Srajo101
134677
2891
42
Jun 14, 2021 10:49 AM
Srajo101
134677
2891
42
Squarkage
The UK is full of River rivers, such as the Avon river
FafaEfafelda
Will wer mit mir ein feines Essen in Essen essen?
RenaldoMooon
Plus we’re in the backwaters of the Milky Way on planet “dirt” orbiting the star “shite outta luck”. Freakin’ nerfherders, the lot of us.
Ulthirm
That is addressed in various sci fi films i've watched. Universal translators go through various stages, some of them being extremely
Ulthirm
literal, others learn to identify context clues over time and will identify names.
Elvenbane
In order to translate universally it would need to be able to identify the parts of a sentence and could therefore filter out proper nouns.
kadaeux
For a universal translator to actually work in any case it's going to need to be able to identify not just the words, but context.
JadeNB1729
Anyone who's saying "just stick with the main language": I know Hindi speakers, though I assume it often happens in other languages. (1/2)
JadeNB1729
They will switch absolutely seamlessly between Hindi and English, and not notice that they've done so. Just translate one won't work. (2/2)
BernieMittens
We are Moon Moon
mward1984
Oi. First rule of Moon Moon, we don't TALK ABOUT MOON MOON.
jherazob
Because DAMMIT MOON MOON!!!
pocketpython
Biritish Colonist in Australia :*points at giant hopping mouse with pouch* "What's that called?" Native: "Kangaroo" (I Don't Know)
languex
The story that it was a phrase meaning “I don’t understand” is false. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo)
eazye9646
The La Brea Tar Pits = The The Tar Tar Pits
pdp1
TheFunGuyinOz
They'll be fucked in Australia then . . . Wagga Wagga, Woy Woy, Bigga Bigga,
TheFunGuyinOz
For foreigners..... Wagga Wagga is just Wagga, but Woy is ALWAYS Woy Woy.
seronis
Well at least the aliens will know how little most humans value the planet when they see we named it 'dirt'.
Burke616
And the La Brea Tar Pits.
SteelKnight
When you think about it, boaty mcboatface really doesn't seem that dumb now
iChase79
The company i work for is lik that. We have new software to catalog our things name CMDB. Yes i know its a CMDB wat is it called? CMDB CMDB
6138
"Torpenhow hill" in the UK basically means Hill, Hill, Hill, Hill. Tor, Pen, and How, mean hill in Old English, Norse, and Welsh, apparently
stealthgunner385
Except it isn't. Except... it kind of is. Tom Scott explains it well: https://youtu.be/NUyXiiIGDTo
6138
That's funny, I actually learned about it *from* Tom Scotts video! He does say at the end though that it *kinda* is? So maybe it counts?
phobosorbust
When asked, the translator gives up and says "A repetitive place-name accumulated over time through possession by many cultures".
GlenL
And here's my favorite baseball team. The The Angels Angels
crookedhindlegoni
I actually had this issue learning mandarin.
languex
languex
nathan933
Don't Forget Mount Fuji Yama - Mountain Mountain Mountain
hardytardigrade
There's a baseball team called The Los Angeles Angels
millicentfrastley
We have “the the angels angels of Anaheim”, and “the the tar tar pits” too (The La Brea Tar pits)
hardytardigrade
oh yeah, ha ha!
Jupman
...Of Anihime*
hardytardigrade
necrojoe
Something I didn't get right away: "Los" is effectively "the" too, so it's basically "The The Angels Angels."
InVetinariVeritas
Reminds me of the LA baseball team "The Los Angeles Angels". So "the the angels angels"
necrojoe
And "Los" is "the", so it's "The The Angels Angels". I guess that's how it sounds echoing when said through a PA...
Matriel
The scientific name of the Eurasian brown bear is Ursus arctos arctos, which translates to "bear bear bear".
ReginaKasteen
An unbearable situation.
natabus
Fun Fact: Our word for Bear comes from a euphemism 'The brown one', because the Germans had a taboo about explicitly naming them.
