State of Languages in the Federation

Discussion in 'General Trek Discussion' started by Grendelsbayne, Oct 4, 2013.

  1. T'Girl

    T'Girl Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Kind of goes back to my watching Star Trek in Spanish (which perhaps I should have expanded on), I'm use to the spoken words heard being different than the lip motions observed.

    It would be the same with an conversation where the UT is in use.

    There is a scene in DS9 where Sisko in his role as the emissary renders a blessing over a engaged/newly wed Bajor couple. He does this speaking the Bajorian language, this is specifically commented upon in the episode with Kira complimenting Sisko on his accent.

    When Kira is talking to one of her fellow Bajorians, she is most likely speaking a Bajorian language, say during one of her conversations with Kai Winn.

    Personally, I believe whole segments of the dialog in Amok Time is in Vulcan.

    When Worf is aboard a Klingon ship, surround (so to speak) by other Klingons, he is speaking a Klingon dialect. Worf likely does speak either English or "Starfleet standard." And when speaking with his adopted family in private, the conversation could easily be in Ukrainian.

    When Deanna and Laxanna speak out loud to each other ...?

    Out of universe, yes these are actors speaking English.


    :)
     
  2. trash80

    trash80 Commander Red Shirt

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    This seems like an obvious plot for a Star Trek episode, its strange how its never happened.
     
  3. Greg Cox

    Greg Cox Admiral Premium Member

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    I once pitched a Voyager ep in which the UT broke down and suddenly Neelix couldn't talk to anyone. Alas, it didn't sell, but maybe I can recycle it as short story or subplot someday . . . ?
     
    Last edited: Oct 6, 2013
  4. Melakon

    Melakon Admiral In Memoriam

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    Go for it! He's apparently learned enough English to read the signs and controls on board ship, so he'd have to use the computer to learn the language phonetically. Then it's just determining who his personal tutor would be. I can see how this could be frustrating for Neelix.
     
  5. iguana_tonante

    iguana_tonante Admiral Admiral

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    Trust me, learning to read English and learning to speak it are two completely different endeavours. :lol:
     
  6. T'Girl

    T'Girl Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Have it set within DS9 might be better than on Voyager. We know for a fact that the Ferengi don't speak English, now add Kira, Garak, some Klingons, a Vorta, a few Humans and put them on the Defiant or some other enclosed situation.

    Mix in a dangerous time constraint and serve.

    :devil:
     
  7. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Also, the Dominion characters speak their native tongues and is translated. We saw this when Dr. Bashir was working with the genetically enhanced misfits and they were watching a holorecording of a meeting with Weyoun. Half way through, they request the computer stop the translation and have Weyoun speaking his native Vorta language, which he must have been when the recording was made.
     
  8. Bad Thoughts

    Bad Thoughts Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I don't think that the UT would be as passive of a technology as is presented for dramatic purposes. Inidividual UTs probably interface with the available technology around them to provide noise cancellation and acoustic projection/lensing where it's necessary. The user likely has the option of selecting how they are heard, perhaps preventing some language from being continuously translated or to provide an amount of privacy. Indeed, the user can probably select the volume at which they are heard, allowing them to speak more quietly than normal and not contributing to the overall acoustic pollution.
     
  9. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    Or maybe it was not a case of favourtism per say, rather one language (i.e. English) establsihed itself as the lingua franca/de facto language of at least Starfleet.
     
  10. iguana_tonante

    iguana_tonante Admiral Admiral

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    I might not be deliberate favoritism, but in the end some people will end up being favored in any case. Also, languages don't establish themselves. People do.
     
  11. Bad Thoughts

    Bad Thoughts Vice Admiral Admiral

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    One case: Aviation English. English established itself as the worldwide standard among pilots, mostly because of the prominence of English speaking aviators and air traffic. However, being able to operate a plane in English doesn't equate with knowing English conversationally, or English displacing other languages in other areas.
     
  12. iguana_tonante

    iguana_tonante Admiral Admiral

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    Uhm...

    QED.
     
  13. Bad Thoughts

    Bad Thoughts Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Then we agree?
     
  14. iguana_tonante

    iguana_tonante Admiral Admiral

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    Since you basically gave an example that supported my original comment, yes. You initial wording had me thinking that we were offering a counterexample.
     
  15. Kirby

    Kirby Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    YEAH!!! Suck it Madame Harper! - High School French aside, it would make sense if the Federation adopted a standard language, be it English or something else.
     
  16. TheRoyalFamily

    TheRoyalFamily Commodore Commodore

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    I figure anytime you see someone use a non-Western-US accent (that isn't from the Western US), they are speaking English; otherwise, UT: folks like Picard, Papa Sisko, the Rohzenkos, etc. were speaking English, as those accents come from regional pronunciation. Possible exception for the founding Fed races (especially Vulcans), and the occasional Klingon, since we see them speaking English before UT was invented. Though maybe there was a primitive one in use by then, which didn't work completely by magic, since the Enterprise crew was often able to communicate in places that would probably never heard a word of any Earth language, let alone English, though not always (ie, it was already programmed with several known languages).

    Also, it seems the UT works at least with AoE - in LGM once the Ferengi got their UT's working, everyone was able to understand each other, and it made it look like they were speaking English to the A51 guys.

    Biggest problem with UT as shown on the show was Klingon. Why would they randomly have Klingon words get through the UT? It's not like all of it was untranslatable, if any. And I think at least a few times it happens, the Feddie characters don't know what's going on, like the UT stopped working.

    This could also explain some of the lazy cultural stuff naming - stuff like the SPACE fleas, or SPACE pudding, etc.
     
  17. Vanyel

    Vanyel The Imperious Leader Premium Member

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    Would the UT translate common foreign words. Klingon or Vulcan words that are common and known. Like here we know "fiesta," "cardiovascular," and "dinosaur." Would those get translated?
     
  18. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    True, the UT might not trnaslate words from alien languages that have made their way into say English. After all even today English likes to borrow words from other languages.
     
  19. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    It's English's greatest strength and weakness.;)
     
  20. FreddyE

    FreddyE Captain Captain

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    Maybe everyone can just set the UT to an accent of his choice?