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@stark-lord
goodnight everyone (:
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god there really is just something about the cliff scene that sits in my bones; an authority figure forces you to relive life and death in its worst aspects, you lash out because you are a traumatised teenager; your friends, vulnerable and traumatised in turn, stare. they stare. at you. and this is even worse than the pain she forced down your throat because isn't this what you always feared the most?
suddenly they are no longer edwin, crystal, and niko. instead they are a young boy tormented by other boys (loud, vicious, violent) to the point of his cruel death and hellish punishment, a young girl abused and stalked by someone who will wear your face in her dreams, and another young girl who likely has experienced harassment at the hands of people just. like. you. young, stupid boys lashing out out of hurt.
you wear the shape of everyone's monsters, your own included. it eats at you like acid, like some parasite eager to expose what you are at your core: never good enough, forever a source of hurt.
Okay, I hate to do this to you, but I would LOVE your thoughts/speculation on this:
āThere's also an argument that because the translation circuit requires a living node (the Time Lord), the TARDIS is in fact using the pilot as a stabilising node or reference point, potentially drawing on their linguistic or contextual knowledge when interpreting meaning. This means that good linguistic knowledge is actually required by the Time Lord, but that's a whole other essay.ā
How does the TARDIS translation circuit use the Time Lord?
Okay, now this is the kind of question that causes me to pace around the kitchen at 2am muttering to myself like a mad woman.
TL;DR: The TARDIS relies on the Time Lord as a stable contextual anchor, drawing on their thorough understanding of both languages and sociocultural contexts to ensure accurate translation that the listener is capable of comprehending.
Everything here, is of course, interpretation.
1ļøā£ The TARDIS isn't just translating words.
The TARDIS cannot simply be swapping one vocabulary set for another, as language is not just words. A TARDIS needs to interpret meaning, context, emotional intent, social structure, idiom, and cultural relevance for both speaker and listener.
Which means the translation process isn't a simple and directā¦
word ā replacement word
it'sā¦
word ā concept/context/filtering ā interpretation ā listener cognition ā replacement
Translating a language isn't a straightforward lexical problem; it's a semantic problem that requires more than just a dictionary.
2ļøā£ The Time Lord is vital.
We know the translation circuits fail or become unstable when the Doctor is incapacitated. We also know the Doctor is explicitly described as part of the circuit, not just someone carrying it around.
That wording is super interesting, because if the Time Lord functions as a living node within the translation circuit, then the TARDIS is somehow using the Time Lord, and so cannot be generating perfect translations from speaker to listener on its own.
What she needs the Time Lord for has never been properly defined; however, we know that a Time Lord's incapacitation means the entire system fails, so it's crucial.
3ļøā£ The TARDIS needs a stable contextual anchor.
The TARDIS clearly possesses enormous independent linguistic capability, but there are two key areas in which she would have extremely limited knowledge in the translation process:
concept/context/filtering
listener cognition
She is not omniscient, and while she clearly understands organic minds to some degree, she does not live in a social context like social beings do and can't possibly understand sociocultural context as well as they do.
Imagine an alien species says a phrase that literally translates as:
'May your seventh Kadalla remain clockwise.'
Now, technically, the TARDIS could translate that directly (and sometimes does), but what does it actually mean? Is it...
a funeral blessing?
a sarcastic insult?
a marriage proposal?
a declaration of war?
or the equivalent of 'safe travels'?
The TARDIS seems unusually good at preserving intended meaning rather than literal wording, suggesting she constantly interprets contextual information. She cannot possess that knowledge herself, and it's extremely unlikely she is drawing it from random people, as that's not reliable and often conflicting. The only stable, constant anchor she has for that is her symbiotically linked pilot.
4ļøā£ The Time Lord's knowledge is crucial.
So, considering all of the above, the TARDIS is feasibly consulting the Time Lord's knowledge and experience for...
context,
cultural nuance,
class markers,
sarcasm/innuendo,
subtext,
tone.
Additionally, she needs information about the listener's...
language,
comprehension,
knowledge,
cultural interpretation,
preferences.
Some of her understanding of the listener may come from the telepathic 'connection' with companions, but this is incomplete. She may know the listener's vocabulary or era, but not their personal context.
This significant reliance on the Time Lord would explain a lot of oddities, like:
Why are there sometimes random foreign words? Surely the TARDIS would translate everything? - Perhaps sometimes the original word has a cultural or emotional weight that wouldn't survive translation cleanly, so the TARDIS leaves fragments untranslated rather than killing meaning completely.
