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[-] Infynis@midwest.social 99 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

They can't speak English though. In fact the scene this screenshot is from is them trapped in the past unable to communicate because their universal translators are offline. I would assume Quark speaks Federation Standard, but apparently that's not close enough to English to figure out what they're saying in the 40s

[-] marcos@lemmy.world 25 points 1 year ago

I would assume Quark speaks Federation Standard

I assume he made a clear point of never learning it.

I'd put larger odds on Nog and Rom eventually learning it (but not at the time of the screenshot).

[-] psmgx@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

I could see Quark learning it. He lives in the federation, and fluency is good for business. Probably a RoA to that effect.

[-] marcos@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Hum... By the end of DS9 he lives in the federation. For nearly all of it he lives in Bajor, and shortly before it he lives in the Cardassian Empire.

Yeah, I could see the Lower Decks version of him speaking it.

[-] Zorque@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

He doesn't live in the federation until the last episode, though. He lives on a Bajoran space station administrated by Starfleet.

Being underestimated is also good for business

[-] xantoxis@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

One thing I've always wondered, and this is hardly the most unbelievable aspect of the science fiction elements of this show but it's one of the most pervasive and constant; why don't we ever hear the native languages of the aliens underneath the sounds of the universal translators? Most, although not all, of them speak by vibrating the air, so where are those sounds disappearing to?

[-] Zoboomafoo@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago

The translator also emits an interference pattern that cancels out the original speech to the listener

[-] DmMacniel@feddit.de 15 points 1 year ago

This was a plotpoint in DS9 where the UT didn't picked up the nuances of a language but the mutants who were able to comprehend the language deciphered what was really meant.

[-] disk42@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

They actually do this in Star Trek Beyond

[-] timicin@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 1 year ago

fwiw: you do get to hear a little bit of ferengi in this episode, before they get their translators fixed

[-] Anticorp@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Quark would never lower himself to speaking anything human. He views humans and the Federation as inferior and foolish.

Understanding a customer as famously wily as the Federation through language would be a business advantage. We know this because it works today.

this post was submitted on 06 Dec 2023
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