# Why wasn't Picard a Brit? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 16, 2013, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-picard-a-brit/655857 "2013-04-16T18:24:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-picard-a-brit/655857/41 "2013-04-17T04:57:41Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > And he tried again in Voyager, casting Genevieve Bujold as the captain. Unfortunately, petite, fey and understated just doesn’t cut it in the center seat. Her accent wasn’t the problem; her acting style was. I’ve seen the clips of her from the pilot, and she comes off as a belivable Starfleet caption. She’d work better in a film than on TV. > [@AK84](#): > > Why does everyone assume that language spread and accents will remain the same 3 centuries in the future in an Earth which is the capital of a galactic federation? It wouldn’t, and Picard’s accent wouldn’t sound like a modern Briton anymore than Queen Elizbath II sounds like Queen Elizabeth I. Ditto for the Americans. On the other hand nobody knows what English will sound like in the far future. Sure the writers can invent something, but you have the final segment of **Cloud Atlas**. > [@Acsenray](#): > > There’s always the part in _Generations_ when Picard’s fantasy life apparently involved having a family and celebrating an _English Christmas_. I don’t expect a Frenchman from three centuries hence to be nostalgic about that. How much do we know about Picard’s mother? If she was English it would explain his accent as well his afinity for British culture and holiday traditions. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-picard-a-brit/655857/42 "2013-04-17T05:39:28Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Because in the future France was converted into a penal colony for the New British Empire. Would give this a thumbs up if I could. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-picard-a-brit/655857/43 "2013-04-17T05:56:33Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Full cast and crew listing on [IMDB.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112178/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast) [Memory Alpha has a more accurate list of his credits.](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Gene_Roddenberry#Credits) And [IMDB’s page for Roddenberry](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0734472/) credits him as ‘creator’ (or ‘creator: Star Trek’), rather than writer on Voyager. The Voyager page clearly fell victim to the lazy expansion that a lot of series did when they started adding individual episode credits. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-picard-a-brit/655857/44 "2013-04-17T06:41:24Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Ah, but he was born and raised in the family vineyard in France. I don’t know if they ever specifically identified the locale, but it was pretty clear that’s where it was. Well, yeah. What I’m saying is that there was no reason to change his name. Just say he’s an Englishman named Picard. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-picard-a-brit/655857/45 "2013-04-17T07:08:46Z")
Jean-Luc Picard speaks French in English. He is the most interesting man in the Federation. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-picard-a-brit/655857/46 "2013-04-17T07:15:29Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Yeah, that’s my theory too. The Universal Translator is why every single species on the Enterprise - Human, Vulcan, Romulan, Klingon, Frenchman - speaks perfect English. Which is a continuity problem all on its own. If everyone was speaking their own native language and it was being translated, why did they occasionally say something that was in their native language and required them to translate for everyone else? Worf, for example, would occasionally say something in Klingon. If everything he was saying was in Klingon, why did the universal translator skip what he was saying at that particular time? ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-picard-a-brit/655857/47 "2013-04-17T07:27:41Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Which is a continuity problem all on its own. If everyone was speaking their own native language and it was being translated, why did they occasionally say something that was in their native language and required them to translate for everyone else? Worf, for example, would occasionally say something in Klingon. If everything he was saying was in Klingon, why did the universal translator skip what he was saying at that particular time? I always wondered this myself. Let’s blame it on a computer glitch. The future computers were always screwing up, making holograms real and murderous, etc. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-picard-a-brit/655857/48 "2013-04-17T07:49:47Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Which is a continuity problem all on its own. If everyone was speaking their own native language and it was being translated, why did they occasionally say something that was in their native language and required them to translate for everyone else? Worf, for example, would occasionally say something in Klingon. If everything he was saying was in Klingon, why did the universal translator skip what he was saying at that particular time? Not to mention that the UTs are built into the combadges, yet nobody had any trouble communicating when those badges were taken away. Or that all Starfleet computer displays are in English; as well as the lettering on outside of the ships. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-picard-a-brit/655857/49 "2013-04-17T08:09:32Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > As a fun bit of trivia, Babylon 5 has a similar issue with Commander Susan Ivanova, the Russian officer who spoke English with a flawless American accent. They hand-wave it by saying that she spent most of her childhood moving from place to place and studying abroad. Her father and brother are both portrayed as speaking with Russian accents, and I can’t recall how her mother spoke in the one episode where she had a speaking part (“Eyes”, via one of the show’s earlier freaky dream sequences) > > Of course, she traveled so much and studied abroad as a child because her mom was trying to keep the authorities from figuring out that she was a latent telepath, which would result in her getting drafted into the Psi-Corps > > I’m not aware of Jean-Luc having similar issues driving his childhood linguistic development, of course. 😃 I’m not really sure that’s a problem. Most non-native English speakers speak in something akin to their native accent but many don’t. My brother in law is German, learned English in his teens, and most Irish people don’t catch that he’s not Irish. A lot of well educated kids from across the non-English speaking world have perfect British, American etc. accents when speaking English and that’s now. Give it another couple of hundred years and who knows what you’d get. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-picard-a-brit/655857/50 "2013-04-17T08:27:02Z")
