History Main / IntelligibleUnintelligible

** Similarly, the Death of Rats communicates entirely by saying '''Squeak'', but the few people he interacts with don't have much trouble understanding him, and Quoth the raven is usually around to translate for him.

* Boomhauer from ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' isn't ''completely'' incomprehensible, just hard to understand due to his MotorMouth speech. Regular characters have no trouble understanding him, though, and in fact consider him the wisest and most eloquent person they know. There's a RunningGag where they can't understand him due to bad phone recpetion or basically any reason ''but'' his manner of speaking. However, it seems only Arlenites can understand him. Once, he fell asleep while inner tubing and woke up in Houston. Nobody there could understand him and he actually got thrown in a mental institution because everyone thought he was insane (although him walking around in just a speedo definitely also played a part in that).

** Played with in the Fun Twins' case in ''"Who Violently Murdered Simon S. Salty"''. They speak in shrieking, hyperkinetic warbles that somehow Pim understands enough to get [[CloudCuckoolander an even more nonsensical story]] when he asks them what they were up to at the time of the murder. Charlie, however, being the AudienceSurrogate, has zero idea what they said.

* Teisel, Tron, and the Servbots from the ''VideoGame/MegaManLegends'' series have no problem understanding Bon Bonne, who [[PokemonSpeak can only say "babu"]].

* Although he's perfectly intelligible to the player and [[SpeaksFluentAnimal the Phantom Thieves]], Morgana from ''VideoGame/Persona5'' sounds like just any ordinary cat to anyone who hasn't been in the Metaverse for long enough to notice anything strange. Actual speaking outside the Metaverse may be a TranslationConvention, however, as his real-world dialogue is always accompanied by a "meow" WrittenSoundEffect.

* The Guru from ''VideoGame/Sly3HonorAmongThieves'' engages in a lot of this, particularly with Bentley and Murray.

* [[WesternAnimation/MarthaSpeaks]]: The title character herself can understand the other dogs, including Skits, even though they can only bark.

* ''[[WesternAnimation/MarthaSpeaks]]'': The title character herself can understand the other dogs, including Skits, even though they can only bark.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'' has Wee [=MacGuffin=], who speaks in an unintelligible manner, but his father appears to have no problem understanding him. (As can anyone in the audience familiar with the thicker of the Scottish accents.)[[note]][[Creator/KevinMcKidd was actually directed to speak in gibberish as Young [=MacGuffin=], but he convinced the directors to let him speak in his native Doric dialect, which is sufficiently unintelligible to most Anglophone viewers.[[/note]]
* Fish Out of Water in ''WesternAnimation/ChickenLittle''. Double {{Subverted}} with Kirby the alien kid, who can only be understood by Fish and the alien mother.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'': Cri-Kee communicates in cheeps that Mushu, and no one else, can understand. Mushu can also translate for Khan.
* In ''WesternAnimation/PeterPan'' Tinkerbell's speech sounds like jingling bells and wind chimes, but Peter Pan and the Lost Boys understand what she is saying, while others such as Wendy and Captain Hook rely on her emotions and pantomiming.

* In ''WesternAnimation/RapsittieStreetKidsBelieveInSanta'', the grandma is speaking in riddles. Whether this is because a hard drive got corrupted or something is yet to be seen. The grandson understands her somehow.

* Boomhauer from ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' isn't ''completely'' incomprehensible, just hard to understand. However, regular characters have no trouble understanding him, and in fact consider him the wisest and most eloquent character. There's a running gag where they can't understand him due to phone static or basically any reason ''but'' his manner of speaking and occasional gags about minor characters not understanding him at all, though.
** This seems to only be true in Arlen; in one episode he falls asleep while innertubing and wakes up in Austin, where a policeman thinks Boomhauer's schizophrenic.

* In ''Manga/SoulEater'', [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys Enrique]] can only communicate by saying 'gau'. However, his accomplice has no trouble understanding him... In fact, the first thing he does in his big reveal is [[http://xreader.net/Soul-Eater/60/22 say a dirty joke that neither the reader nor the other characters understand]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'', Videogame/QBert only speaks in what's referred to as "Q*Bertese", and Fix-It Felix has to act as an interpreter.

