[ SECRET POST #3095 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3095 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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[Poets of the Fall]


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03.
[The Authority/Stormwatch/Midnighter]


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04.
[Anthony Bourdain/Parts Unknown]


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 010 secrets from Secret Submission Post #442.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 1 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

My thoughts on universal translators...

[(Anonymous)]

For a working universal translator you'll need a machine capable of both recognizing context and interpreting correctly instead of translating literally.

The best we have use diverse sources to deal with common sentences instead of word-by-word translation. Can we expect for more improvements?
Sure, specially for technical fields because the limited context makes easier to avoid misunderstandings, but only as long as it's possible to have a high quality database and that's is per se pretty hard.

But an actual somehow good universal translator without limitations?
Nah, that's not gonna happen outside fiction.

(And in canon, won't a linguist be needed to keep such technology up-dated? Plus there needs to be a translator for the times the machine isn't available...)

Re: My thoughts on universal translators...

[(Anonymous)]

"But an actual somehow good universal translator without limitations?
Nah, that's not gonna happen outside fiction."

I think there will always be a need for people, but I think you're also limiting yourself a bit too much by current technological issues. With greater computing power, a lot of the issues with context and interpretation could be addressed.

Will it ever be perfect? I don't think so.

But the idea that an entire JOB will be devoted to speaking languages is a bit silly to me. Especially because there must now be MILLIONS of languages known. It makes FAR more sense to me that Uhura would know how to use tech -- program the systems, deal with the universal translator -- rather than try to know all those languages herself.

Re: My thoughts on universal translators...

[(Anonymous)]

A linguist isn't "someone who knows a lot of languages." It's "someone who studies how language works."

The ease of universal translator operation on the show is a narrative shortcut. In reality, a communications corps would be involved in translating and checking machine translations all the time.

Re: My thoughts on universal translators...

[(Anonymous)]

It's not a matter of limiting myself, tho.

Languages evolve constantly (and simultaneously in different ways in different places), so there'll always be limits when it comes to machine translation.
Those limits are more obvious in everyday speech and literary texts and no amount of technological development can fix that.

Technical fields can really, really, benefit from improvements, but even they have to deal with the issue of low-quality inputs and although they can fight back with a high-quality selection for the data base, the problem of dealing with low-quality source files is still there and that's not a current technological issue.


IA that Uruha's jobs is... surprisingly limited (and maybe silly in the "ok, that's just not possible" kind of way because there can be far too many languages), but I still think that without people who know those languages having a universal translation won't be possible in the first place.

Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra

[(Anonymous)]

never under estimate how much we speak in memes and cultural references:
et tu blabla?
it was kafka-esque
such a casanova
herculean task
such a bitch (what's wrong with a female dog?)
no shit sherlock

Without a corresponding wikipedia for each culture, the universal translator would be choking on many words.