#like? alternatively if it has something to do with the listener’s perception maybe chekov’s colleagues just perceive him as super russian

[yeah-thats-probably-it]

@noandnooneelse

How does Star Trek Universal Translator™ translate the accent? We see people like Chekov speak, and he has an accent, but I'm not sure why. My main thought is that he is speaking English, so the translator's does not have to do much work in regards towards other English speaker, such as Kirk and Bones. It's not actually translating in that regard, just kind of letting him speak normally towards other English speakers, and then translating towards other other non-English speakers. It becomes interesting when you consider that he might be speaking Russian, and in that case, where does the accent come from? Another point is Spock. Vulcan's have their own language, and arguably with their own accents and dialects varying on regions. However, when he speaks, he sounds like he is just speaking English with an American accent. Now, Logically it could be that he just learned English from his mother, an American, and speaks it on a ship where English is most likely the dominant language for clarification sake, but lets humor the hypothetical. If he's speaking Vulcan and it's just getting translated, then naturally the translator just defaults to an American Accent, which makes sense given that Star Fleet is based within the United States. However, also humoring the hypothetical, Chekov is speaking Russian, and yet he's being translated with a Russian accent. So, let's just say for the sake of the argument that he is speaking Russian throughout the whole series. That would mean that Chekov is being translated with an accent, and Spock is not. What's the criteria for that? Does the Vulcan accent just not make sense in English language, and therefore the translator just cuts it out? It's also interesting to note the other side of things. Going back to Chekov only speaking Russian, how would that get translated on his end? Would Kirk be speaking Russian with an American accent? Would it just be a regular Russian accent cause the translator isn't translating that? What about Spock only speaking Vulcan? Would Kirk be translated with a Vulcan accent or just a really butchered one? I also want to bing up Worf, as he was raised Russian. His parents, if I recall. correctly, have heavy Russian accents, once more bringing up my point with Chekov, but Worf does not. Assuming Worf speaks Russian and only Russian, then why does he get translator with more of an English/American accent compared to his parents? I also wanted to bring up Picard, with him being French yet speaking with a British Accent, but I think it was told in the series that French became obsolete by the 23rd/24th century, so people learned English instead, explaining his accent despite being French. Am I overanalyzing this? Absolutely. More likely than not, it was just the dictators wanting to show diversity amongst the crew and not taking the implication of the accents too seriously. The logical option, as well, would be that a majority of them learned English prior to going Star Fleet, and therefore the translator doesn't have to work as hard to translate them for other people, so they can retain their accent.