#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

[wandering-alien]

Ok so I've been wanting to ramble a tiny bit about universal translators for a while so here ya go. It's a bit incoherent but hopefully someone will find it interesting.

So of course they're translating a huge range of languages, but even if you compare two relatively similar Earth languages, they bring up some interesting questions. Let's take English and German (and bear in mind I am not a linguist):

In English, we tend to have all the verbs near the start of the sentence/clause, even in past and future tenses i.e. 'I had been sleeping in my bed.' or 'I will go to the restaurant.'

In the German past perfect tense, the auxiliary verb is the second 'idea' or 'part' of the sentence/clause and the past participle is at the end of that sentence/clause i.e. 'Ich habe in meinem Bett geschlafen.' In the future tense, using the verb 'werden' and the infinitive, it's the same: 'Ich werde ins Restaurant gehen.'

This means that, in German, as an English speaker, sometimes you have to read/listen to the whole sentence first, before properly translating it, because one of the verbs is in a completely different place to where it is in English (and vice versa).

Now, a universal translator translates as someone is speaking, but there would be a significant delay, right? Because the sentence structures are different (and we're talking about English and German here, imagine English and Vulcan) there would have to be a reasonably large delay for the translator to get the message across in a normal way to the other person. I mean, it has to wait for basically the time it takes to say a sentence as well as however long it takes to actually translate (but I imagine that would be pretty quick).

I don't really know what all this is meant to mean/says about universal translators, I guess just that it must take longer than it seems on Star Trek and it would still be a pain having people who speak radically different languages working together on a ship (which is a shame).

HOWEVER.

In Doctor Who, the TARDIS' universal translator is psychic. In the words of the 9th Doctor: "a telepathic field that gets inside your brain- translates." So I reckon there doesn't need to be a delay there because the words/idea is in your head so the translator can work with that?

I have no idea how it works in Star Trek, I haven't watched all of the tv shows and films so maybe it gets explained more, but it doesn't seem psychic. Idk, maybe it is, in which case the same applies.

The other thing I find interesting is how it would basically be a massive AI but I think I'll talk about that in another post.

[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

[prlssprfctn]

And if I say that Jason can't perceive himself as a proper adult after all these missing years that he spent being dead, and then catatonic, but at the same time, he was never taught how to be a kid, either. All he did was surviving as a child on the streets or taking care of Catherine, an act that made him taste responsibility and the harsh reality of the world from the very beginning of his conscious life. The closest "childhood" he got to experience was a few years as Bruce's son, and yet, it wasn't enough - he never got to feel fully safe and secure, he was never fully assured that he was a kid, who could do anything he wanted (case in point, him, thinking that Bruce disowned him after benching, and his desperate urge to find another parent since he was left alone, betrayed and pained).

So, yeah, Jason mourns the past, but most of the time he grieves the things he never got.

It is not about not being able to return to his childhood innocence. It is about having nothing to return to.

[misty-feathers]

universal translator is my favorite trek concept because there'll be some throwaway word that has Implications for how the universal translator works and i feel like such a huge nerd but i need to Know

like for example how quark pronounces human "hyoo-mon"

presumably quark is not speaking standard which means that we the audience are hearing his dialogue as filtered through the universal translator, and assuming also that the universal translator can deal with different accents -- so the same word pronounced in two different accents gets translated the same way

why does the translator preserve that mispronunciation?

even if quark was intentionally mispronouncing it, the translator wouldn't have any way of knowing that, unless the translator somehow transcends language to translate the meaning rather than the actual words spoken (which is a CRAZY thing even for futuristic tech)

[technically-human]

It's finally done!! Never before had an animatic been so hard for me, and I can't even tell why. Please show it some love :')

Song: Enamorado tuyo, by El Cuarteto de Nos

[theabigailthorn]

UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE BAYBEEE

I'm gonna be on University Flippin' Challenge!

Tune into BBC2 at 20:30 on New Year's Eve to catch me representing my alma mater St Andrews in the Celebrity Christmas Special!

It'll be available on iPlayer afterwards too!

-------------- TRANSLATION FOR BAFFLED AMERICANS ------------------

University Challenge is a quiz show on the BBC, it's been going since 1962 and it's a British institution. Viewing figures are usually measured in the millions and it's a huge honour to be invited on. It's famously super difficult. There's no prize money and after I'd paid my makeup artist and manager I was actually down fifty quid lmao; you do it purely for the love of the game

[nofingjustaninchident]

how can someone like this be canonically ugly? i want him to *** ** ******* * **** *** **** *** ****** *** ** ** ***** * **** ***** *******

[worksandmusings]

DPXDC Prompt 7

Ghosts can speak any dead or dying language. But plot twist every language is a dying language because language is always changing. Ergo ghosts can speak any language.

Danny uses this to become a translator.

[tired-demonspawn]

they've been on my mind, so i tried drawing them :)

couldn't decide between the two styles so i just drew both!

here's the little thinking sketches, for trying to come up with ways to draw them:

plus a little funny :)

[achillessulks]

People have been very mean to Emily Wilson online lately. I’ve been on record as saying her translation of the Odyssey (or Iliad) wasn’t my favourite, but do I agree with the accusations of oversimplification or inaccuracy? (Spoiler alert: no.)

[x0x0strawberry]

Damian: أحبك. (I love you.)

Y/N: I love you, too.

Damian: You-How did you-?

Y/N: Guess this is a good a time as any to tell you I'm fluent in Arabic.

