ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Alien language

Okay kiddo, imagine that you meet an alien from another planet. They might speak a language that sounds completely strange and unfamiliar to you. Just like how your little cousin might be speaking gibberish that you can’t understand yet, the alien’s language might seem like gibberish to us.

But just like how you can learn to understand your cousin better over time, scientists also try to figure out how to understand the alien language. They might start by listening to how the aliens speak, and try to identify repeating patterns and sounds that might mean something.

Another way to crack the alien language code is to look at the symbols or writing that the aliens might use. Scientists could look for patterns in how the symbols are used and how they are put together to create words and sentences.

It might take a lot of work and patience, but if we can figure out how to understand an alien language, it would allow us to learn so much about their world and culture. How cool would that be, huh?