Why do some people speak with accents? Surely it would just default to the listener's first language, as a native speaker? - Perhaps accents carry contextual information. Regional identity, social class, education level, era, emotional tone, and cultural background are all embedded in accent. The TARDIS appears to preserve some of that information rather than sterilising everyone into speaking identically.
Why do some languages not translate? Perhaps neither the Doctor nor the TARDIS know it, or maybe it's too visual, or maybe it's too complicated for the TARDIS to construct a succinct meaning from the reference points.
With all this in mind, if the Time Lord is helping stabilise or contextualise the translation, then poor linguistic understanding would produce poor translations. A badly educated Time Lord might still communicate basic ideas successfully, but subtleties could be compromised.
This is why I don't think translation technology replaces linguistic knowledge on Gallifrey at all. In fact, it makes linguistic education more important. And since Prydonians are naturally gifted with languages and also the most politically powerful social group on Gallifrey, that might not be a coincidence.
š©ŗThe Doctor specifically
The Doctor is probably an unusually effective translation anchor because he genuinely seems to know a ridiculous number of languages, understands historical linguistics, is Prydonian, and has spent centuries speaking to absolutely everybody in the universe.
So when it comes to the TARDIS and the Doctor, she's got a wealth of information to pull from to help model meaning.
š« Soā¦
If you're still with me, the translation circuit is constructing meaning telepathically between minds, with the Time Lord pilot as part of that system, drawing on their own linguistic knowledge, cultural understanding, and contextual reasoning. They are helping the TARDIS decide how something should be translated in the first place.
Right, phew. I'm off for a lie down in a dark room.
Related:
š¬|š£ļøš½Would Gallifreyans notice the TARDIS translation circuit working?: The relationship twixt Time Lord and TARDIS.
š¬|š£ļøšØļøIs 'Time Lord' actually a neutral Gallifreyan term that just doesn't translate well?: Itās linguistically and socially complicated.
š¬|š£ļøš½What is Sollifreyan?: Overview of this conlang origins and use.
ā šØļø Answers by GIL
Any orange text is educated guesswork or theoretical. āš«Got a question? ā šŖGIL Wiki (A&P, Emergency Medicine, Asks + more) ā šTumblr Masterpost ā Support the Institute (Ko-fi) If you enjoy GIL and want to help keep our human caffeinated enough to continue writing about alien spleens, you can send a coffee here: š½Ko-Fi Gallifrey Institute for Learning š
Edwin to Crystal "If Charles is moving you, it is always in your best interest to go. I understand why you might not like to be manhandled but trust that it's for your own good and he wouldn't do it unless necessary."
Every time I rewatch I somehow manage to be surprised all over again by how much Charles manhandles Edwin, and without a word of complaint from Known Complainer Edwin Payne. He threw that boy OVER a TABLE and there was not a PEEP of objection
#i NEED an entire prequel season because i need to know how long it took them (mostly Edwin) to be comfortable with this dynamic#honestly you could tell me it took 20 years or 20 seconds and I would believe you either way (via @remyjay17)
ā¤ļøššGRACEFULššā¤ļø
ā[my social media links]
the fandom: "us" but at what cost?
DON'T WANNA WAIT ANYMORE
Remember the celestial beings you loved because itās a 6000 year slow burn where they defy everything and risk their existence to be together? Well good news. We made them totally different normal guys who meet one day at a bookshop and share none of the same inside jokes, obstacles or characteristics that made them compelling. Youāre welcome
like they spent the last few years of their lives fighting. Are you hearing me
The Beginning | The End
they really said
you're genuinely trying to fucking tell me that crowley, who repeatedly begged aziraphale over and over and over to run away with him so they could be safe, and each time when aziraphale turned him down just chose to stay and die on earth instead (because there's no point to anything if aziraphale is gone), crowley who completely broke down when aziraphale was discorporated even though it was only his physical body, crowley who spent thousands of years showing up to save aziraphale in the strange little 5d chess of damsel and knight they'd been playing, would be alright with damning aziraphale to nonexistence. himself is one thing but you're fucking telling me that when offered a choice between the continuation of an imperfect world, or killing every single person in the universe, including aziraphale, he'd choose the latter? are you actually fucking serious?
I can't believe it ended with Antichrist Adam and Josh Christ having beers together
āyouāre just mad that they didnāt kiss againā yeah you know what i fucking i am. what do you mean they shared the worst first kiss in history fuelled by grief and despair and then vanished from existence without ever knowing what itās like to kiss someone out of love and joy
sorry but s2 aziraphale did not hold trembling fingers to his lips thinking do it again because he wanted to boop crowley on the lips with his fingies
bury your gays and replace them with emotionally unsatisfying lobotomised but still gay replicas
