and about. Wind and windy, Mitchell!\\

'''Fra''': ''{bluntly)'' Tubes.

* Done rather oddly in the video game, ''VideoGame/HeartOfDarkness''. The cheerful Amigos can speak English, but it appears their primary language is actually Spanish.

'''Collector:''' ''*squeaks and screeches in her native language*''\\

* In ''WesternAnimation/KidCosmic,'' Stuck Chuck speaks English with the help of a translator. Amusingly, he has to cycle between a few languages before Kid and Jo can understand what he's saying. [[spoiler: Played straight after Chuck makes a {{Heel Face Turn}}. After giving his translator to Tuna Sandwich the cat, Chuck reveals that while he can speak English on his own, it's hard on his throat, causing it to come out [[YouNoTakeCandle broken]] and strained.]]

--> '''Khalil''': "The people there spoke a different language, but we'll just pretend they spoke English. Just like ''Franchise/StarTrek''."

* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':
** One ''ComicBook/SupermansPalJimmyOlsen'' story had Jimmy stranded on an alien world where everyone spoke English. The explanation? They had studied the universe's languages and adopted English as the ''most efficient!''
** ''ComicBook/SupermansReturnToKrypton'' storyline is set almost entirely in Krypton, but everyone speak English. It's assumed they're speaking Kryptonian, and their speeches have been translated for the readers' sake.

** ''ComicBook/TheImmortalSuperman'': Everyone whom Superman meets during his journey across time and space speak English with apparently zero LanguageDrift. Even astronauts stranded in deep space, whom Superman rescues when he drops by the year 801,970, can communicate with him in twentieth century English.
** In ''ComicBook/SupermanVsShazam'', no English-speaking hero or villain seems to have trouble communicating with Karmang, an ancient White Martian.

** ''ComicBook/TheDayTheCheeringStopped'': Subverted in the epilogue, which shows a royal banquet in a faraway alien world. The narrator specifically states the aliens are speaking a language no Earth person has ever heard, but it is translated for the readers' benefit.

** The novel ''Halo: Silent Storm'', taking place barely a year into the war, suggests that Covenant commanders are expected to study and learn human languages. Not to communicate with humans, but so they can easily spy on human transmissions for intelligence gathering. The Shipmaster Nizat 'Kvaromee states that he can speak English "as well as several other" human languages, and he's surprised that minor Prophet on his ship has ''not'' learned any human languages.

*** The first episode of ''Series/{{Loki|2021}}'' has the title character attempting to talk to a group of Mongolians, and neither he nor they can understand one another. This strongly suggests that it is just down to learning languages, and that Loki has never learned Mongolian.

* In the short story [[http://sfreader.com/contest-2008-1.asp "On a Clear Day You Can See All the Way to Conspiracy"]] by Desmond Warzel, the aliens speak perfect English; for at least two of them, however, this is justified, as they've been hiding out in suburban Cleveland and would need to speak English to blend in.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Forspoken}}'', Frey questions why the locals in another world entirely are all speaking English. Since Frey just acquired a magical bracelet that talks to her, one would expect for the bracelet to answer that he's [[TranslationConvention translating for her.]] But no, he just says they're conveniently the same language, and the matter is dropped entirely, even though Frey is exactly the type of character to ask how that makes any sense.

'''Fra''': School bearing, boy boy. I's many cauterizing loops through and about. Wind and windy, Mitchell!\\

'''Fra''': Tubes.

* This is first averted in ''VideoGame/TheDig'': A group of astronauts are stranded on a deserted alien planet, when the protagonist first encounters an alien he doesn't understand a thing the alien speaks, until he brings a companion (who has been studying the alien's language in a "library") and she is able to successfully communicate with him (the dialog is heard in English via TranslationConvention), later [[spoiler: this is completely played straight when the protagonist ascends to the dimension in which the rest of the aliens are trapped, the alien leader tells him that in that plane of existence all minds communicate perfectly, then the aliens return to the real world and their leader speaks and thanks him in perfect English implying he learned the language by that "perfect communication"]].

* Either this trope, [[EternalEnglish Eternal Japanese]], or some magical version of TranslatorMicrobes is why the Moon-dwelling AmbiguouslyHuman {{Lunarians}} of ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' are able to converse with the heroines.
** Though in fairness, the only Lunarians we see conversing with the heroines are the reigning princesses, their generals tasked with invading Gensokyo, or exiles residing in Gensokyo.

** In ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'' various alien races can easily speak English, though only in three cases it's {{Justified}}:

** Flipped on its head in the Season 8 episode "Zapp Gets Cancelled". Leela, on behalf of DOOP, lands on a planet to broker contact with the natives there -- referred to as "Tactillians". One of the first observations the native Tactillians have of the aliens from space is that they are able to communicate in their own language.

* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': The two aliens Rhino meets in "The Spaceship" are able to speak English using translation collars. Or at least eventually, anyway -- they first try Croatian and Filipino, misunderstanding the hamster when he tries to speak what he believes to be outer-space language.