I just spotted this on reddit today :
I've only watched the newer episodes (from 2005-Present) and I don't believe this question was ever answered, but I just thought of this -- The Doctor mentions that you can hear aliens speaking in your language because of the TARDIS, so, does that mean that The Doctor hears everyone speaking in Gallifreyan? Or does he actually know English?
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.
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.
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). Not necessarily! If the TARDIS translates the intent in the language, we might also assume that it would translate the grammar mistake. The Doctor could have been correcting him in Gallifreyan.
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Jan 17, 2014 at 5:06
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.
The Doctor speaks everything, as mentioned in a few episodes ie Planet of the Dead *A good Man Goes to War* and others, as well as stated by several of you. On top of The Doctor the TARDIS has a translation matrix that translates everything except Gallifreyan as mentioned by both The Doctor and River in The Pandorica Opens and A Good Man Goes To War respectively; and the language spoken by the Devil in The Impossible Planet. However, in The Christmas Invasion the TARDIS does not translate the aliens' tongue when The Doctor is incapacitated and Rose says it must be him that is actually translating and not just the TARDIS. Which begs the question in Fires of Pompeii why he can't translate what Donna is saying from Latin into Latin. However as I am watching the original Doctor Who series I noticed he does not speak everything and has to work out how to translate it, although many times everyone just happens to know English including cavemen and Native American Indians in the first season. I do not know when he learns "everything," but I am only on the 3rd Doctor in the originals.
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.
In "The Stolen World" when the TARDIS didn't translate what the doctor said I assumed there was no English translation, at least not a perfect or practical one.
If I remember correctly, it is in the episode "The Parting of Ways" That the doctor says he can speak five billion languages. He says 'speak,' so obviously the TARDIS isn't translating for him. Also, the Doctor is separated from the TARDIS several times: In 'Blink', he and Martha are both trapped in 1969 and he can still speak English. In 'The Girl in the Fireplace', he is temporarily trapped in France, and can still carry out a conversation with Reinette Poisson. He also can tell what period type of French she is speaking, while Mickey can't tell the difference and insists that it's English. (none of the companions seem able to recognize the translation, but the Doctor does). In "the Lodger," when he is separated from both Amy and the TARDIS, he can speak English still, as well as "speak cat" (or at least he says he can speak cat). There are a few episodes in which he speaks the language of another alien and it is not translated for us as the audience to hear, like when he speaks Sycoraxic in "The Christmas Invasion," that bug language in "Planet of the Dead," and Martian in "The Waters of Mars." Also in "Planet of the Dead," Lady Christina speaks a full sentence in French in reply to his Allons-Y, and he seems to understand it. And one final point, Allons-Y and Molto Bene and the few other things he says in another language are not translated into English, so he isn't saying it in Gallifreyan and having it translate; he also pronounces Allons-y incorrectly (It should be \,a-lo(n)-'ee\, with a nasal 'n') - whereas the TARDIS would most likely translate it with correct prononciation.
As the TARDIS does not translate Gallifreyan, he had to have learned at least one non-Gallifreyan language to communicate once he stole the TARDIS. After all, his own granddaughter attended a human school in 1963, and was shown interacting seamlessly with her teachers. And at this point, learning the language of primitives would be a complete waste of time in the Doctor's opinion. It is likely that they first used a common universal language, like how we use Latin to convey meaning that is somewhat understandable to non-English speakers.
I would assume that he didn't have to learn English, because of whatever the TARDIS did to translate for his companions/kidnap victims, but he must have at some point in his first two lives, in case of emergencies, which came in handy when his people broke his TARDIS (possibly including the translator) and exiled him.
I can only assume that accents don't really make much of a difference to the translators, as long as the vocabulary/syntax remains the same- which is how aliens don't seem to have accents (relative to the RP-speaking target audience), but humans who speak Modern English retain their accents, like Tegan or Peri. This is in fact, exactly how the Universal Translators in Star Trek work.
I would assume that regeneration can affect the Doctor's accent as well, based on the fact that his vocal cords change too. This would explain the inconsistencies in accents.
In one of the Doctor Who novels, "Dead of Winter," The Doctor says,
"And I haven't had to learn English."
He may have been joking, but this was one of the official novels, so I don't think so.
Actually I have a theory. Now two years ago you could say no, but in the newer episodes I have heard a hint as to yes he speaks his own language. Now in the newest season With Capaldi, Capaldi is new, freshly regenerated.AAAAANNNNDDD hes lost his mind. Now at one point in the episode hes talking to Oswald. He says, "whats happened to your accent?.... "youre speaking ENGLISH" Now you might think maybe hes just loopy from regeneration, BUT THINK ABOUT IT. The Tardis is BROKEN. Meaning that the translator isnt working. So this is proof that hes been hearing a different language. Plus i mean come on guys hes 2000+ years old, hes bound to know English without the Tardis. The Tardis translates in the most Knowledgable language for said being. And Im pretty sure that the doctor knows more Gallifrayan than English. So see my point? so yes the doctor might speak Gallifrayan
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 although how I do not know.
In my opinion, this is a very tricky question, because there's a lot of things that have to be considered. I personally think that every word that the Doctor hears from beings who aren't members of his own race is being translated into Gallifreyan for him by the TARDIS. Take the episode deep breath for instance. The Doctor has just regenerated, and as a result isn't in his right mind. He's extremely hyper and his train of thought is all over the place even after he regains consciousness and finds himself at the home of Madame Vastra and Jenny. When he tells both Clara and Jenny that there's something wrong with their accents, it seems to me that even though the TARDIS had went haywire, the time-ships translation circuits were still operational, but the Doctor's telepathic link to his ship was faulty and therefore every word that the Doctor heard from Clara and Jenny at that point were a bit garbled. But as the Doctors' telepathic link with his TARDIS improved, so did his linguistic understanding. Another case in point, is the scene in the episode Flatline where the Doctor was trying to communicate with those creatures from the 2nd dimension and the Doctor admitted that both himself and his time-ships translator found the language of these creatures confusing. I think that he was using the language of his home world to talk to them, since Gallifreyan script is based on the principles of circular mathematics. The only other case in point that i can think of is the scene of the second season episode The Impossible Planet where the Doctor and Rose came across a language that neither one of them could read and the Tardis couldn't translate. That episode alone brought me to the conclusion that the Doctor depends on his TARDIS's language translator just as much as his companions do.
