Doesn't it bother you that – as unlikely as it may seem – most alien species in the sci-fi productions can speak English, or Japanese, or French, or whatever the language of the show's producers and intended demographic is? Moreover, the same aliens seem to speak their native language when they don't want to be understood by the earthlings.
But could aliens really speak English? Presuming that they really exist...
I'm sure many of you are convinced aliens are really out there, and it's not only the sci-fi movies that strongly promote this idea. From a probabilistic point of view, I find it impossible for us to be the only beings in the universe, since a recent study claims that the universe is at least 78 billion years wide!
For example, for the first time in history, an alien planet outside our solar system is proven to have water in its atmosphere. It's not liquid, but it proves water can exist on many extrasolar planets. So far, around 240 planets have been discovered outside our solar system and at least one of them is suited for life.
Now I'm not saying they're here, but if and when they will make first contact, what language will they speak?
First of all, who says they must speak a certain language, or that they must speak at all? Some of you will argue that it's impossible for a species to reach a level of technological advancement that
would allow them interstellar travel, without an efficient form of communication. It's true, but this language will definitely not be English, or even something we can translate as a language.
Supposing that they're so intelligent, that they would want to learn our language, lowering themselves to our limited intellect. Why English? It's not even the most spoken language in the world. Although people of different nationalities speak English (or at least a sort of English) let's not forget that Chinese is in fact the most spoken language, since the 2,3 billion inhabitants make up for almost a third of the global population.
Secondly, who says they will communicate in a language like the ones we speak? The most probable form of communication they will adopt will be...mathematics. Let's face it, it's the only universal language, since 1+1=2 in any language and would have the same meaning for all the intelligent beings in the universe, and it would be the easiest way for us to learn basic communication codes.
The simplest way to transmit us information would be through pictures. "A picture is worth more than a thousand words" is still true. At least for the simple things. They probably won't be able to tell us how to build an interstellar spaceship using pictures, but it would be a good way to start a communication between us and them.
Last, but not least, what if they don't speak at all?
For humans, speech is the most advanced form of communication. Yet it's far from being the only efficient one. We don't have to travel to alien worlds to find weird forms of communication, since here on Earth, there are animals possessing some truly remarkable ways of sending messages to each other or to potential enemies.
Some animals have ways of communicating beyond the limited senses of humans, and we've only begun studying these strange abilities, so we're still far away from truly understanding them or being able to replicate them.
For instance, elephants can communicate using infrasounds, sounds with a low frequency, below the threshold of human hearing. Dolphins, some of the most intelligent life forms on Earth, besides the humans, communicate with ultrasounds, with a high frequency, that humans can't detect either.
Locusts can hear with their feet, fish can sense electrical discharges from the muscles of other fish, and squids seem to "speak" using bright colors and flashes of polarized light, through which they express basic "emotions".
No one says that extraterrestrial life forms will have the biological ability to produce sounds that can be modulated in the form of a language, so maybe they won't rely on sounds at all, but on entirely new senses, that we can't even imagine.
Another interesting hypothesis for alien communication is telepathy, a term used to describe the transfer of information on thoughts or feelings between individuals by means other than the five classical senses. Some people, occasionally referred to by themselves or others as "transhumanists", believe that technologically enabled telepathy, coined "techlepathy", will be the inevitable future of humanity.
Maybe aliens did acquire this ability through genetic engineering, since this form of communication will have many advantages, never needing devices and electronic gadgets that depend on a power source and transmission relays, and have limited range capabilities.
The actual mechanisms they would use to tap into our brains and directly transmit the message are not known so far, and their actual existence is questioned by many scientists, but it would definitely sound like an efficient way of communicating thoughts without using the constraints and limitations of physical representations of any kind and of various linguistic signs.
We can only guess what other intelligent lifeforms would use as communication methods, but one thing is clear: aliens won't speak English.
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