Speak Like Yoda
Few fictional characters have a more specific way of speaking than Yoda. Between the sound of his voice and the grammatical specificity of his sentences, Yoda is both a fun and challenging impersonation to master. If you want to impress your friends and family (and yourself!), then you should try your hand at mimicking wise Yoda.
Contents
Steps
Mastering Yoda's Grammar
- Understand Yoda's sentence structures. It is theorized that Yoda's grammar is very similar to how ancient humans spoke in 50,000 B.C. Yoda tends to structure his sentence in the subject-object-verb agreement manner instead of our modern way of structuring sentences with the subject-verb-object agreement.
- For example, "I play soccer" becomes "Soccer, I play." when Yoda says it.
- "This is my home." --> "My home, this is."
- "I will stay and help you." --> "Stay and help you, I will."
- Practice rephrasing common sentences to fit Yoda's style. Choose some simple sentences that you use daily and restructure them to conform to Yoda's ancient grammatical tendencies.
- "Have a good night." --> "A good night, have."
- "I feel great." --> "Great I feel."
- "You look tired." --> "Tired you look."
- Study some of Yoda's most famous lines. Here are some common phrases that people often associate with Yoda:
- "If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did to Obi-Wan's apprentice."
- "Difficult to see, always in motion is the future."
- "Strong is Vader. Mind what you have learned. Save you, it can."
Mastering the Impersonation
- Practice the sound of his voice. Yoda has a slightly croaky, throaty voice that occasionally cracks and breaks. Try forming your voice in the back of your throat to give it that throaty, gargling sound.
- Be mindful of Yoda's vocal cadence and tonality. Yoda's pace of speaking is very important to be aware of. He speaks quite quickly at times but with an intelligible rhythm. Yoda's words and sentences are also full of rises and falls in tonality. Practicing this helps express meaning, especially when tricky grammar is involved. Mimic accordingly.
- Record yourself speaking like Yoda. Once you feel like you are executing a good impersonation of Yoda, record yourself impersonating a line of Yoda's and then compare it to an actual clip of Yoda speaking the same line.
- Hone Yoda's appearance. Making an accompanying Yoda pose can add to the effect of your impersonation. He is slightly feeble, but is capable of surprising physical feats, so don't overdo the crippled appearance. To really seal the deal, wear the following items:
- A burlap sack wrapped around your shoulders
- A dark orange turtleneck
- A brown, wooden cane
- A green lightsaber
- Learn when to use the impersonation. There are many social situations when doing an impersonation is funny or appropriate, but there are also many social situations when an impersonation can be seen as poorly timed or bad taste. Be prudent in choosing when and where to show off your Yoda impersonation.
Listening to Yoda
- Collect audio of Yoda speaking. At this point in the learning process, don't worry about trying to sound exactly like Yoda yet. Focused listening is an essential first step for your mind to begin to process the recognizable garble and grit of Yoda's voice.
- Watch video clips of Yoda online
- Peruse this compendium of Yoda audio files: http://www.yodajeff.com/multimedia/sounds
- Watch the Star Wars films. Assuming you've already seen all of the movies, return to them to find particular scenes that heavily feature Yoda and his signature verbal mannerisms. Pick from one of the following films, or just watch all of them!
- Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
- Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)
- Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
- Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
- Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
- Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)
Tips
- Practice! When learning anything new with the voice and language, it is imperative to practice on a daily basis.
- Record yourself while practicing and then compare your impression to clips of Yoda.
- Remember these words from the master himself, "Do or do not, there is no try."
- Research famous Yoda-isms and other trivia. There are too many Star Wars experts out there who will be happy to correct any inaccuracies in your impersonation. Be sure to consider everything in this article before showing off your best Yoda impersonation.
- Finally, remember these words from the master himself: "Do or do not, there is no try."
