History Main / EternalEnglish

* The Ugro-Finnic languages of Northern Europe, like Finnish and Estonian, have been separated for millennia, but still have a large amount of remarkably similar words. Finnish in particular is famous in linguistics for being a slow-mutating language, with quite a few ancient loanwords mostly "frozen" in place from the time they were originally loaned. An example of this is ''kuningas'' meaning "king", which was loaned about 3,000 years ago from Proto-Germanic ''kuningaz'', of which the English word "king" is a far more mutated genetic descendant.

* Sanskrit is a notoriously slow-mutating language in the Indo-European family. Sanskrit is so old that hymns composed before the time of King Tut can still be chanted with with near-perfect accuracy. An Indian priest from the time of Christ would be able to speak much the same Sanskrit and chant the same prayers as a modern Hindu priest.

All languages are always changing, all the time, so long as someone is alive to speak them. This is the basic idea behind [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_linguistics an entire discipline of linguistics.]] It means that a thousand years' difference (for example, between [[UsefulNotes/HistoryOfEnglish Old English and modern English]]) can make two versions of the same language completely unintelligible; another thousand (as with the 2,000 years dividing Latin and modern French) and you might not even realize they're related.

* Zig-zagged in ''VideoGame/CivilizationVI''. Modern leaders like Theodore Roosevelt and John Curtain speak with contemporary accents and dialects. Elizabeth speaks the Queen's English, [[TheCoconutEffect anachronistic but expected]]. Averted with Robert the Bruce, who speaks with period-appropriate language and a thick Scottish accent that makes some of his speech decipherable, and other parts thoroughly opaque to the modern ear.

* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia'', despite the two countries having been physically isolated from each other for two thousand years, Elympions and Rieze Maxians can understand each other so perfectly that people from both worlds can pass for the other as long as they're not expected to use magic. There is a subversion in that the Rieze Maxian Rowen needs Elympios-born Alvin to translate a poster while they're in the Elympion city of Trigleph... but the CypherLanguage of the Elympion and Rieze Maxian written languages are ''identical'', only that one is in a serif font and the other isn't. This carries over to [[VideoGame/TalesOfXillia2 the sequel]], where Elympions Ludger and Elle have no trouble communicating with Rieze Maxians and are never suspected of being Elympion by the way they talk, not even in {{Alternate Universe}}s where the two worlds are still separated.

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'':
** Averted with the English of the 31st-32nd centuries (the time period for most of the fiction and game material). While the characters' dialogue is rendered in late 20th / early 21st Century English, this is actually TranslationConvention. It is noted in sourcebooks that the English language has gone through Early Modern and Star League Era versions before reaching its 'present day' form.
** The Clans, which spent 250-odd years isolated from the Inner Sphere, have their own dialect which is largely unchanged from Star League English but with new words added (like 'ristar' from 'rising star' and 'batchall' from 'battle challenge') and contractions (e.g. "isn't", "won't") not used in polite company.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre]]
* ''Theatre/OneTouchOfVenus'': Venus speaks amazingly good English for an ancient Greek goddess who spent the last several thousand years as a statue. Though since she's a goddess, it can be ascribed to supernatural powers.

* The illegal immigrants from the future that come to present day ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' speak an unrecognizable language. And insist on bilingual education.

* This was actually [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in ''{{WesternAnimation/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|1987}}'', even thought the Trope was, indeed, used. ComicBook/UsagiYojimbo comes from an AlternateUniverse, from a world with a culture that mirrors FeudalJapan, "So ''[[SarcasmMode naturally]]'', he speaks English," says Raphael.
* In ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero'', Serpentor, right from the minute he drew first breath, spoke perfect English, even though ''none'' of the known historic figures who donated his DNA did so. (Of course, they used a ''lot'' of ArtisticLicense regarding history for his origin, even by the standards of that show.)

* Aside from the odd bit of FutureSlang, characters in ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' speak the same version of English as their ancestors did before the [[ApocalypseHow Great Mushroom War]], 1000 years ago. When Finn and Jake travel to an AlternateUniverse where the War was averted [[spoiler: and to the distant island chain were most humans fled to shortly after the War in their universe]], they all speak the same language.

