Do the Ancients speak Ancient?

[VBach37]

We know from both "Fifth Race" and "The Lost City" that the Ancients had their own language, similar to Latin. So why did the Ancients speak English when Dr. Weir went back in time in "Before I Sleep", instead of their own language?

[Im_just_guessing]

In effort to keep everyone happy and not just say "Because then their couldnt be a story!! They need to speak english for things to make sense!"

Not so! Weir is fluent in Latin! Therefore, we can conclude that the Ancients spoke a more modern dialect of Ancient, essentially Latin, and Weir understood them. And since everyone in the show was speaking Latin, and we the viewers dont all understand Latin, the the TV translator translated for us, so we didnt have to read subtitles all the time. But they WERE actually speaking Latin/Ancient!

Ta da!

[Qasim]

they used the translator

As hoped, the lost city is indeed a treasure trove of advanced technology, which includes such things as a universal translation device. Each team member travelling off-world receives one, which is capable of instantly translating virtually any language encountered.

http://www.gateworld.net/atlantis/universe.shtml

[sgeureka]

Halling spoke Ancient (quasi-Latin) in "Hide And Seek" when he prayed to the Ancestors. I think they spoke real Ancient in "Before I Sleep" but it was dubbed into English for the audience (much like O'Neill "speaks" German here on TV although he is of course American). We know Weir can speak/understand Ancient ("Hide And Seek" again) so I just pretend they spoke Ancient and everything makes sense.

[furling]

All planets in stargate speak english just so it doesn't take 10 minutes in each ep for daniel or someone else to figure out what they're speaking and people don't have to read subtitles the whole time

[MylesSGC]

There's an interesting theory to this in one of the fan fic books. It says that when a traveller travels through the stargate it gives them the ability to understand any language stored in the stargate's buffer. Not sure how this works, but still... A good theory if you ask me.

[Calicto]

They all spoke Ancient.

However, Old Weir was recalling a story for the SGA team and therefore she translated what was said into English to simplify her story.

The flashback did not show what happened, but what Weir was telling them. Janus could have really been wearing a tropical pink collared shirt with a pimp'd bling bling and Weir could have thought it was foolish and said he was wearing some spacey Tok-ra-ish creme thing.

[Kip_Cathey_Furlings_are_Cats]

They all spoke Ancient.

However, Old Weir was recalling a story for the SGA team and therefore she translated what was said into English to simplify her story.

The flashback did not show what happened, but what Weir was telling them. Janus could have really been wearing a tropical pink collared shirt with a pimp'd bling bling and Weir could have thought it was foolish and said he was wearing some spacey Tok-ra-ish creme thing.

Pimp'd bling bling?

Although, I COULD see Janus as a pimp. Probably not good bussieness once the Wraith showed, but hey. Nothing lasts forever!

Ahem. Yes. I think it was a combo of the two main veiws here. I think it was in English because, hey, I failed Latin, and also because it was her recoletion.

I also think they dressed so boring because Weir had 10,000 years to forget what they were wearing. Could'a been a tropcal pink shirt. The old guy probably had a green one, though. He was uptight.

[Magnus]

They all spoke Ancient.

However, Old Weir was recalling a story for the SGA team and therefore she translated what was said into English to simplify her story.

The flashback did not show what happened, but what Weir was telling them. Janus could have really been wearing a tropical pink collared shirt with a pimp'd bling bling and Weir could have thought it was foolish and said he was wearing some spacey Tok-ra-ish creme thing.

Old Weir was wearing the same uniform that all the ancients were wearing.

[dude22]

i argree pretty much everything said, before i read this, i sorda thought the ancients could speek english, btw does anyone find it strange that the (ancient) ROMANS from ITALY spoke LATIN? I always found that strange, woudnt they speek roman? or even italien, and one more thing, who decided to call the ancients the ancients? thats not the most creative name ive ever heard

wow i got off topic abit

[spg_1983]

i argree pretty much everything said, before i read this, i sorda thought the ancients could speek english, btw does anyone find it strange that the (ancient) ROMANS from ITALY spoke LATIN? I always found that strange, woudnt they speek roman? or even italien, and one more thing, who decided to call the ancients the ancients? thats not the most creative name ive ever heard

wow i got off topic abit

they called themselves Ancients. "The Fifth Race" the inscription said Nu Ani Anquiatus which tranlates as "We are the Ancients"

as for the romans, there were three groups of people that came together ands became the people that became know as Romans and one of the groups were the Latins, the hill people from the area around where the coty of Roman would be built. and the Latins spoke-------Latin! so thats where it comes from.

[Crazedwraith]

Do the English speak English?

(of course a better question would be: Do the Americans speak english?)

As to Before I sleep. It for the same reason all the aliens speak english. They don;t have time for long translations on a 42 minute show.

Myabe the ancients have a universal translater?

[Crazedwraith]

they used the translator

As hoped, the lost city is indeed a treasure trove of advanced technology, which includes such things as a universal translation device. Each team member travelling off-world receives one, which is capable of instantly translating virtually any language encountered.

http://www.gateworld.net/atlantis/universe.shtml

Gateworld is not canon. Where's the evidence for this in SG: Atlantis?

Also it would not apply in the case of Before I Sleep as weir wasn't on Atlantis long enough to find said device.

[spg_1983]

Gateworld is not canon. Where's the evidence for this in SG: Atlantis?

Also it would not apply in the case of Before I Sleep as weir wasn't on Atlantis long enough to find said device.

the information about the tranlotor is information from like two years ago and the whole tranlator thing was dropped before the show even went into production. but gateworld is usually prety good about being canonacol

[Fonzavitch]

it could be like the tollans where they both speak english except they use different letters to represent the language, i thinks thats how it went