Languages besides English used by the Terrans in the Koprulu Sector

[Robear]

So we know that in the 2200s the UPL tried to eradicate all languages besides English, though they were obviously unsuccessful (just look at the UED Valkyrie occasionally speaking in German). Here's the quote from the Terran History in the manual:


Great lengths were taken to eradicate the last vestiges of racial separatism, and the Unitariate Commissions banned many of the world’s oldest religions. English was designated as the common tongue of the planet, replacing many ancient languages that were subsequently banned in their native countries.

Of course, the Koprulu sector was populated by a sampling of people who were prisoners, dissidents, hackers, and people with genetic or cybernetic enhancements rounded up by the UPL, so these have included people who refused to accept English as the only language in the first place. I assume the prisoners who were sent were all taken from North America, given at least the Terran Confederacy's southern accents and penchant for American culture (e.g. the song Sweet Home Alabama, the Confederate flag).

Anyway, long story short, the entire reason I made this post is because I was watching the Covert Ops cutscenes again and noticed on the texture of the gauss rifle the warning labels are all in Spanish and I thought it was funny.

http://i.imgur.com/gHsKlHN.jpg

And it's not like some easter egg or reference, it's just a Caution label saying shell casings will be ejected at high speed. In California you definitely see signs marked 'Cuidado' everywhere, but are we to assume on this planet most marines are Spanish speakers? Probably not, since in the actual mission all the enemy Terran forces only speak English.

I also noticed in one of the missions there's a building with a restaurant sign in Chinese, and I can't remember ever seeing Chinese in StarCraft before, but this one could be an easter egg, like if it's a real restaurant one of the artists likes or something.

http://i.imgur.com/wKlqTTb.png


Oh and there was a Chinese marine in the StarCraft Ghost cinematic with Chinese scrawled on his armor, sitting next to a Soviet Russian one, so add Russian to the list as well.

http://i.imgur.com/TAfhisJ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/RaS6yFT.jpg

Again the text in these could be easter eggs. But, anyone spot any other non-English human writing in the SC series? Umoja is a Swahili word, meaning Unity, but I'd imagine it could have just been used in the sense of the 20th century pan-African movement rather than assuming that the Umojan Protectorate operates in Swahili. And of course the UED and Valerian Mengsk listen to opera that's in Latin, but that's more of an opera convention than a sign that there are Latin speakers around.

[TheEconomist]

Hmmm, interesting. A subtle bit of lore, an oversight, or yet another retcon. I wonder which it is :)

[Nissa]

Lol, prolly retcon. Then again, it's perfectly reasonable to assume that many languages survived. After all, the best way to make a given culture last longer is to try and oppress it.

[Visions of Khas]

We know there were a lot of different languages used in I, Mengsk. But no, this isn't some kind of retcon. If you remember from the first cutscene to StarCraft vanilla, one of the scavengers starts speaking in spanish.

[Turalyon]

It's not a retcon that the K sector Terrans would have different languages present in the current setting since their descendants were outcasts from the UPL (now UED). Given that the UPL outlawed other languages, it wouldn't be surprising that some of the people on those super-carriers would have included some non-English speaking people.

What's potentially strange is that there are hints of non-English speaking people still existing within the UED (which came after the UPL). The classic example is Stukov. Him having heavily accented English speech implies that English is not his native tongue. I guess that the UED probably relaxed their hardline stance about English being the only language sometime in their transition from the UPL.

[TheEconomist]

Sounds that they made a bit of lore and regretted it. Not quite retcon, but probably not a simple oversight either.

[Nolanstar]

The ingame signs actually change based on local settings.

[Visions of Khas]

Tura, you're not going to eliminate a language overnight (a hundred or so years). Stukov and DuGalle imply a fall of a US-dominated west, which is stated in the original manual. So it's little wonder that people from non-english speaking countries would rise to prominence.

[Turalyon]

Tura, you're not going to eliminate a language overnight (a hundred or so years).

I know, it'd be impossible really but I'm running off what was given. I did say "potentially strange" afterall.

Also, keep in mind that Stukov was born generations after the UPL decree of banning all languages. There may have been different languages and accents when the decree was first made but if it was enforced (realism aside), any trace of accent would be lost throughout the newer generations (especially at the point when BW occurs) as they would all be just learning to speak English from the get go.

Obviously, something changed in the transition from UPL to UED since if that hardline stance on foreign languages was still around (we're not told otherwise), Stukov wouldn't even be in the position he was in the first place.

[Visions of Khas]

Obviously, something changed in the transition from UPL to UED since if that hardline stance on foreign languages was still around (we're not told otherwise), Stukov wouldn't even be in the position he was in the first place.

That in itself would be very interesting to explore. Where once the UPL hated deviants and psychics, the UED makes use of Ghosts. Could be that Ghosts are simply seen as being less than human, seen as simply instruments of war.

[drakolobo]

260 years after a culture can change their opinion about deviants, psychics, cyborg, lenguage, etc.

[Enkidu]

It is no nation we inhabit, but a language. Make no mistake; our native tongue is our true fatherland.

Quoted by the great Emil Cioran and if that quote is true, then it would be very hard to eradicate the established languages of nation-states all over the world because of our nature of factionalism.