* Zigzagged in the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "SB-129". [=SpongeTron=] claims that the alphabet has 486 letters in the future, but he still speaks contemporary English.

* ''Literature/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes'': Modern English has become the ''lingua franca'' of the [[UnitedSpaceOfAmerica Free Planets Alliance]].
* ''Literature/CrestOfTheStars'':
** Played straight in the anime, where Martine speaks English while the Abh speak [[ConLang Baronh]] ([[TranslationConvention represented by Japanese]] sprinkled with Baronh terms).
** Zigzagged in the novels. Martinese is descended from English but when trying to communicate in English with a young Jinto he can't understand it. It's unclear if that means that English is still being used somewhere or if at least some people know it but its no longer a living language like Latin in the modern world.

* In ''Manga/DrStone'', the inhabitants of Ishigami village [[spoiler:are descended from six astronauts who survived the stone apocalypse 3000 years prior.]] Despite this 3000 year gap, the protagonists (who were asleep during that time) can converse with them with no trouble at all. Granted, in a weekly publication as competitive as the Magazine/ShonenJump, the author probably doesn't have the luxury of inventing and explaining a whole new language. [[spoiler:Later this is given an explanation: Byakuya insists on keeping the [[OralTradition Hundred Stories]] completely the same through the generations in order to minimize linguistic drift, similar to the real life practice of passing down formal Arabic verbatim.]]
* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': For some unknown reason, everyone speaks the same language (heard in Japanese) regardless of nationality or era. This is almost never discussed in the franchise. May have something to do with alternate history involving supernatural precursors.

* A ''ComicBook/NewMutants'' story involving time-travel brought them to the middle ages where Wolfsbane (Rahne Sinclair, aged 14 or 15) was able to converse fluently with Robert the Bruce just by virtue of coming from Scotland while her teammates weren't. There was no indication that Rahne had learned Middle English or indeed Scots Gaelic (should Robert have even spoken the latter; it had already become a minority language by the Bruce's era). Or Modern Lowland Scots, which is actually closer to Middle English than to modern English, but Lowland Scots is a nearly dead language, even less likely to Rahne to know anything about. Especially since she's a Highland Scot.

* ''ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'': A [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] ''Captain Marvel'' story found the captain in the year 2943, where people still spoke English but abbreviated everything to one syllable. His 30th century descendant, Bilbat, could transform into Capmarv by saying the abbreviated magic word "Shaz!", but he lacked the powers that would have been provided by Achilles (courage, fighting skills) and Mercury (speed, flight).
* ''ComicBook/{{Crossed}} +100'': Subverted. The passage of a hundred years after the Crossed outbreak has dramatically changed English for surviving humans, with the language evolving to a much simpler dialect with fewer words and changed meanings. However, intelligent Crossed of the Salt Clan still speak standard 21st Century English as a deliberate choice. As Fleshcook tells Archivist Julie, "elocution is important...presentation is important."

* ''Film/TheKnightBeforeChristmas'': Is a TimeTravelRomance between a 14th Century Knight, Sir Cole, and a 2019 science teacher Brooke. As Cole travels forward in time from 1334, he comes from a few years before the start of the first phase of [[UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar The Hundred Years War]] gave incentive for the English nobility to switch away from speaking Anglo-Norman French to Middle English. So there's a good chance Cole should not be able to speak English, and even if he did he would speak Middle English which is only kinda-sorta understandable to a modern English speaker.

* ''The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey'' has medieval English villagers from 1348 come to modern New Zealand, with no difficulty understanding each other. [[spoiler: This is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] when it's shown to have [[AllJustADream really been a dream]].]]
* ''Film/BlackKnight2001'': Jamal has little trouble communicating with Medieval Englishmen. At first, he tries using YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe but then quickly switches back to his normal speech when the locals are confused. This points to it [[AllJustADream simply being a dream]], since actual English from the time would be nearly incomprehensible to modern speakers (and vice versa). Also, after ending up in AncientGrome, the single spoken line is in English instead of Latin.

* Played straight in Creator/LordDunsany's short story ''The Avenger of Perdondaris'' where in the far future a shepherd's offer of hospitality is 'Everkike' or 'Av er kike,' badly decayed Cockney for 'Have a cake.'

* ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'': There is an "Outer World" that has been blocked off by a magical barrier courtesy of the [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Monster Race]] for at little over a millennium, hence two different cultures: the "Inner World" (i.e the main setting of the series) thrives on magic, and WordOfGod put out that everyone in it speaks the same language. The "Outer World" has little access to magic and thrives on technology instead, and has peoples in various types of environments, including a scant amount of primitive tribes. The third season of the anime has the main party go to the Outer World, but unless one member of the group has a translator on them, it would be unlikely that the Outer Worlders would speak the same language (whatever the heck it is) as they do. This problem doesn't arise in the novels because Lina and Gourry stay in the Inner World for the entire time.

* In another Creator/DavidWeber book, ''Literature/TheApocalypseTroll'', a character from 400 years in the future is stranded on modern Earth. It's stated that the advent of widespread sound recording pretty much stabilized the language, but she still has a tendency to slip into incomprehensible future slang (generally leaving out syllables in confusing places: "Mister" becomes "Ster", for example).
* In Literature/{{Safehold}}, it's explicitly mentioned that the spoken language of Safehold has drifted in 800 years and the protagonist has to learn the new pronunciations before venturing out. The written language has apparently remained stable though.

* ''Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium'':
** Creator/JRRTolkien was a professor of linguistics and fully aware how unrealistic the idea of an unchanging language is, but he used it anyway with the (roughly) 500-year-old Gollum in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. Actually, the 500 year age might be dealing with a {{retcon}} attempt to avert it. The ''appendices'' are the ones making Gollum 500. In fact, they ''specifically'' mention events which make it possible for him to be 500 -- like the Hobbits temporarily returning to Anduin around that time while Sauron was banished, but the book itself seems to imply he's closer to 2000 -- and ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' states explicitly he's a thousand at least (the Ring was stated to be found while Gondor still had kings).
** It is also explicitly mentioned at some point that the text of the books have been ''intentionally'' rendered as Modern English, even though the different ages and regions would have had different dialects and (to an extent) vocabulary. [[TranslationConvention This is done to make it easier for a modern reader to understand.]] The Orcs in particular are said to be using a "degraded" dialect that the narration flatly refuses to render accurately. This even extends to names: Frodo's name is actually "Maura."
* Played straight with Eternal Russian in the ''Literature/NoonUniverse'' novels by the Creator/StrugatskyBrothers with the crew of an experimental [=FTL=] starship that accidentally traveled to the next century. Nobody ever mentions any linguistic problems. Considering that the story focuses on the awe-inspiring (or just cool) technological advances, which tend to shock even contemporaries, minor linguistic problems are likely to be overshadowed.

* Played straight in the ''Literature/Spaceforce2012'' universe, where Earth is at the centre of one of the three galactic superpowers and everyone in that Union speaks, or at least knows, a language that's stated to be English. Apart from a few buzzwords, it's identical to the English of today.

* Discussed and arguably [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in ''Literature/TheAccidentalTimeMachine'': people in the fifth millennium speak oddly-accented but recognizable English, which is attributed to the invention of recording and movies making language more stable.
** A character from 25,000 years in the future even speaks ''with a recognizable Australian twang'', although said character is an [=AI=] and could conceivably have downloaded an ancient language database.
* Played with in Creator/HBeamPiper's future history, where the future "Lingua Terra" is a mix of several languages, "mostly English".

* Subverted in ''Literature/HaveSpaceSuitWillTravel''. Kip. a modern (well, 1950s) boy, meets a Roman centurion from the later Empire. Kip speaks high school classical Latin, while the soldier, who is stationed in Spain, speaks a rough-and-ready lingo, with lots of what-will-be-Spanish thrown in. Luckily, Kip also speaks Spanish, so they can work out a fairly understandable mix.
* ''Literature/TheFrugalWizardsHandbookForSurvivingMedievalEngland'': [[HandWave Hand-Waved]] and {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d regarding the pseudo-medieval alternate dimension the protagonist enters. The eponymous Handbook explains that the fractal nature of TheMultiverse naturally guides [[DimensionalTraveler travelers]] to worlds with similar linguistic development. On the question of whether it should be astronomically improbable for all those worlds to develop languages nigh-identical to modern English by pure coincidence, it answers "Apparently not."

