Lost in translation

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Aside from the linguistic troubles encountered with Tamarians, Jarada, and Pakleds, what are some other language barriers you can imagine our heroes facing?

Last night, I wondered what they would do if a race had a language that consisted of only one word, with the sole (often subtle) difference in translation being due to the inflection of the one word.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Many languages gave different word orders, but that's not something that figures into any of the "linguistic" stories. Anytime that someone dies mid-sentence, the missing information is always based on how English speakers construct phrases. When Damar dies, he says, "Keep ... ." We are meant to understand that he wants his insurgents to continue the fight, to press on. However, the rest of the sentence is necessary in order to construct the context. The word that Damar spoke may have multiple meanings. The verb 'to keep' has multiple meanings. Perhaps Damar was trying to tell his loyalists to "keep healthy" or "keep his goldfish safe."

 

[Abi Smith]

I forget, did Voyager manage to translate the Swarm language?

 

[Daddy Todd]

Marklar!

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

@Bad Thoughts interesting point. Presumably, the audience is using the UT.

 

[F. King Daniel]

@Bad Thoughts interesting point. Presumably, the audience is using the UT.

I presume we have one in our TV's, because I doubt people 300 years+ into the future will use the same slang and idioms as we do.

And in the Kelvin movies, the UT translates the nonsense Stardates of TOS into earth years for our convenience.

 

[at Quark's]

that UT is really about the most stunning achievement of Federation technology.

It must be:
- Telepathic, as it can often translate never before heard alien languages, starting with the very first words the alien speak (there are exceptions but they're rare). It also senses the intent of the speaker, for example when the person doesn't want certain words translated, while the speaker is still speaking ("I had a splurx, which is, I suppose, somewhat analogous to your human concept of 'having a hunch'")
- Intelligent and multi-sensored, as it can sense the context and always select the right translation, fitting to what is actually happening in its environment in case multiple translations would be possible (or that ties in with its telepathic ability, too)
- Capable not only of translating speakers, but also all kinds of computer interfaces
- and even have some extra-dimensional capability, as it translates the languages spoken in-universe to our (out-of-universe) early 21st century English, for our benefit.

 

[Kor]

that UT is really about the most stunning achievement of Federation technology.

It must be:
- Telepathic, as it can often translate never before heard alien languages, starting with the very first words the alien speak (there are exceptions but they're rare). It also senses the intent of the speaker, for example when the person doesn't want certain words translated, while the speaker is still speaking ("I had a splurx, which is, I suppose, somewhat analogous to your human concept of 'having a hunch'")
- Intelligent and multi-sensored, as it can sense the context and always select the right translation, fitting to what is actually happening in its environment in case multiple translations would be possible (or that ties in with its telepathic ability, too)
- Capable not only of translating speakers, but also all kinds of computer interfaces
- and even have some extra-dimensional capability, as it translates the languages spoken in-universe to our (out-of-universe) early 21st century English, for our benefit.

As presented in TOS, the UT does scan brain waves to detect concepts that are supposedly universal to all intelligent life.

Kor

 

[Prax]

Forget the UT, the AI doorways, combadges, and control panels are mystery marvels in and of themselves.

 

[NCC-73515]

The best language ever was the one the EMH taught Fantome and his friends!

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