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I just spotted this on reddit today :
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No. ... Well, at least the Doctor speaks English fluently. In Blink, the Tenth Doctor is entirely separated from the TARDIS. Not only in space, but also in time. He can still communicate with Martha and a total stranger (Billy Shipton) who ends up in 1969 (this takes place about 22 minutes into the episode). If we accept that the Doctor speaks English on a native-level, he would speak both Gallifreyan and English roughly equally well. When the TARDIS decides to "translate" she must choose a source and a target language (yes she does, it's not like with a babelfish -- if she doesn't, the question doesn't make sense to begin with). How does she do it? The source language is trivial in both directions as it is determined by the person who speaks, but the target language is tricky; she would have to probe the respective minds of all potential recipients of a given broadcast and figure out which language would be preferred. Since we assumed that the Doctor speaks at least English and Gallifreyan equally well, the TARDIS would have to consider both languages. If the source language is English and the target language is "English or Gallifreyan, don't care which" any sane translation device would choose the language with the greatest ability to convey the original meaning with all its nuances. Obviously, English would be a tremendously better choice. Hence, in all likelihood, the Doctor hears English untranslated. As a corollary, we can extrapolate that he then would also answer in English, as it's the most natural thing to do if you're addressed in English. This leaves the question open in which language the Doctor would initiate a conversation with a total stranger, but I suppose he would also choose English if the recipient can be assumed to speak English. |
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Given how many writers have been involved with Doctor Who and how long it's been running, it's fairly common for stuff like this to be rather inconsistent. That being said, the Doctor can at minimum recognize other languages, because in "The Girl in the Fireplace," he knew not only that Madame de Pompadour was speaking French but what period French she was speaking. So, unless the TARDIS is telling him that in addition to translating, then he's fluent enough in French to recognize dialects from different time periods. And given how often he's dealing with English speakers, if he's fluent in French, he's bound to be fluent in English. Also, in "The Sontaran Stratagem," he was correcting Luke Rattigan's grammar, which would definitely indicate that he's fluent in English (and probably more fluent than your average native English speaker given how bad many people's grammar is). On rare occasions, he appears to have spoken directly in an alien's language, and the companion doesn't understand either him or the alien (e.g. "The Planet of the Dead" with the fly people), which would indicate that he's fluent in their language. The companion may not have understood in this particular case, because the TARDIS was on another planet, but the lack of the TARDIS hasn't stopped companions from understanding in the past either, and I'm pretty sure that there have been other occasions where the Doctor has spoken a particular tongue without the TARDIS' help in the old series if not the new. In either case, the Doctor definitely speaks other languages without the TARDIS' aid from time to time. On even rarer occasions, he hasn't understood something (e.g. he didn't understand the writing on the wall in "The Impossible Planet" because the TARDIS couldn't translate it), so clearly the TARDIS is doing some translating for him and not just his companions, but I think that it's fairly clear that he's fluent in English as well as other languages, though who knows how many. But again, it's not like this sort of thing is consistent. The first time that automatic translation was even mentioned was with the 4th Doctor, and even then it was a "gift of the Timelords" and the TARDIS wasn't mentioned at all. It wasn't until the spin off novels that it was suggested that it was the TARDIS which did it (something which they carried over into the new series). Prior Doctors have had occasions where they didn't understand languages or writing (rare as it's been). It's just that it was more convenient for everyone involved to have all of the characters speaking English. It wasn't until much later that they felt the need to explain it, and as with many Doctor Who explanations, the explanation is ripe for being contradicted by future episodes if it's not already contradicted by previous episodes. As great as Doctor Who is, it's not the type of series that has consistent in-universe explanations for things. It's just been going too long with too many people involved, many of whom clearly didn't necessarily care all that much about continuity. |
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I've always thought of the effect being as the Bablefish is described in H2G2: you don't hear (or read: in the impossible planet the Doctor pointed out that some written words were not translated) the communication in your own language but you just understand - the meaning of the words is dropped into the relevant part of your brain and interpreted directly. The meaning is transferred but the specifics (the words) are not translated. Of course a simple brain like ours might not cope so well with that so it would do one of its self defense tricks and store in memory that the message did arrive in your native language (much like "false memory syndrome" elsewhere which leads us to believe fervently that some false detail was in fact true) so to us the effect is the same. A more complex brain may be quite aware of what is happening though, and be able to learn the translation from one language to another directly so the Doctor may "absorb" languages that way to the point where he can use them without the TARDIS' assistance. Punning in English would suggest very strongly that the Doctor is in fact speaking English directly, not some Gallifreyan dialect or more universal language, as a play on words can be very difficult to translate between languages or even local dialects of the same language (for instance localised slang can completely change the meaning of words in certain contexts). OF course depending how deeply the TARDIS understands the destination brain and input languages some humor could be translated to at least a rough equivalent, or it could implant a general impression in your head like "what was just said was a joke about the physical appearance of their leader, this is very funny" and leave your brain to decide how to react to that in the absence of specific domain knowledge. |
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I feel like it's important to remember that in one of nine's first episodes, Rose comments that he has "A Northern accent", and he replies that "lots of planets have a North". Now this could imply one of at least two things; Either 1.He has a Northern Gallifreyan accent and thus the TARDIS translates into a Northern English accent Or 2.That he does indeed speak English, and just so happens to also speak it with a Northern English accent. The latter, I think, makes more sense, since he has the same accent no matter what country on Earth he's in. Of course, this could just be because we're hearing it how his companions are hearing it, and not how others (for example, Americans) hear it. That would then imply that, no matter what language he's heard speaking, on what planet, the TARDIS makes it so that he's speaking that language with that country/planet/etc.'s equivalent of a "Northern accent". So for example, in America, he could be heard by Americans speaking with an accent from either one of the Northern border states, New England, or even Canada or Alaska. |
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when the doctor is tricked onto the asteroid he hears the other Gallifreyans who the asteroid killed calling to him. At the very least his crib is written in it. However it is obvious he is fluent in English. He can almost speak to the beast that He, amy and Vincent fight. However if the Gallifreyan are so advanced it would make sense he understands and speaks the language he is using otherwise it would create major problems. When you learn a language there comes the time when you think in that language and no longer translate in your head. He is fluent in most languages althought how I do not know. RB |
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