* In ''Series/StargateSG1'' and ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', there are cultures that lived thousands of years before English was born that speak it flawlessly. SG-1 began with people on other planets speaking different languages, mostly based on old Earth cultures. By the second episode they realized it wouldn't work with only one main character (Jackson) able to speak to the people, so it was changed.
* In ''Series/{{Sanctuary}}'' Will mentions this as evidence of why three woman claiming to have awoken from hundreds of years of sleep have to be delusional - they all speak perfect English. [[spoiler: As it turns out they simply used their tremendous psychic powers to learn modern English instantly.]] In the first episodes Helen and John's mode of speech is a clue as to their shared origin. Their English is perfectly comprehensible, but slightly archaic and formalized. They and Tesla have all exhibited some distaste for modern conventions of the language.
** Good luck picking up on the fact that Tesla is Serbian, given his near-total lack of an appropriate accent even in flashbacks. The only time this is ever mentioned is when the British government requests they stop [[spoiler:Adam]] and do it for their country, prompting Tesla to mention that he's not British.

* In one of the few ''Series/{{Primeval}}'' episodes involving human incursions, a 14th Century knight strays into modern London and speaks perfectly clear Essex English, as does the local back in his time whom the ARC scout questions. Despite the fact that what passed for English back then was actually closer to modern Dutch. Even the fact that the ARC's knowitalls can understand him when he speaks Latin is questionable: chances are that our pronunciation of Latin has drifted almost as much as the living languages.

* The Czechoslovakian sci-fi series for kids ''Series/TheVisitors'' (1983) had a group of scientists [[TimeTravel who travelled from the year 2484 to the year 1984]], visiting a small Czech town and trying to retrieve a formula that would save the Earth. The human society was peacefully united and [[AliensSpeakingEnglish the main language of humanity was apparently Czech]]. Eternal Czech was not even an issue and communication with local people was more or less fine, save for some cultural stuff. Something as universal as FacePalm is apparently unknown on Earth in this vision of blissful and very much Star-Trek-esque future. Professor Richard thought that fore-head slapping is a form of greeting.
* There's an '''extremely''' ludicrous example, not featuring English, in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E2FourToDoomsday Four To Doomsday]]", in which the white Australian character Tegan is able to communicate in an Australian Aborigine language with an Aboriginal character who was supposedly abducted from Earth by aliens 40,000 years before her time. This is implausible not just on grounds of linguistic drift, wherein we have NO attestations or models of any languages spoken 40,000 years ago, but also because there are many different indigenous languages in Australia, most of them mutually unintelligible, and because it would be extremely unlikely for any urban white Australian (Tegan comes from Brisbane) to speak any Aboriginal language fluently unless they had made a special effort to do so for political or cultural reasons. In terms of plausibility, it would be like being able to communicate with Cro Magnon man by virtue of knowing modern Haitian Creole. (Many fans assume that the [=TARDIS=] was tactfully translating for her and letting her think that she was speaking the same language.)
** The show in general relied on this trope initially, with nearly every planet and society the Doctor and his companions visited speaking Received Pronunciation English. Justified in the Tom Baker era when it was revealed that the TARDIS has a translation circuit which ensures that everyone around is intelligible (except when the plot demands otherwise, of course). The idea of the translation circuit began to be brought up far more frequently in the revived series.

* In ''Series/The100'', the characters who grew up on the Ark speak standard American English, having maintained continuity with present-day civilization, but the Grounders down on Earth, who've been living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland for almost a hundred years, speak a language called [[http://the100.wikia.com/wiki/Trigedasleng Trigedasleng]] that, while clearly derived from English, is virtually incomprehensible otherwise. The Grounders have preserved English as a trade language, which would reduce linguistic drift.

* Played straight in ''Series/{{Legacies}}'', where those [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monsters of the Week]] who can talk speak modern English, even though some have been stuck in Malivore for centuries. In one case, a 13th century samurai is able to communicate with Josie, who learned modern Japanese.
* Throughout the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' franchise (which takes place mostly in the 22nd-24th centuries), English is not only the CommonTongue of TheFederation, it's perfectly intelligible whenever characters end up in the 20th or 21st centuries. It's even more pronounced with Daniels, a 31st-century [[TimeCops time cop]] who speaks standard English with 22nd-century [[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Captain Archer]], and when USS ''[[Series/StarTrekDiscovery Discovery]]'' goes forward to 3189 and people are still speaking English.

