Schreyer Kryptonian
Greetings
[sɪ.tæn]
Kryptonian in the DCEU
Man of Steel • Batman v Superman • Justice League • The Flash
For the 2013 film, Man of Steel, linguistic anthropologist Christine Schreyer was brought in to develop a new and unique writing system and spoken language for Krypton, unrelated to any previous depictions of Kryptonian. Dr. Schreyer teamed up with graphic designer Kirsten Franson who designed the look of the writing.
Although the language was never spoken in the film, the writing was featured prominently in most scenes set on Krypton. In subsequent films, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Justice League (2017), and The Flash (2023) the writing can be seen on several places on Superman’s or Supergirl’s suit, most prominently on the Ş symbol on his chest.
There was a period of time when Dr. Schreyer sought to release a Kryptonian Language Primer in print, but the days when that would have been a possibility are likely over. For now, all information on the language has been gleaned from a very small set of examples including mainly the Man of Steel movie tie-in book, and the Deep Space Radio Wave Project and the Glyph Creator websites which were launched as a promotional pieces for the movie (and are no longer functional).
Other Resources
Twitter user @Rachelyoubish (account defunct) did some amazing breakdowns of the Kryptonian writing seen in Man of Steel. You can see her work-in-progress on this Google Doc. She managed to translate quite a few words and phrases.
Visit Dr. Schreyer’s own Kryptonian page for links to more interviews and information.