Where's the universal translator?
- Thread starter EJA
- Start date
It won't be installed until Tuesday. :P
Hmm. I see your point.
When i saw that scene I thought it was nice, and kinda "un-did" the incompetance the writers bestowed upon her in STVI (where Uhura, the ships' linguist, didn't know Klingon! What a joke!)
Maybe it takes a good human ear to tell Vulcan and Romulan apart? Maybe the difference is only in the inflections or something.
When i saw that scene I thought it was nice, and kinda "un-did" the incompetance the writers bestowed upon her in STVI (where Uhura, the ships' linguist, didn't know Klingon! What a joke!)
Maybe it takes a good human ear to tell Vulcan and Romulan apart? Maybe the difference is only in the inflections or something.
That sounds about as good an explanation as any, and seems to be implied by the dialog.
But Uhura wasn't a linguist in the original universe; she was just the communications officer.
Maybe--like today's computer translations and unlike the human mind--the universal translator is only able to translate things literally?
She was a technician (i.e. engineer) and mathmetician (e.g. codebreaker - even though Spock always did all the code-breaking solo - grrr). She was never established as a linguist but it would have made sense. I too was irked by the comedy scene in VI because of this.
In TOS there had been no contact with the Romulans for decades so this was a hamfisted way to involve Uhura on the bridge even without them overlooking the translator. If Pike had said I want someone who speaks Romulan to listen in and shadow the translations that's fine - but it's something that would have better been done from the communcations room, not among the distractions of the bridge. Uhura could have been drafted to the bridge later to help with the face to face negotiations and stayed there after that.
In TOS there had been no contact with the Romulans for decades so this was a hamfisted way to involve Uhura on the bridge even without them overlooking the translator. If Pike had said I want someone who speaks Romulan to listen in and shadow the translations that's fine - but it's something that would have better been done from the communcations room, not among the distractions of the bridge. Uhura could have been drafted to the bridge later to help with the face to face negotiations and stayed there after that.
I-Am-Zim
Captain
In ENT, the UT had trouble translating Romulan in the episode "Minefield". That would seem to imply that the Romulan and Vulcan languages are significantly different. I'm not a big fan of ENT, but since everything prior to the Kelvin's destruction is supposed to be consistent with the original Prime universe, then "the Lieutenant" should have been able to easily distinguish Romulan from Vulcan. But then Uhura wouldn't have been able to conveniently take the comm station, would she?
Rii
Rear Admiral
The universal translator is, like the transporter, fudge technology that has no real place in the movie-verse. It can't get by on being 'iconic' like the transporter does either. Also, adding 'linguist' to Uhura's list of qualifications goes some way toward distracting attention from the fact that the only woman on the bridge is a receptionist.
Besides, didn't Uhura pull out a Klingon dictionary in TUC?
Besides, didn't Uhura pull out a Klingon dictionary in TUC?
Precisely. Another glaring error on the writers' part. Question is, how do we rationalise all this?
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I don't buy the implication.
It could simply mean that the Romulan language is too similar to Vulcan, and with 3 dialects, the lack of differentiating data may be a problem.
Think of OCR software telling the letter O from the number 0. Without a slash through the 0, or precise font measurements, and knowledge of context, it becomes virtually impossible to tell them apart.
I-Am-Zim
Captain
If that were the case, don'tcha think T'Pol would have picked up on the similarity to her native tongue when the Romulans were takling over the speakers on the bridge?
Also, Hoshi was an accomplished linguist. Would she not have also noticed any similarities to the Vulcan language? She didn't.
Also, Hoshi was an accomplished linguist. Would she not have also noticed any similarities to the Vulcan language? She didn't.
I always assumed Uhura was a linguist, years and years before Enterprise and Hoshi.
I'm not sure where I got that impression. Maybe old novels or comics?
Either way, IMO Uhura Prime is a linguist too. And she speaks Klingon!
(what was up with McCoy not knowing anything about Klingon anatomy in that film? Uhura wasn't the only one slighted)
I'm not sure where I got that impression. Maybe old novels or comics?
Either way, IMO Uhura Prime is a linguist too. And she speaks Klingon!
(what was up with McCoy not knowing anything about Klingon anatomy in that film? Uhura wasn't the only one slighted)
I-Am-Zim
Captain
The lack of a UT in JJTrek is yet another reason to consider that the Abramsverse is a completely separate alternate universe in and of itself. There are so many differences even before Nero arrives, that this can't be the same place that our heroes from TOS are originally from.
If you're looking for a reason to do so. I consider them to be fundamentally the same.
Sure it can. Just looks a little better.