* Played straight in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' and its sequel, ''VideoGame/ChronoCross''.
** Strangely, in Chrono Trigger's Prehistory era, humans speak broken English, using bursts of short words and phrases rather than grammatically correct sentences. On the other hand, their evolutionary rivals, the dinosaur-esque Reptites, speak perfect English. Humans are also implied to have a second language, as Ayla claims that "Lavos" literally translates from her language as "Fire Big". The word "Lavos" itself is also an example of this trope, as the word remains unchanged even 65 million years after the word was invented.
* Played straight in ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia.'' All six cultures of the world (all of them centered under its six [[WeirdMoon magical, oddly-colored moons]]) are vastly different and some are quite physically isolated from the rest, and yet it seems that they ''all'' speak English/Japanese.
** There are variations on how certain people in certain lands speak (for example, the primitive Ixa'Takan tribesmen speak in simple English, while in the Japanese version, the text boxes display katakana and hiragana only), but it still plays straight.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'': 500 years in the future, humans still speak 21st-century English, complete with present-day regional accents, e.g. Californian/Valley Girl ("It's totally hiding from us!"); Australian; and Mexican-American. It's indicated that other languages have also largely stayed the same, e.g. the Hungarian spoken in ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' is basically identical to the modern form.
* ''VideoGame/{{Freelancer}}'': Despite taking place in the year 3100, those who live in Liberty still speak American English, and those who live in Bretonia still speak British English.
** Since we never hear anyone speaking any other language, it is not clear if they are also Eternal German (Rheinland), Eternal Japanese (Kusari), and Eternal Spanish (Corsairs and Outcasts).
*** The only mention of Japanese is in Trent's diary entry made after [[spoiler:Ozu's HeroicSacrifice]] when he writes "sayonara".

* In ''VideoGame/WarriorsOrochi'', everyone just inexplicably speaks modern English/Japanese.
* The three-hundred-year TimeSkip in ''VideoGame/JakIIRenegade'' has absolutely no effect on the language.
* In the present (or near present) era of ''VideoGame/TheJourneymanProject'', which takes place 300 years in the future, everyone has (21st-century era) American accents, even in Australia.

* In ''VideoGame/AsurasWrath'', a game with a story not constrained by reason or logic in all other aspects, Asura can no longer understand the language of humanity after 12,000 years in limbo, although he can still understand his fellow gods just fine.
* Played with in the ''[[VideoGame/{{X}} X-Universe]]'' series, where the CommonTongue of the three human factions is a variant of Japanese - the word organization and writing is backwards (Nikkonofune, for example, would directly translate into "Sunlight of ship")
** It averts this trope by mentioning that the name Argon is the result of eight centuries' worth of language drift from "R. Gunne."[[note]]The middle initial and last name of their effective founder Nathan Ridley Gunne.[[/note]] Similarly the name of the Goner fringe sect is vowel-drifted from "Gunner", also a derivation of Gunne.
** At the same time, it's played straight by the fact that the Terrans, Argons, and Aldrinites can easily understand each other despite each having been separated from the other for nearly 800 years.
* This is frequent in the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' game series.
** In ''Videogame/SonicAdventure'', the playable characters are sent to a vision of the past, roughly 3000 years ago. Despite this, the Echidna tribe speaks the same language as the present cast.
** Repeated again in ''Videogame/SonicChronicles'', where the Nocturnus Clan speak the same language as the cast. The Nocturnus Clan are Echidna who were trapped in an alternate dimension 3000 years ago. The other alien races from the Twilight Cage, however, have their [[AliensSpeakingEnglish own quirk]].
** While not as explored, Silver speaks the same language as the cast. Silver is from 200 years in the future. His future isn't explored compared with the Echidna civilizations.
** In the ''Videogame/SonicBoom'' sub-franchise, the Ancients speak the same language as the present cast. Lyric has been trapped for thousands of years.
* ''VideoGame/SlyCooperThievesInTime'' not only has the ''Ice Age'' raccoon capable of speaking modern English (well, in subtitles; in spoken words, he's TheUnintelligible), but even characters from around the globe, such as Rioichi and Salim Al-Kupar, who should really be speaking Ancient Japanese or Arabic or Sanskrit or something, speak with little more than JustAStupidAccent. Sir Galeth from Medieval England uses YeOldeButcheredEnglish.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Timelapse}}'', you travel to Ancient Egypt, a Mayan city, an Anasazi cliff dwelling, and {{Atlantis}}, where each civilization left video recordings of their history, each one spoken in English. Professor Alexander Nichols [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this in his journal, speculating that Atlantean technology behind said recordings could be translating them as speech he and the player understand.