I have a French friend in her mid 20s, grew up in France but who now splits her time 50/50 between London and Paris. She speaks flawless English with an English, even slightly London, accent. She’s an actress who doesn’t want to get stuck playing French women, so has worked at it, but it’s certainly possible. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-picard-a-brit/655857/51 "2013-04-17T11:04:24Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > I thought I remembered an episode where Data made a passing reference to French as being an archaic or dead language, and Picard became supremely annoyed at this. There was indeed. (TNG: “Code of Honor” Aka, the racist episode with black natives hitting on our white women.) Hence it has always been my head canon that French died out as first language and was only kept alive by devoted French people who used it as a second language. They must’ve been pretty devoted, too, as younger Picard always had more a French accent, as did his nephew (played by the same actor). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-picard-a-brit/655857/52 "2013-04-17T11:09:45Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Or that all Starfleet computer displays are in English; as well as the lettering on outside of the ships. The _Tsiolkovskii_ had Russian lettering: Циолкoвский. ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-picard-a-brit/655857/53 "2013-04-17T11:13:05Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Jean-Luc Picard speaks French in English. He is the most interesting man in the Federation. He doesn’t always drink tea, but when he does, it’s Earl Grey - hot. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-picard-a-brit/655857/54 "2013-04-17T11:13:14Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > How much do we know about Picard’s mother? If she was English it would explain his accent as well his afinity for British culture and holiday traditions. > **[Yvette Picard](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Yvette_Picard)** > > Yvette Gessard-Picard was a Human woman who lived in La Barre, France during the 24th century. She was the wife of Maurice Picard, the mother of Robert and Jean-Luc Picard, mother-in-law of Marie Picard, and the paternal grandmother of René Picard.... ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-picard-a-brit/655857/55 "2013-04-17T11:19:18Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Which is a continuity problem all on its own. If everyone was speaking their own native language and it was being translated, why did they occasionally say something that was in their native language and required them to translate for everyone else? Worf, for example, would occasionally say something in Klingon. If everything he was saying was in Klingon, why did the universal translator skip what he was saying at that particular time? Going by what James Blish implied in one of his _ **Trek** _ books, everyone in the Federation (or in contact with it) knew at least some “Basic,” the dumbed-down version of English proposed for international use after WWII. Klingons, of course, like most foreigners in movies and on TV, generally prefer to speak English even when they’re alone. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-picard-a-brit/655857/56 "2013-04-17T13:41:38Z")
With its inconsistent pronunciation and loose grammar, it’s a warrior’s language. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-picard-a-brit/655857/57 "2013-04-17T14:00:33Z")
> [@Bakhesh](#): > > They have dampners for that kind of thing Yeah, but who wants soggy inertia lying around?!? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-picard-a-brit/655857/58 "2013-04-17T14:17:11Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > I thought I remembered an episode where Data made a passing reference to French as being an archaic or dead language, and Picard became supremely annoyed at this. I entered this thread just to share this fact but now I’ll comment that Futurama [pulled the same joke](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7osGfFTQVtU). ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-picard-a-brit/655857/59 "2013-04-17T15:33:00Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > someone who simply wouldn’t stop talking like a London stage actor He did try speaking with a French accent prior to shooting. It was decided that Picard would just speak with no accent rather than talk like Inspector Clouseau. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-picard-a-brit/655857/60 "2013-04-17T20:03:20Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Don’t get me started on how everybody from the RSC used to sound the same. There even used to be a show on a local PBS station that featured RSC actors discussing and demonstrating the “correct” pronunciation and phrasing of Shakespeare. Actors I had respected, until then, like Stewart and Jacobi, sounding like jackasses. _thinking_ I think one episode had Brian Blessed. I wish I could remember the name of the show because that could be hilarious. “Playing Shakespeare?” We watched the whole series on Netlfix recently. Most interesting was Stewart and David Suchet (from Poirot) both doing Shylocks speeches. (And passing a yamulke to show who was Shylock and who was doing the other characters.) In any case, given that Picard and his brother spoke English to each other in France, I assume that English has taken over, and that French and other languages have become like Yiddish in my family - just a faint memory. In TOS time foreign language speakers had accents still, like Scott and Chekov, but even those are gone by TNG time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-picard-a-brit/655857.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wasnt-picard-a-brit/655857.md?page=4)