[GnaReffotsirk]

How would a child speak english if he learns english spoken in russian accent for example? Would his english be spoken in another accent?

[Enkidu]

How would a child speak english if he learns english spoken in russian accent for example? Would his english be spoken in another accent?

My apologies for misunderstanding, but exactly what point are you trying to make? Where are you going with this?

[GnaReffotsirk]

I was curious. Say an entire land speaks in english but has retained their accent. If a child was to grow up there, he would speak english in that accent right?

I assume this is the reason why Stukov speaks english but retains his accent.

[Sheliek]

Yeah, that's why people from rural Ontario and the Midwest speak English with one accent while people in England or Australia or California speak it with different ones. Stukov learned English either as an infant from people who spoke it with a Russian accent, or learned it later in life and therefore pronounced it like it was Russian. He speaks English the way I, from Ontario, would speak Russian: the way I speak my native tongue.

[Enkidu]

True... I never did say accents would go away. I just meant that languages is the bedrock of any child's development. Language can also define many, many cultures in their own way. They are also, in certain aspects, part of human nature.

Just learning to think in another language allows you to see your own culture in a better viewpoint.

[TcheQuevara]

For a Californian you should know your Spanish better, Robear. This is Portuguese. In Spanish the phrase would be something like "proyectiles expulsados con velocidad", fairly different grammar!

I also wonder: how is it even possible that, after two centuries of descending from a population of no more than 40,000 individuals, different races still exist so clearly and so separated from each other? There isn't a single mulatto character. People are either white, asian or black, which makes no sense. In every country in the world with Causasoid, Negroid and Mongoloid population - every single one but the US and Canada - the races mixed to different degrees. The majority of population in the Americas are mixed race, and we're talking of millions of immigrants and enslaved people coming to these lands, and also the most rigid social segregation that can exist, which is slavery. With a founder population of just 40k people and no great social divisions in the beggining, it seems impossible that the majority of Koprulu humans would still look tipically white/black/asian.

But better pretend we did not see this, because Koprulu demographics are already a can of worms...

I think it's very interesting what kind of outcasts where in the ships. Where there mutants? People who welcome cybernetics? Why isn't transhumanism more present in Koprulu societies, than? Maybe there was a later backslash and people got conservative on cybernetics too?

[Visions of Khas]

I also wonder: how is it even possible that, after two centuries of descending from a population of no more than 40,000 individuals, different races still exist so clearly and so separated from each other? There isn't a single mulatto character. People are either white, asian or black, which makes no sense.
I'd like to know how a group of 32,000 (remember that the Sarengo crashed, killing its drew), divided among three distinct populations, were able to explode into billions of terran lives in less than 300 years across dozens of worlds. Even third world countries don't have birth rates that high.


Where there mutants?
Undoubtedly. Psychics were definitely among the colonists.


Why isn't transhumanism more present in Koprulu societies, than?
Transhumanism and cybernetics are hinted at more strongly in StarCraft I and BroodWar, but not so much in SCII. According to sources, the cybernetics and AI industries in the Koprulu Sector are stagnant compared to the UED.


Maybe there was a later backslash and people got conservative on cybernetics too?
That would be interesting to explore! I know cybernetics were more prominant among the Protoss, too, before SCII. You could see art of psi blade gauntlets being fused directly to a Protoss' arms (http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/starcraft/images/d/d0/Zeratul_SC1_Art1.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20080611214353).

[sandwich_bird]

I'd like to know how a group of 32,000 (remember that the Sarengo crashed, killing its drew), divided among three distinct populations, were able to explode into billions of terran lives in less than 300 years across dozens of worlds. Even third world countries don't have birth rates that high.

It's not impossible if they have good health tech to nullify mortality rates and if "fertility laws" are strongly enforced. Many third world countries have pop growth rates of >3% (http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?v=24) and you'd need roughly >4% on average (http://www.metamorphosisalpha.com/ias/population.php)over the 300 years to have the billions with 32k to start with. I'd say it's somewhat believable considering this(not sure how accurate these links are though, just did a quick google).

[Turalyon]

I think it's very interesting what kind of outcasts where in the ships. Where there mutants? People who welcome cybernetics? Why isn't transhumanism more present in Koprulu societies, than? Maybe there was a later backslash and people got conservative on cybernetics too?

Yep. See manual quote below:


This genocidal crusade was the Government's final solution to the matter of cleansing humanity of its more degenerate facets. UPL troops scoured every nation on earth, rounding up dissidents, hackers, synthetics, the cybernetically enhanced, tech-pirates, and criminals of every kind.

Also, the word "dissidents" and "criminals of every kind" can be pretty broadly interpreted. It could've included anyone, even at-the-time world renowned scientists, engineers, thinkers, etc. who just happened to disagree with the UPL...


I'd like to know how a group of 32,000 (remember that the Sarengo crashed, killing its drew), divided among three distinct populations, were able to explode into billions of terran lives in less than 300 years across dozens of worlds. Even third world countries don't have birth rates that high.

You'd have to stretch my imagination whichever way you'd want to approach it but I'd guess that not all of it was achieved au naturale. Some of those on board may've been smart enough (see above reply) to develop technologies like cloning to make up for it. It's "sci-fi", ain't it?