Undiscovered Country Anomolies

[Tomalak]

The Universal Translator is the most ubiquitous technology in all of Star Trek, but it's also the least explained. It's just magic, and always works exactly according to the needs of the plot.

The interesting thing about the trial scene is that there's no UT - it's a person manually translating. Which suggests the UT confiscation happened before the trial.

There's also the question of whether the use of a particular language is diegetic or not, and the film clearly switches between them as needed. The trial again shows this in real time - Chang starts in Klingon, then we cut to the translator, and back to Chang now speaking English for the audience's benefit. But he's still diegetically speaking Klingon.

I know Chang was quoting Adlai Stevenson at the trial, but the implication when he tells Kirk to not "wait for the translation" is that Kirk speaks Klingon and Chang knows it.

Could be, but Chang is primarily playing to the gallery. Either way, Kirk pauses before responding, allowing enough time for the translation.

I think the only time that Kirk speaks Klingon on screen is when he imitates Kruge calling for a beam up on Genesis. And that's not conclusive, as it's simple mimicry.

 

[Tallguy]

Chang starts in Klingon, then we cut to the translator, and back to Chang now speaking English for the audience's benefit. But he's still diegetically speaking Klingon.

Because they saw The Hunt for Red October.

 

[Tomalak]

Because they saw The Hunt for Red October.

100%! Honestly I think it's the best way to handle language in film.

 

[DonIago]

IIRC the novelization posits that Uhura could have at least used the UT to know what the Morska guard was saying and what she should say in response (think using Google Translate as a middleman to then directly interact verbally with someone) but that it had been sabotaged. I liked the idea that Our Heroes couldn't use it directly to communicate because it would have been recognized (though the line is almost an aside in the film, and seems like something that should have been better anticipated), though I reserve judgment on whether Uhura should have been expected to know Klingon herself.

One might argue that Uhura knew 'High Klingon' or such but that the Morska guard was communicating in a more informal/low-brow dialect that was unfamiliar enough to stymie her. This could be somewhat supported by his demeanor throughout the conversation.

 

[Maurice]

Because they saw The Hunt for Red October.

Yeah, and the gimmick predates that by decades. It at least goes back to Stanley Kramer’s Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), in which Shatner appears (as Captain Byers).

 

[Tomalak]

There's also the approach of the BBC sitcom 'Allo 'Allo, set in occupied France in the Second World War, in which everyone speaks English with outrageously exaggerated comedy accents to denote their language.

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

Yeah, and the gimmick predates that by decades. It at least goes back to Stanley Kramer’s Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), in which Shatner appears (as Captain Byers).

It's quite the retro-kick to see Captain Kirk talk to Dorothy Gale on the witness stand.

 

[CoveTom]

I really think people are overthinking the Uhura scene. It's a moment of levity in a pretty grim film, but also shows our heroes using their resourcefulness to successfully complete the mission. It's a great Uhura scene, not an insult!

It is most definitely not a great Uhura scene. Not at all.

 

[Tomalak]

It is most definitely not a great Uhura scene. Not at all.

She uses her resourcefulness and quick thinking to save the ship from detection, deep in Klingon space, enabling them to rescue Kirk and Bones and save the day!

YMMV.