Welsh language gets unexpected shout-out in TV spin-off

The Welsh language has made an unlikely appearance in the spin-off of a long-running TV franchise.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is the newest addition to the Star Trek franchise. The ten-episode TV series began airing in January 2026 on Paramount+.

Set in the 32nd century (around ten centuries after Enterprise, Next Generation and Voyager), it follows a group of cadets during their training at the Starfleet Academy.

During a scene in the second episode, Beta Test, main character Caleb Mir is giving new student Tarima Sadal a tour of campus.

“This is the Turner Wing,” Caleb explains as the pair walk through the James T. Kirk pavilion.

“Turner must’ve been flush, this wing is shiny,” Tarima remarks, before they discuss Gideon S. Turner, the wing’s namesake who was ‘a disaster on the battlefield’. “I heard he put pips on his dog and left him in charge once.”

“I heard that too,” Caleb laughs. “And that he made everyone learn Welsh, and he didn’t even speak Welsh.”

A Facebook user spotted another possible nod to the Welsh language in Episode 4, Vox in Excelso.

Khionian student Darren Raymi is teaching a fellow cadet, Jay-Den the Klingon, a phrase containing the word Uhl, pronounced with a voiceless alveolar lateral fricative, the ‘ll’ in Welsh.

Starfleet Academy, which finishes airing on 12 March 2026 and is aimed primarily at Generation Z, has received a mixed response from Trekkies.

The 2017 series, Star Trek: Discovery, did considerably better with both critics and fans, and featured another use of the Welsh language.

When a comms officer attempts to explain that a computer virus was translating the Discovery crew’s speech into random languages, he says: “Capten Pike! Mae’r gronnell wedi ateb ein croeso ni… a dyma beth ddigwyddodd, BOOM!”

But perhaps the most beloved appearance of Welsh came in 1973 in Star Trek: The Animated Series, when Scotty sang Yr Hufen Melyn.

The ballad was written by Welsh poet Eifion Wyn and featured in the collection Caniadau’r Allt.

The lyrics read: Dwyres dirion o forynion, duon, brithion, tecaf bro, O borfa fras y weirglodd las feillionnog, A Gwen yn godro’r deuddeg yn eu tro.

Among Star Trek fans, it is known as ‘Scotty’s song’.

Anecdotally, the music was selected by James Doohan, the actor who played and voiced Scotty, after he was given the choice between a Welsh or Gaelic ballad.