Languages

[Phil Harmonic]

Each race had their own unique languages. Yet even in private "terran" is what they spoke. Is this assumed that when not around humans they are speaking their own tongue? But for ease of shooting and "Budget" reasoning languages were not taken farther.

[Harrdy]

Normaly if it "adds" to the story then different languages are shown, if it "hinders" the story it gets thrown away to fasten the show. That means if you have an episode where one of the cast is frustrated because he doesn't understand a word the aliens are speaking you would hear an alien language (plus most likely on-screen text).

PeAcE

[Garibaldi's Hair]

Yeah,

it's exactly the same reason that you hear all the German guards speaking in English in old WWII movies.

You are likely to totally honk off your audience very quickly if they are forced to constantly flip backwards and forwards between spoken, understandable dialogue and alien/foreign languages which require you to read subtitles to follow what is going on.

What irritated me more on the language front was that the human captains had to take Minbari speakers on every White Star trip in order to communicate with the crew ... given the preponderance of translation technology among the ambassadors, surely there was a better way.

Or, of course, the human captains could have taken more time to learn the important orders in Minbari.

I didn't think that added anything to the story, except an excuse to make a cheap gag at Ivanova's expense.

Ah, hell!

[DeMonk]

Of course it is easier to stick to one language, if only to help people that can't see well or read the subtitles fast enough.
Although, I am so used to subtitles that I read them automatically, whether I need them or not.
Some time ago, they gave an old Flemish spoken movie with French subtitles on TV... I read the subtitles while listening to my mothertongue. And so did my collegues! It is simply a habit.
But you can't ever stop listening because sometimes the translation is WAY WAY OFF. You sometimes wonder if the translator is watching the show.