Gallifreyan Doesn’t Translate: Science-Fictional “Universal Translators”

How about something a little lighter this week? A quick video review of universal translation/interpreting devices in science fiction. After all, if you’re going to encounter aliens, you have to be able to talk to them! First, the TV episode that inspired the title: Doctor Who , Episode 6.07, “A Good Man Goes to War.”

http://youtu.be/7qciqlhvQZI

According to Wikipedia , the first “universal translator” in science fiction appeared in the 1945 novel First Contact.

Doctor Who , as one of the longest-running series on television, refers to the “Tardis Translation Matrix” fairly often. Here is a more thorough analysis of the series’ explanation for how its characters can understand the locals anywhere in time and space:

Of course, the concept is hardly unique to Doctor Who. In fact, the bane of translators’ and interpreters’ existence fifteen years ago, the website Babel Fish , takes its name from the Babel fish species in Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series (video below is a BBC reading of it):

Both the Doctor Who “TARDIS Translation Matrix” and the THHGTTG “Babel fish” are predated, of course, by universal translation in Season 2 of Star Trek:

http://youtu.be/HdQ4LehrLS4

And, of course, even space-age technology is not without its problems:

So, what do you think? Do you have other favorite fictional “universal translators”? Can you imagine a way in which one could really work?

Have you tried any of the available apps? I can tell you that my father asked me to teach him how to say “Please vacuum the ___ room” [he’s the director of an event space] because the universal translation app he downloaded kept using the word vacío , a vacuum in the way space is a vacuum, instead of aspiradora , the thing that cleans the floors. So his crew thought they were supposed to empty the room, not sweep the carpet. So it seems that for now, at least, a true voice-to-voice app is definitely still in the realm of science fiction!