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Warning! This page contains information regarding Star Trek: Discovery, and thus may contain spoilers.
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The Breen language was the language spoken by the Breen. To Human ears, it sounded like garbled electronic sounds. Universal translators needed to be adjusted in order to properly translate the syntax. (DS9: "Strange Bedfellows") Breen could be spoken by a non-Breen while wearing a Breen refrigeration suit; the same person could also speak English while wearing such a uniform. (DS9: "What You Leave Behind", "Indiscretion") Speakers of Breen included Thots Gor and Pran (“Thot” is a military rank), as well as a holographic Breen. (DS9: "'Til Death Do Us Part", "Tacking Into the Wind", et al.; VOY: "Flesh and Blood")
In 2373, Michael Eddington sent a Breen nursery rhyme file info that was intercepted by Benjamin Sisko aboard the USS Defiant. It was a heterophonic, five-line song with an alternating tetrameter and pentameter structure, but other than the catchy tune, it did not mean anything. (DS9: "For the Uniform")
In 2375, although Cardassian leader Legate Damar was present when the Breen Confederacy allied itself with the Dominion during the Dominion War, all speech which was spoken by Thot Gor at the historic event wasn't understood by Damar, as he hadn't had a chance to adjust his universal translator yet. (DS9: "Strange Bedfellows")
Later that year, while Kira Nerys was disguised as a Breen and was wearing one of their uniforms, a Jem'Hadar guard who encountered her on Cardassia Prime remarked that he didn't understand something she said in Breen, though he was then immediately shot by her.
The Female Changeling once commented about the vocalizations spoken by Thot Pran, "I do find the shrillness of his voice very tiresome." (DS9: "What You Leave Behind")
In the 3180s, Primarch Ruhn spoke in Breen to his nephew L'ak in front of Moll. However, L'ak ordered his uncle to speak in a language that Moll could understand, which he reluctantly did. (DIS: "Mirrors")
In 3191, while negotiating with Ruhn, President of Ni'Var T'Rina revealed that she was capable of understanding Breen without the use of a translator. This caught Ruhn by surprise and got him to hear her out, switching to Federation Standard so that there would be no misunderstandings. (DIS: "Erigah")
The USS Discovery's away team included translator technology into their replicated refrigeration suits that allowed them to communicate in the Breen language and understand what the Breen were saying in real time. Although the context of what the Breen were saying got tricky at times due to some words not being in the database, Captain Michael Burnham's xenoanthropology experience allowed her to fill in the gaps. (DIS: "Lagrange Point")
Episodic inclusions[]
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Executive Producer Ira Steven Behr once described Breen speech as "voices that really grate on the audience." According to Behr, the Breen's distinctive, scratchy voice was inspired by the guitar feedback on Lou Reed's album Metal Machine Music. Behr even had the post-production sound effects staff listen to that album while they were creating the Breen speech. "It's not what we wound up with, of course," he said. "But that's what I wanted." (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 703)