#universal translators

[zenosanalytic]

I love the idea that the Homestuck Multiverse has a built in autotranslate that's just really super-lazy, making it simultaneously both Really Good and Really Shitty? Like:

ala This Comic you say a human name to a troll and its completely incomprehensible to them, because names refer to particular individuals and their meanings(or lack of) are very culturally and historically contingent and your language is utterly alien to them, but if you say "Troll![Name]", you've provided the translator with a Context, so it just searches for some person in Their culture who is contextually similar to YOUR person, and gives them that name instead XD

[leaky-port-nacelle]

I’d love to see how the Universal Translators handle the fact that other species have different units of time. Like instead of “you have 3 hours” it’s “you have 2 hours, 37 minutes, 18.742 seconds” because that’s the way that the translator communicates that you have one of their standard unit of time that just happens to be equal to that duration.

Similarly, you say “meet me in an hour” and the alien you’re talking to gets all confused and goes “weirdly specific but if you insist”

[mass-effect-anonymous]

CONFESSION:

Cofcession: I feel violent when people say stuff like "why do we all speak the same language?"

Like not only is it in lore that there are universal translators, but that's standard scifi tech! I've seen one post acknowledging that they exist, and more than 10 thinking it's "pothole space magic"

[athena1138]

So like

Universal translators right?

Maybe it's because I've spent 64% of my life studying foreign languages, but I hate the idea of universal translators. Not like on a wide spread application of course, but for close, interpersonal relationships.

I mean obviously it's convenient; you automatically can talk to anybody you want no prob bob, but I feel like they take away a certain depth. I don't really know how to explain it but like, I keep thinking about star trek and mass effect and just.

Shepard and Garrus can't talk to each other without technology.

Rider and Jaal already have a few noticeable words that can't translate; I really can't imagine how many more there are.

Worf and Dax would do well because Dax knows Klingon, but for the most part every single interspecies, hell even interracial couples (assuming there wasn't a unified language on earth before the universal translator,) would just like...never be able to talk to each other. Of course they would *eventually* find a way, but it would be hard as hell at first.

It almost feels like a kind of long term distance to me. Like, yes you are in love and yes you are together but there's still this wall between you. 99% of your relationship relies on a piece of technology. It just? Like? I seriously have 0 idea how to explain how I feel. Obviously a relationship can just use a translator, but I feel like it would deepen the relationship so much more if they took the time to learn each other's language. Like I as a predominantly English speaking American would 100% learn the language of my significant other. Hell, I learned 300 words of Dutch for my Dutch boyfriend before he turned fuckboy. And if I had a Chinese s/o I would 100% use Chinese with them so they could feel comfortable and at home with me.

Do you get what I'm saying? I'm not even sure I do.

(Another thought I had after revision) you're also never hearing their actual voice, their actual nuance, their actual intentions with a translator. The way things are said doesn't always directly translate. There's so much emotion and inflection and intention in languages that would be lost on you if you were hearing it in your native tongue. I.e., there are entire grammar structures in Chinese that don't 100% translate. You can get a general idea of what the sentence means but I've noticed more than a few where one half of the structure goes untranslated because in English it's unnecessary. Of course I can't think of any to display this, but it's true. The best I can think of is "虽然。。。但是" which I understand to be something like "although...but." and in my opinion it's a clunky translation. Like "他虽然不喜欢吃鱼、但是他妈妈常常做了。" LITERALLY it translates to "although he doesn't like to eat fish, but his mom often makes it." The but is unnecessary and in translations often goes left out, meaning that you aren't getting 100% of the translation and therefore you are losing part of the culture inside the language.

[pinbones]

I was thinking earlier about a universal translator that was unable to translate phrases like "good job" because the resulting language doesn't have any form of affirmations and only has negative communication for a job done wrong

Talking about it, my brother said "like the language or the guy?" And that sent me

Universal translator that fails because the poor guy using it cannot comprehend hearing verbal praise in his native language

[ustranslation]

Are you our very own newly minted translator who is looking around with dreamy eyes and the greenish hue of a newbie?! You want to know how to get more translation jobs that will pay the rent and then even more jobs that will bring you more money?

We know where you are coming from! We have seen young and ambitious birds flutter around our nest before and we are here to help. Our first and only advice, read our universal translator tips blog!

Our blog is also focused on helping experienced translators. If you are a seasoned translator but want to learn new techniques to get your job done faster, or want to learn how to use CAT tools, our universal translators tips blog will help you with that.

[petrichorparacosm]

The Translator Problem in SciFi

I’ve noticed, especially in Star Trek, that Sci- fi will often use “universal translators” so that everyone can understand each other, but when they work or not work seems to change to serve the plot. I started thinking about this, and then I got on a new subject entirely- translators probably wouldn’t work that way. Think about it, Star Trek-esque translators basically analyze the sounds you’re making, then, working in tandem with the one the other person is warring, translate it into their native language, BUT then straight out cancel the air waves of the sounds you made, and replace them with the sound of the translated version? This gets even more difficult when it’s more than two people with two languages. If the translators DIDN’T cancel out the initial dialogue, but made the translation audible, you would hear both at the same time, and there’s no way that that isn’t confusing. Also, some species may not be as verbal as others. The most realistic and efficient thing I can think of is that, when communicating via translator, you still hear them talking,(even if you don’t understand it) but what you pay attention to is the screen of the translstor(yes, screen). This will display text in your language that corresponds to what they’re saying. You can also understand what multiply people are saying at once. The only problems with this are that

a) you have to look at the screen and not the person, and

b) you might need to read FAST

[hatshepsut9]

How does a universal translator deal with time? Supposedly it can learn a language just by hearig it. But how tf would you know how long a day is in their language if you don’t know what planet they’re from???? Like if you know the planet, you can hear “day” and know how fast their planet rotates and then convert it into earth days. But there’s no way you could learn about their planet’s rotation speed just by listening to them talk.   Also why does it translate aliens’ time proposals (like “we’ll beam aboard in 2 hours” or “I’m going to shoot yo if you don’t get out of here in 10 minutes”) into round numbers of earth hours? They’d pick a round number on their planet beause they’re the ones talking, and then when it gets translated into earth hours it would translate to “2.7183 earth hours” or whatever. Right?