[cuterefaction]

Trektober Day 29 - Universal Translator Mishap. I'd imagine that without professional translation, most books run through the UT wouldn't be much better than Google Translate (although I suspect that Garak can read them just fine and is playing along anyway. It'd be weird to not learn at least a couple extra languages in the tailoring business).

[thevoidstaredback]

Part 3

Danny realized, just as dawn was lighting up the world around him, that he knew almost nothing about the world outside of the USA. Even Canada and Mexico were barely footnotes outside of a chapter or two throughout all of his schooling! So, he landed just as a city came into view, let himself warmup with the release of his ghostly transformation, and pulled out his phone to figure out where the hell he was.

With barely any reception, Danny found himself to be just outside Monterrey, Mexico.

"Monterrey, Mexico, the capitol city of Nuevo León, boasts a sprawling business and industrial center. Spanning 125.3 square miles (324.8 squared kilometers), the city is home to ~5,341,177 people. The city is just over 428 years old, having been founded in the 16th century. Notable places to visit, such as Palacio del Obispado (1787-88), Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (2001), Faro de Comercio (1984) are recommended visits for people new to the city."

Sometimes Google was useful.

It was early morning, but the streets were already coming to life with music and voices. Suddenly, the tiny little world Danny'd been trapped in his whole life seemed so dim.

Everything was more beautiful than he'd ever noticed before. Brighter, more colorful, more musical.

Was this what Dani saw every time she left Amity? Was this how she always saw the world? He could see the appeal.

The brand new sights and smells and sounds overwhelmed him as the sun rose higher in the sky, but he couldn't find it in himself to care. It was almost the same kind of overwhelming feeling he got when he thought about space; good and begging for him to feed it.

He walked on, passing hundreds of people all speaking a language he didn't know-

Ah. He'd better pick up on it fast. It'd be rude to demand they speak his language in their home, right?

He pulled out his phone and took a quick selfie to send to Jazz, unable to stop his grin.

"It's so colorful," he told her, "I can see why Dani likes it so much out here."

She didn't respond, but he didn't expect her to. Not for a while, at least.

He texted Dani next. The same picture, though all he said was "Monterrey, Mexico."

Dani answered before he could even put his phone back in his bag. She, too, had send a selfie captioned, "Cobán, Guatemala, bitch!"

He laughed.

There was a chuckle behind him. "Un turista, ¿no?"

He turned around, suddenly re-kicking himself for not taking Spanish in school. Putting on his most apologetic expression, he said, "I'm sorry, I don't-"

The person laughed, wiping a fake tear from their eye. "Don't worry about it," they said in heavily accented English, "You're a long way from home."

He nodded. "A bit, yeah."

"You're not from a big city, are you?" It wasn't a question.

"How'd you know?"

"Stopping in the middle of the street is a good way to get jumped in any city, mi amigo." Danny shifted into a defensive stance, wary of the stranger. They laughed again. "Don't worry about me, I won't hurt you." He didn't believe them. they stuck their hand out. "Me llamo Alejandro."

He relaxed minutely. "Danny."

"Short for Daniel?"

"Just Danny."

They backed up some, their hands up. "I get it, man. What brings you to mi hermosa ciudad?"

"My reasons are my own."

"A fugitivo, got it."

"I'm not-"

"Relax! I'm not gonna turn you in. That's too much work. Besides, I know lots 'a guys like you. Not many stay in the city, but a lot of 'em start out here."

"Really?"

"More than you'd think."

Danny hummed. Then, he had an idea. "Could you teach me Spanish?"

Alejandro raised an eyebrow. "What happened to not trusting me?"

He blushed just a little and looked away, "Well, I don't want to not be able to understand anyone while I'm here, and you seem pretty friendly."

Alejandro shook their head with a smirk. "Way too trusting. Sure, I'll teach you, come on."

Danny followed after them, weaving between people and not running into a single person. Alejandro was all skill while Danny used a bit of intangibility.

Instead of taking him somewhere they could teach and learn in peace, as Danny had expected, Alejandro lead him through the city, giving a detailed tour of everything in the way only a local who loved their city more than anything could do. They knew every part of the city, every person seemed to know them, though they didn't so much as exchange a wave. A few kids stopped them and they played basketball in a park for a while before moving on.

Eventually, the day had to come to an end. As the sun was setting over the mountains, Alejandro lead Danny to a group of houses just on the playground, a bit more rundown with use.

"It's refreshing to see someone so full of childlike wonder when I show them mi hogar for the first time," they said, "Don't ever lose that, okay? Don't let anyone ever take that away from you, okay?"

There was a desperation in their tone, hidden, but loud enough to speak volumes of something that Danny wasn't privileged to know about. "Okay."

They sighed like something heavy had been lifted off their shoulders. "Good, good." They straightened up. "Now, for your Spanish lesson. By the time I'm done with you, you'll be speaking like it's your first language!"

The gleam in their eye reminded Danny of Sam when she was gearing up to explain the current activist page she was deep-diving; of Tucker when he was explaining the newest upgrade to his PDA; of Jazz when she was psychoanalyzing everyone in sight. It made him homesick.

He promised to have the language perfected before he left this city.

Part 5

Translation 1 - Spanish: A tourist, aye? Translation 2 - Spanish: my friend. Translation 3 - Spanish: My name's Alejandro Translation 4 - Spanish: my beautiful city? Translation 5 - Spanish: runaway, Translation 6 - Spanish: my home

[mightypurpurea]

[usakkhae]

A little kiss in the name of entertainment!!