When Andor Season 2 first introduced audiences to Ghorman earlier this year, its people, and their language, many fans had the same reaction: "Hey, that sounds a lot like French." And technically, they weren't wrong.
According to Esquire, the Ghorman language holds loose roots in French. But dialect coach and constructed-language ("conlang") creator Marina Tyndall clarified that there's no actual French spoken in Star Wars. It took the work of multiple dialect coaches and a native French speaker to make sure of that.
"This conlang of Ghorman was loosely inspired by the inventory of terrestrial French," Tyndall told the publication. But much like Star Wars itself, it's all made up -- even if there are elements inspired by the real world in its construction.
Conlang creators are tasked with using their skills as linguists to, essentially, make up fake languages. The Ghorman language used for Star Wars would be classified as an artistic language, specifically a fictional language. It adds depth to the story and further immerses audiences in the fictional world or universe they're watching or reading. The Mandalorian language is also a fictional language. More broadly, Klingon (Star Trek), Naʼvi (Avatar), and Chakobsa (Dune) also fall into this category.
Language creation isn't new to the Star Wars universe -- even the original trilogy included Huttese and other species' native tongues. Mando'a, however, is still one of the most developed and catalogued conlangs in a galaxy far, far away. Author Karen Traviss went in-depth with the development of the Mandalorian language as part of her Republic Commando book series, though little of it is used on-screen today.
Movies and TV shows use conlangs whenever possible to more realistically depict diverse cultures in fictional universes, and it works. Well enough that you can actually learn Klingon if you want to. It takes an expert understanding of real language construction to create a fake one, though, which is why people like Tyndall are hired for arguably some of the coolest jobs in the business.
The Ghorman language was effective throughout Andor's second season, but most impactful during the singing of their anthem before the massacre began. In that moment, the Ghor were united in their refusal to let the Empire win. And they paid the ultimate price for their rebellion.
In that episode, a made-up language became more than just an immersion device. It became an essential part of the story -- the Ghor's final attempt to embrace everything they stood for before the regime erased their history.