Board Thread:Show-Related Questions/@comment-26151672-20150227125834/@comment-25869525-20150301004114

"Since English is the language all the stations would most likely communicate in, it would be unlikely that a Brazilian knows Hindi, Russian, or French as a second language." - This mypothetical Brazilian COULD know one of these languages, but since we've been told on the show, that the Ark was built from the 12 stations, and there were approximately 400 survivors at the time, using a common language would be the only practical way to get people to come together. As it is in the real world, English is the language used by airline pilots and scientists, to facilitate communication.

"To think that the Ark would speak the same accent now after 100 years isolation, is ridiculous," - I disagree. I'd say them having the same accent after the 97 years stuck in orbit, would be inevitable. Though I do think it likely the accent would have acquired some foreign influences, especially in the early years, leading to them not sounding quite so "Midwestern American" as they do. Also, I'd expect some more foreign words and terms to have worked their way into the lexicon during those early years. I would expect anyone from the Ark younger than 95 years to have this theoretical "Ark accent".

"even further from the truth the MM and Arkers and Grounders all have same English accent as each other, their populations being isolated from each other for nearly a century." - Definitely a good point. Mountain English, might sound the most like "standard" American English due to isolation and efforts made to preserve it, as they seem to preserve the art and presumably other elements of culture before the Big War. The Grounder Clans should show more changes in their use of English if for nothing else, the fact that they've developed Trigadasleng as their primary language, and supposedly only warriors learn English so they can listen to Mtn Men. Just like anyone who grew up with another language, it would take a lot of effort to master the accent of a native speaker.

But, perhaps all the characters sounding midwestern is to make it easier for us viewers to follow the dialogue, like how in Star Trek and many other science fiction shows, all the aliens speak English, even when it makes no sense.