[[folder:Film — Live Action]]

** [=R2-D2=] communicates entirely in bleeps. [=C-3PO=] is normally the one to translate (or [[RepeatingSoTheAudienceCanHear otherwise reveal]]) what he is saying for the benefit of the audience, although Luke is shown using a monitor in his X-Wing to translate for him in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''. In the prequel trilogy, Anakin is able to understand him.
** Chewbacca as well, only Han, [=C3PO=], Obi-Wan, and maybe Lando are able to understand him.
** The various alien anatomies would make it impossible for everyone to be able to speak one standard language, but understanding other languages is fairly easy — Chewbacca understands [[CommonTongue Basic]] but can't speak it, while Han understands Shyriiwook but can't speak it (without sounding like an idiot at least). Anyone wanting to get by as a trader, merc or other interplanetary profession would need to learn at least a half-dozen common languages. Protocol droids like [=C3PO=] provide special services as they can both understand and synthetically speak several thousand languages. Also, R2-D2's bleeping is a language of its own, which service droids use and people can learn to understand.

* Coco in ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends''. Whether this is applies to everyone or just people around Foster's isn't consistent: it took a while in the pilot until Mac or Bloo could understand her, but she's been able to do things with strangers (like getting a job) that would require talking.

Fiction may exaggerate, but this trope is [[TruthInTelevision not unheard of in real life]]. People with speech impediments or thick foreign accents tend to be easier to understand by family and longtime friends, leading to conversations that can certainly appear as this trope to onlookers. Similarly, [[BabyTalk babies who are learning to talk]] will often be understood by their families much more easily than by adults who haven't been around toddlers anytime lately.

* Also known as "The Librarian-speak Conundrum" after the Librarian in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', who communicates only with "ook", but seems to able to be understood with perfect clarity by many (but not all) characters, although a period of exposure to his unique speaking patterns seems to be required.
*** The Librarian also occasionally says "eek", which is usually either an expression of displeasure (or some other negative emotion, such as anger or shock) or a "no", although the exact content of the statement can include a great deal more than that.
** Similarly, the Death of Rats communicates entirely by saying [[AC:Squeak]], but the few people he interacts with don't have much trouble understanding him, and Quoth the raven is usually around to translate for him.

* [[KidAppealCharacter Bumblebee]] of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' can't speak normally due to losing his voice processor, rather like his movie counterpart, instead communicating through beeping noises. The other Autobots seem to have no problem understanding him. The only ''human'' who gets what he's saying is the ChildProdigy.
** And even he is unsure why this is...
** The original series had an alien mercenary named Slizardo, whose speech comprised of high-pitched babbling. The Autobots and Decepticons couldn't understand him, but other aliens could.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegend'': Ralrracheen (first introduced in ''[[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Heir to the Empire]]'' is a notable exception, due to his speech impediment that allows non-Wookiees to understand him more easily. He's still speaking Shyriiwook, but the impediment neutralizes the thick accent most Wookies have from a Basic speaker's perspective.

* ''Film/TheLoveBug'': Herbie.

* Deconstructed in the ''VideoGame/KantaiCollection'' doujinshi "[[NeverTrustATitle The Sixth Destroyer Division Will Be Best Friends Forever]]". It starts with Hibiki returning from Russia, having finished her remodelling into Verniy. However, as a side effect, she can now only speak Russian. The rest of the 6th Destroyer Div. can still seemingly understand her due to their friendship. And in the end, Verniy is seemingly at peace, surrounded by her friends. [[spoiler: Then came TheReveal: the rest of the 6th Destroyer Fleet ''completely misunderstood'' pretty much everything Verniy said. She actually hates the green tea she's been given, and has no idea who's this "Hibiki" that they keep talking about, because she was strapped to a [[LaserGuidedAmnesia mind-wiping machine]] as part of her remodelling process, which [[DeathOfPersonality erased her entire personality]].]]