TheDayTheBrainStoodStill
Well, it *is* the beariest of them all.
ExTechOp
The Arctic is named after bears (it's a bit unclear if actual, or the constellations) and the Antarctic is named as the anti-bear area.
CeruleanK
It is named for the constellations, that is certain. Also the polar bear, Ursus maritimus, is among the few bears without arctos in its name
AxelBeingCivil
Context. Same reason Google Translate knows how to do what it does.
Dustorm
This. Our speaking syntax would probably be so foreign that word replacement alone wouldn’t cut it.
atgreat
The weirdest thing about computer science is how laypeople cannot determine whether a problem will be difficult or not.
AxelBeingCivil
Never said it'd be an easy thing to do.
atgreat
Well compared to the base universal translation issue, it's trivial
GabbiTheSwedishNerdGirl
Shakira Shakira
bibendoom
Best ever comment to any post i read.
mondeca
Oh, baby, when you talk like that
Inarticulated
You make the alien go mad
BiasDBoy
You make a woman go mad
Gorgrim
Universal translators work by magic, and the requirement for aliens to communicate with each other else nothing would get done in space.
Gorgrim
This doesn't even touch on the ideas that certain languages can have concepts others do not, local dialect differences, etc.
Gorgrim
Take the deserts for example. We think of arid, sandy wastelands, but it can also mean cold deserts. Maybe they only have cold deserts,
Gorgrim
but we then talk of the Sahara and they have nothing like it where they come from. They might not even define regions by the same criteria.
VoteManipulationSucks
The new forest in England is neither new nor a forest...
Voidhawk42
By English standards it's pretty new. Only a few hundred years.
notkvothethebloodless
(1) i always hoped orville woukd do an episode like this. Like everyone's translator goes down and they end up speaking their native tongue.
GemLord8
That’s pretty much the first three seasons of “enterprise” with Scott Bakula. incoherent sounds while they train the universal translator
TheDayTheBrainStoodStill
Oh, that explains a lot.
notkvothethebloodless
(2) then you find out half the human crew doesnt even speak the same language. Isaac just makes dial up noises. Xelayan sounds like super
notkvothethebloodless
(3) angry yet sexy spanish. Moclans just monotone shouting of individual syllables. That sort of thing
SuperUpvote
I am guessing it might ignore a single foreign word if placed in the middle of a sentence made up of nearly all one language.
rfgmendoza
"ignore", "foreign, "sentence", "language" are all french words (did i miss any?)
TechnicallyRight
Perhaps the future tech from space just translates from "earth speech" to avoid all the dialects and multitude of languages each planet has.
TechnicallyRight
Perhaps it recognizes the language the speaker is using (English) and can discern that gobi desert is a namesake. Thusly it doesnt change it
mangor
Context is everything
SuperUpvote
You might be able to switch it between smart mode (might make mistakes or miss some) and translate 100% of a conversation.
LoneOrtolan
I think it would be easier to program it to recognize proper nouns and intent/context to allow for words that mean other words.
LoneOrtolan
Like, if you say Lake, it ignores the next word if it can match it to a list of known lakes, or the conversation is about local geography.
LoneOrtolan
If Lake=true, compare following word to geographical database. If following word found, disregard.
theimgurappsucksballs
That's heavy, probably easier to pair words for context 'lake superior' vs 'lake' and 'superior'
Lucallia
the main problem with your proposal is that a universal translator used by ALIENS on US would not know our proper nouns.
Ninjainslippers
My friend is from India and when he talks to his mom he occasionally says English words in an Indian accent. He can't otherwise do an accent
TheThingNoNotThatOne
Right. It's set to translate English to a specific alien language, and clearly has a dictionary/encyclopedia built in.
8gigsofshark
Given how common it is for loan words to a) exist and b) shift meaning, any reasonably functional universal translator would manage this
WellBehavedZombie
Some languages will actually use some words from other languages, kind of like borrowing. It's not that easy.
xizar
*ALL* words are foreign, though.
