Terran Languages and Ethnicities

[Triceron]

We all know the SC universe has its roots in our own history. The Terrans are prisoners sent off from Earth by the government at that time, and shot out into the K-sector.

We also have seen hints of many different ethnicities, such as the French Dugalle, Russian BC captain and Stukov, German Valkyrie and so on. An interesting thing to note is that these characters have never been typified by being 'French' or 'Russian' or 'German' by name. It makes some sense since this future Earth government is a supposed unification of all countries into one super power, so the individual identities of each country and its people might not be distinguished as such.

So what about the different planets that the Terrans inhabit? Do the K-sector Terrans all speak english, and if so are there different languages and dialects used from planet to planet; not simply passed down from generation to generation (like Tosh's Jamaican accent, which we could assume is not a product of living in the new colonies).

I'm curious if the different planets like Umoja, Korhal and Tarsonis each have their own dialects, or even languages. Dialects can spring up from country to country within a planet, so I'm curious to know if languages were ever developed specifically out of each of these planets. It would be a lot more immersive in lore if we could identify people to their source of upbringing.

[Gradius]

The core worlds speak in a sophisticated southern accent i.e. Mengsk. The fringe worlds speak like regular rednecks/hicks.

There are still remnants of ethnicity even if everyone speaks the same language. I'm not sure we know what all those are yet.

[Pandonetho]

Most people probably speak English. The Earth mandated that English be the Language of the world after all, before launching all the prisoners off into space.

[Kimera757]

Some Earth ethnicities still exist. Not only was Somo Hung actually described as Asian, he looked Asian too (as opposed to part-Asian). Given that he lived on a small fringe world, it could have been a founder effect (the original colonists may have happened to all be Asian).

But I think the real reasoning is the relatively small number of people of mixed race in the United States, and that has an effect on the minds of the artists and authors. Apparently there's a sci-fi show (I can't recall the name) where every actor is of mixed race, which would make sense hundreds of years in the future, especially if planets are being colonized. (Earth has large geographic boundaries between the different races; even if racism disappeared overnight the number of people of mixed race would increase only slowly.)

By the way, the Valkyrie/Stukov/DuGalle examples aren't that good, since those entities were from Earth, which would still maintain some elements of ethnicity, if only due to geographic barriers. (To put it another way, if English were forced on the world, people who live in China would probably end up speaking Chinese-accented English, people who live in Zimbabwe would speak another brand of English... sort of like how American, British and Australian English are all different, and indeed have "sub-dialects".)

[Visions of Khas]

There are quite a few ethnic groups represented in StarCraft, though I'd prefer greater diversity. African (Marauder), Jamaican (Tosh), Hispanic (beginning intro), Asian (Somo Hung). I think Samir Duran's accent was northern African.

[Draco97]

I've always imagined it as: The original supercarriers were a mix of all the different races. When the three of them arrived in Koprulu, each "sector" was a lot like the carriers, a mix of all the races. However, when the Confederacy came to power, the sophisticated southern, as Gradius said, became the dominant one, with the redneck southern becoming the "low" class language, and everything else as being a minority.

[AegisKHAOS]

Personally, with English currently being a more universal language, I would think that the Terran race in general would be English speaking. While I certainly do think that Terran ethnicity would be mixed given that Earth comes off as a single governing body throwing off their collective 'trash' respectively, I think in general English would still be considered the number one language, though there certainly would be other languages in there.

[arsedestroyer]

what about filipinos?

[Kimera757]

Esmerelda Ndoci is a Filipino name, right?

[phazonjunkie]

Esmerelda Ndoci is a Filipino name, right?

Albanian.