So, in TNG and DS9, we saw the Flag of the United Federation of Planets numerous times. It's a white Seal of the Federation against a field of blue, with the legend "UNITED FEDERATION OF PLANETS" inscribed upon it. (There were two versions, actually -- one with "of" and one with "OF.") Anyway, I was thinking about that, and it bothered me a bit. The Federation might use Federation Standard, aka English, as its working language, but surely Federation flags using alternate languages also have official status? Surely there are Federation flags with the Federation's name written in Vulcan, or Andorian, or Tellarite, or Betazoid, or Bolian, or what-have-you, on it as well? And surely other Earth languages can be used, too, right? So, using my incredibly primitive skills, I made two alternate Federation flags: One in Español, and one in Français. What say ye? ETA: Lest there be any confusion, credit goes out to Shisma from Memory Alpha, who created the Federation Flag image used on MA and who gave me permission long ago to modify it from "UNITED FEDERATION of PLANETS" to "UNITED FEDERATION OF PLANETS" and change the color, for us to use over on Memory Beta. The other two are modifications of my modification of Shisma's original.
Since the day-to-day language of Starfleet and the UFP bureaucracy seems to be recognizable english - at least this is what we see in all the data displays and opther printed materials in ST - I'm not sure you'd see the UFP flag displaying other languages. However, let's go with the OP's premise for a moment. How about seeing the versions from other member planets (i.e. in Vulcan, Andorian, Bajoran, etc)?
Just a curiosity, why did you choose to modify the French version to "Federation of United Planets"? Is it the term used in the French dubbing of the series?
My assumption is that other languages would be flown locally, but not Federation-wide. So you might see the one in Español flown in Spain and Latin America, but you wouldn't see it flown in, say, Berlin or Rio (and certainly not on Vulcan or Bre'el or Peliar Zel). I don't have the skills to do that, but I would surely love seeing version like that. I used the phrase that Memory Alpha's Français version used for its Federation article. The only one I translated for myself was the one in Español, as I do know a little bit of that language. I wouldn't know if the phrase in Français literally translates to, "Federation of United Planets" or if the syntax in Français allows "Unies" to modify "Fédération" from the end. Muchas gracias, BolianAdmiral!
So, I figured out how to take the images of various alien scripts from Memory Alpha and adapt them into the Federation Flag. Acknowledgments to Runic code, who put together the graphics for these languages for Memory Alpha. Here, in Vulcan, Trill, Denobulan, Bajoran, and Axanari...
Ok, thank you. I suppose it's the translation used in the French dubbing and support materials. I asked also because in Italian they used both "Federazione dei Pianeti Uniti", Federation of United Planets (TOS) and "Federazione Unita dei Pianeti", United Federation of Planets (TNG onwards).
Now I'm wondering how the name would translate into Inuktitut. Or Haida. Or Ganienkeh(AKA "Mohawk")...
If there's one thing I'd like to consider as part of UFP policy, it's that whatever your first language, you should be able to serve and be served in that language and not have it be a stumbling block for yourself or anyone else you're either working with or trying to help. If the UFP knows of a language, they likely have a standard for how to make use of it in its heraldry.
Did some more research and discovered that some French dubs of Star Trek do indeed call the Federation "la Fédération Unie des Planètes" rather than "la Fédération des Planètes Unies." So, here's an alternate version -- possibly a more accurate translation?.
Alas, my skills are limited. I've been creating the translated ones by using MS Paint to re-arrange the order of the letters. You'll notice that the few letters that don't appear in the English form -- the "C" in "Federación," for instance -- are ones that can easily be made by modifying a letter from the English (an "O" in the "C"'s case). The accent marks I made by cutting and pasting small parts from an "A" and modifying them by hand. For the German translation, which according to this page would be "Vereinigte Föderation der Planeten" or "Vereinte Föderation der Planeten," I'm not confident in my ability to make a good "G" or "V." Same with Italian -- I'm not confident in my ability to render a good "Z." I might give it a try in the next few days, though. As for a Russian one? I have no confidence in my ability to render "Объединенной Федерации Планет"!
I might be able to help you with that one: Made with url=http://www.getpaint.net/index.html]Paint.Net[/url]. Free, powerful, and best of all...free.
Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice!! And thank you muchly for that link. I'm not much of an artist -- I just started fooling around on MS Paint -- so that'll be useful!
Interesting Russkiy flag. I wonder why "Planet" isn't plural, though. My Russian is weak though, so maybe for some reason that is right... --Alex
I got "Объединенной Федерации Планет" from the Russian language edition of Memory Alpha -- specifically from using Google Translate to figure out that the second link on this page was a link to an as-yet-uncreated "United Federation of Planets" article on Russian MA. Blame them -- or my misunderstanding of proper context in Russian.
"Объединённая Федерация Планет" is how it should be written. The dots above the second "e" are important because it changes the pronunciation of that character from "ye" (similar to yes) to "yo" (as in yo-yo). Many Russians would simply write "e" as a form of easily-understood shorthand, but since a flag should be official, nitpicking seems appropriate. I find it interesting, however, that the Russians would refer to the UFP as the "Incorporated Federation of Planets" (Объединённая Федерация Планет) as opposed to something that appears more true to the organization -- like "Federation of United Planets" (Федерация Соединенных Планеты).
Hm. Well, the idea is to modify "Federation" rather than "Planets" -- it's not a federation of planets that are united, it's a federation that is united and which is comprised of planets. Perhaps the phrase "United Federation" simply doesn't exist in Russian and "Incorporated Federation" is as close as it gets? (I know nothing about it -- I'm just suggesting an explanation.) ETA: That's the nice thing about making Federation flags in alien languages.... no need to bother translating the words or making it make sense!