On ‘Star Trek,’ Why Didn’t the Cardassians Ever Speak ‘Cardassian?’

[USS Excelsior]

On ‘Star Trek,’ Why Didn’t the Cardassians Ever Speak ‘Cardassian?’


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Fans can easily remember an instance or two for all the major Trek races when these non-human races used their own language. The Vulcans (the start of Star Trek: The Motion Picture), Klingons (any Worf-centric TNG episode), the Ferengi (DS9’s “Little Green Men”), and Romulan (throughout Star Trek: Picard) all had their native tongue heard by audiences. The Bajorans did have their own language, and it was used when Major Kira was practicing her religious ceremonies. But we never heard Cardassian.

 

[fireproof78]

Nobody took the time to make up a language.

 

[Vger23]

Maybe they just happened to speak a language that evolved on their planet that was virtually identical to English.

HEADCANON!!!

 

[Tosk]

But we never heard Cardassian.

We did hear a small smattering of Cardassian words over the run of the series. Odo'ital, Terok Nor, Empok Nor, Gul, Legate, Yamok...and there's definitely a few others I forget.

 

[Tim Thomason]

We did hear a small smattering of Cardassian words over the run of the series. Odo'ital, Terok Nor, Empok Nor, Gul, Legate, Yamok...and there's definitely a few others I forget.

I don't think Legate is a Cardassian word.

...

But, yeah, I think actually the Cardassians *always* spoke Cardassian. I'm having a tough time thinking of any Cardassian ever speaking another language. Probably Dukat when on Bajor at the end, and maybe Garak a few times? The Universal Translator means we really have to work to decipher what language a character is probably speaking at any one time.

 

[Tosk]

I don't think Legate is a Cardassian word.

...It is, it is just coincidentally spelt and spoken the same as an Earth word.
Pretend I said Glinn there instead.

 

[dupersuper]

Didn't Damar and Weyoun speak Dominionese to each other?

 

[F. King Daniel]

Nobody took the time to make up a language.

Nobody wanted to spend the money to create one.

 

[Tosk]

Didn't Damar and Weyoun speak Dominionese to each other?

Only Weyoun is heard speaking his native language in that scene. We first hear Damar and Weyoun speaking "English" and then Jack rewinds the footage and plays back just Weyoun in his native language.

 

[at Quark's]

Interesting question, since we do see Cardassian script plenty. Perhaps they never got to a truly unified language, and didn't need one anymore after the Universal Translator was invented (and the script is more ideogram-like).

It's always been my headcanon that the Federation doesn't really speak English, either. At least not our contemporary variant as it's inconceivable English would remain so static for almost 400 years. Even if they speak it, it would be as different from ours as Shakespearean Era English is- so we already hear a translated version of it.

 

[Timo]

And see one, there being little evidence that the UT wouldn't work on written language when it wants to. Heck, our heroes seem to fluently read those Cardassian displays of theirs...

But we'd probably have to assume not only that our TV sets are equipped with UTs for our convenience, but also that our heroes always carry UTs even when they aren't wearing their commbadges or batbelts or whatnot. The Ferengi use implants; those might be in use throughout the galaxy, doing the translating of known languages even if not able to cope with new ones (watch VGR "Basics" with this in mind, say).

Since Cardassianeseian would be a known language, O'Brien would keep on hearing Federation Standard (or his own language of preference) throughout his ordeal in "Tribunal", thanks to his implant (which could be anywhere else but in the tooth that got pulled, really). And we would of course always hear English thanks to our well-equipped televisions, except in mixed company where the many different languages being spoken might be an issue the UT wants to convey to us...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Tosk]

The Cardie displays are a murky area...sometimes they display English characters, sometimes not. So either the crew can read Cardassian or the "Viewer UT" is only turned on sometimes.

 

[Coops]

The use of 'Empok Nor' and 'Terok Nor' was a great use of words, it suggested the structure of a Cardassian language enough to fire my imagination, how many 'Nor's were out there?

 

[at Quark's]

^ what's so special about it? For all we know, 'Nor' simply means 'station' or some such thing... or then, it could be something entirely different / or purely coincidental. After all, you'd expect alien languages to be more .... alien than anything on earth, including in conceptualization.

 

[Coops]

^ what's so special about it? For all we know, 'Nor' simply means 'station' or some such thing..

That's exactly it, there's a structure there rather than just calling them "Empok" or "Terok". I was just commenting on the etymology.

 

[Timo]

It piques the imagination, yes. These are Cardassians - perhaps they name every make of car systematically, too: "Kolbak Car", "Rantok Car", "Korok Car"? Or then they are poetic like the Japanese when naming their warships: Terok Nor and Empok Nor might stand for Cherry Blossom and Apple Blossom, respectively. Or then there's delightful self-ironic punning going on, perhaps on homonym grounds, and Terok Nor reads more like Nothing Much, in addition to standing for Ore Extraction Facility.

Or then Terok and Empok are simply numerals. And perhaps Nor is too, and DS9 used to be named "FourTeen".

All that without any writer input!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Tosk]

I always wondered if maybe they were location designations. Nor meaning space station (or specific type of space station), Terok and Empok being sector names.

 

[Timo]

The big mystery there is, why is Empok Nor where it is?

There's nothing there. Terok Nor was supposed to achieve what it was built to achieve by hovering over a mining planet at medium distance, presumably within easy transporter reach and all. Empok Nor can't achieve that, despite looking exactly the same outside and in.

Furthermore, there are hints that Terok Nor was actually built in place (or at least there was constant construction going on, some of it involving Bajoran sabotage, and the construction dragged on for surprisingly long, thanks to the writers rethinking the timeline to accommodate a plot with Nerys' mother). Sure, the station subsequently showed it could move, and moved pretty well despite deliberate sabotage. But was Empok Nor built where it lies, in the middle of nowhere? Was it in the process of moving to or from somewhere useful when things went horribly wrong? What would motivate the movement? Could the station move from one star system to another? If so, why build Terok Nor at Bajor?

Slightly on-topic, possibly Terok Nor indeed refers to the location. But what was the Cardassian name for Bajor? Why did we never hear it? Why wouldn't they have one, and then ruthlessly impose it on the natives? Or does the difference between Bah-yore and Bay-jore stem from this, with the former being the native name favored by Picard the scholar, and the latter being the interstellar name favored by Sisko the practical executor and Prefect of New Occupation?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Tosk]

Perhaps letting Bajor retain its original name was part of the whole, "We come in peace" bull. Or maybe the Cardie characters are using a different name but the UT changes it for our benefit.

 

[Boris Skrbic]

Well, it could’ve been simply Terok.

More importantly, why has Empok Nor keeled over?