* We don't know exactly how long the Pale Bride in ''Visualnovel/{{Analogue A Hate Story}}'' spent in stasis, but it appears to have been at least a millennium. When she awakens, Korean appears to be exactly the same, and so much to her new family's annoyance, she has no trouble speaking her mind. Writing is another matter - since people have for some reason reverted to hanja, the Pale Bride is thought to be illiterate; in fact, she can read and write in hangul just fine, but she only knows a few Chinese characters.
* Zig-zagged in ''VideoGame/CivilizationVI''. Modern leaders like Theodore Roosevelt and John Curtain speak with contemporary accents and dialects. Elizabeth speaks the Queen's English, [[TheCoconutEffect anachronistic but expected]]. Averted with Robert the Bruce, who speaks with period-appropriate language and a thick Scottish accent that makes some of his speech decipherable, and other parts thoroughly opaque to the modern ear.
* In ''VisualNovel/IkemenSengoku'', despite the 500 years between them, the only language issues that come up are when the main character or Sasuke use modern reference or when the main character struggles with reading books written in the ancient script.
* ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'': Every tribe speaks perfect English despite it being a thousand years in the future, with minor dialect drift but no noticeable accent drift. [[spoiler:As it turns out, this version of humanity has only existed for about five hundred years, reborn from bunkers after the Earth was wiped clean of life. They were all taught English by the same robotic personalities and are staunchly traditional, which would reduce linguistic drift]].
* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'': {{Exaggerated|Trope}} by a {{Precursor|s}} who was {{sealed|EvilInACan}} in a tomb before the playable characters' species even existed. She starts to speak in the Eternal tongue upon her release, then effortlessly switches to the CommonTongue when she sees her audience.

** It is also explicitly mentioned at some point that the text of the books have been ''intentionally'' rendered as Modern English, even though the different ages and regions would have had different dialects and (to an extent) vocabulary. [[TranslationConvention This is done to make it easier for a modern reader to understand.]] The Orcs in particular are said to be using a "degraded" dialect that the narration flatly refuses to render accurately.

* ''Anime/TurnAGundam'': Despite taking place thousands of years in the distant future, still has Earth-bound humans (and possibly the Moonrace) using modern English. It might be handwaved by the fact that much of the series takes place in what used to be United States.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect'' is set almost 200 years into the future, and yet the only apparent changes to spoken English are a few technical terms and some slang. This looks to be carried on in ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'', even though that game will be set several centuries after the events of the first trilogy. This is quite justified in ''Andromeda'', as the people travelling to the titular galaxy have spent the centuries between the games in stasis during their long voyage.

* Played with in Creator/JunjiIto's "Long Dream"; as Tetsuro Mukoda begins spending longer and longer periods of time in his dreams, he begins to speak in a completely different set of mannerisms, as if he were speaking a version of the Japanese language from the future. While his language never becomes unintelligible to the other characters in the story, it’s just one sign of the more drastic changes Mukoda experiences over the course of his decline.

* Played with in Creator/JunjiIto’s “Long Dream”; as Tetsuro Mukoda begins spending longer and longer periods of time in his dreams, he begins to speak in a completely different set of mannerisms, as if he were speaking a version of the Japanese language from the future. While his language never becomes unintelligible to the other characters in the story, it’s just one sign of the more drastic changes Mukoda experiences over the course of his decline.

* Played straight in the ''Literature/{{Spaceforce}}'' universe, where Earth is at the centre of one of the three galactic superpowers and everyone in that Union speaks, or at least knows, a language that's stated to be English. Apart from a few buzzwords, it's identical to the English of today.