The English Language

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THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

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Apparently, not only is English the universal language on Earth in the twenty-first century, it's the universal language of the Federation in the twenty-second century. Follow me on this one . . . .

Obviously, in a television show filmed in the United States, English would be the chosen language for the show. What was interesting is that none of the aliens encountered had any noticeable accent, even though the show was filmed in an era when Germans were portrayed with a German accent, Japanese with an Asian accent, and so on.

Whether she intended to or not, Dorothy (D.C.) Fontana confirmed English as the language for the Federation when she wrote the first season episode "TOMORROW IS YESTERDAY." In that episode, after accidentally beaming twentieth-century Air Force Captain John Christopher aboard the Enterprise, Christopher says to Kirk in disbelief, "You speak English." Kirk, with a smile, replies, "That's right." I don't believe Kirk's statement meant that only he spoke English, but, rather, that English is the common language in that era.

We can assume that ship-to-ship communication between the Enterprise and an alien ship was facilitated by the Universal Translator, which was first mentioned in the second season episode "METAMORPHOSIS." (I always thought the use of the translator during a conversation would be akin to watching a Japanese movie dubbed into English, with the sounds not quite matching the image on the view screen.) As for the noticeable lack of translators around when the Enterprise landing parties encountered the natives of countless planets, we'll just chalk it up to the aliens being extremely gracious by speaking to Kirk and crew in the Federation's universal language (except for the Horta ("THE DEVIL IN THE DARK"), who probably didn't have any vocal cords . . . or lips . . . or a tongue . . .).

The pacing of a one-hour (actually, fifty-minute) television action/adventure show precluded whipping out the Universal Translator in each episode, since that would break the flow of tension necessary to create drama. As a result, all conversation between landing parties and the planet's natives are understood perfectly. So, we'll assume any differences of opinion between alien races and the Federation must have been because of ideological differences, not because of "losing something in the translation."


	ROB'S STAR TREK SITE \| Home The Cage \| The English Language \| The Music \| The Prime Directive \| Time Travel \| The Transporter \| The USS Enterprise \| The Episodes \| The Animated Episodes \| The Star Trek Font \| Contact Me THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE (Best viewed if you expand your browser's window.) Need the STAR TREK font? Click here to download it! Apparently, not only is English the universal language on Earth in the twenty-first century, it's the universal language of the Federation in the twenty-second century. Follow me on this one . . . . Obviously, in a television show filmed in the United States, English would be the chosen language for the show. What was interesting is that none of the aliens encountered had any noticeable accent, even though the show was filmed in an era when Germans were portrayed with a German accent, Japanese with an Asian accent, and so on. Whether she intended to or not, Dorothy (D.C.) Fontana confirmed English as the language for the Federation when she wrote the first season episode "TOMORROW IS YESTERDAY." In that episode, after accidentally beaming twentieth-century Air Force Captain John Christopher aboard the Enterprise, Christopher says to Kirk in disbelief, "You speak English." Kirk, with a smile, replies, "That's right." I don't believe Kirk's statement meant that only he spoke English, but, rather, that English is the common language in that era. We can assume that ship-to-ship communication between the Enterprise and an alien ship was facilitated by the Universal Translator, which was first mentioned in the second season episode "METAMORPHOSIS." (I always thought the use of the translator during a conversation would be akin to watching a Japanese movie dubbed into English, with the sounds not quite matching the image on the view screen.) As for the noticeable lack of translators around when the Enterprise landing parties encountered the natives of countless planets, we'll just chalk it up to the aliens being extremely gracious by speaking to Kirk and crew in the Federation's universal language (except for the Horta ("THE DEVIL IN THE DARK"), who probably didn't have any vocal cords . . . or lips . . . or a tongue . . .). The pacing of a one-hour (actually, fifty-minute) television action/adventure show precluded whipping out the Universal Translator in each episode, since that would break the flow of tension necessary to create drama. As a result, all conversation between landing parties and the planet's natives are understood perfectly. So, we'll assume any differences of opinion between alien races and the Federation must have been because of ideological differences, not because of "losing something in the translation."