Bmxtucker
It’s would be similar to the double function paradox that our brain pulls when when we see two words back to back such as this.
DragoWhooves
I had to read your comment twice, once to read it and once to look for for the double word
theimgurappsucksballs
Lol, he says in English
weaslor
Downvoters: It's funny because English is more a collection of stolen properties than a language.
p75369
Three languages in a trench coat that mug other languages for spare grammar and vocabulary.
cadikaorade
I'm pretty sure using a word used in another language isn't "stealing". Try only using words 100% original to your native language.
cadikaorade
The romance languages stole most of their words from Latin. Their speakers shouldn't appropriate Roman culture.
SilverHornet
It's communism in linguistic form
NotACop1515IsMyAgeNotACop
Thats the deal for languages generally
BarbedWireCatheter
But a couple of maxims and 12 pounders made it smear its ugly face against the windows of all nations. Fuck dude, ever heard of Tok Pisin?
BarbedWireCatheter
Papua New Guinea’s langua franca is truly the Englishest English that ever Englished
theimgurappsucksballs
The word language is literally French
cadikaorade
The French stole it from Latin anyway.
TheMrrigan
That's like saying Latin stole it from Proto-indo-european.
ZeusSuccs
Not stolen so much as forced through multiple conquests
sylkysmooth
I always figured it was run by an advanced AI or had some sort of mind reading thing that let it figure out how you meant the word to come >
sylkysmooth
> out, like if it's a name or a word or the like.
ScottishOddish
If its a universal translator I'm pretty sure it knows what a proper pronoun is.
Magnebro
In machine learning it uses patterns of the words it was trained on. Sahara Desert wouldn't be a problem because it's seen it used that way
PolkaBrat
The translator AI navigates this by recognizing that what is a word in one language can be lent as a proper noun to another language. Done.
PolkaBrat
I could totally write for Star Trek because I can 'just make some shit up' really well.
TheSongofRiver
Wouldnt it just work the same way as how we translate from english to dutch? Human/alien made translations and it gets added to the device.
TheSongofRiver
In that case its a choice thing. Like how we dont translate schildpad to shelltoad.
TwelveMotionJeweledSkull
If you got something smart enough for a universal translator(or even a regular one) it can probably manage that, yeah
evilspyre
English has a shit ton of French & German & Latin words in it already even without switching specifically so it would confuse any translator
morelikeconsham
Out of all the moving parts of a universal translator, uploading a dictionary, which would include loan words, is not the hard part.
aethryll
Yeah but if you hear people speaking English you don't assume their speaking 3-4 languages simultaneously. I'm sure the species that figures
aethryll
out FTL travel can find build an AI translator that be as accurate as a human at detecting primary language being spoken
Infinias
We developed the atomic bomb...so that argument might be a bit fuzzy
aethryll
I disagree, FTL travel is incredibly more complex than an uncontrolled fission reaction. In any event, our text2speech software actually
LurkerOfDarkness
Almost all languages have a bunch of foreign loanwords.
evilspyre
That doesn't mean aliens would know that since as they may have gotten rid of regional languages eons ago on their planet.
LurkerOfDarkness
Well they most likely will have both liguists and historians and know about this.
ImgursLibertarian
I am guessing it identifies proper nouns and keeps them. So a translation that we would hear would be: "I KFLURGUGNUTIAN have traveled...
ImgursLibertarian
from my home planet of KNURTRTSKND to bring death to you all" or something.
SpamYarBlockers
Are you Rose Nylund?
ImgursLibertarian
aww shucks, thank you but no. I always saw myself as more of a Dorothy character.
nonickname23
And how does it work in Trek when someone switches to Klingon mid-sentence?
DynamaxAgumon
I'm a huge Star Trek fan but the less you think about the translator is better. Also the transporter.
SaFalken
The transporter was literally due to budget constraints in TOS (those old scientists)
imemmental
That’s what Chief o Brian does!
3nd3rwiggin
Or how the doors know when to open or close.
FajitaPrinceofAllMexicans
I mean, we -do- have automatic doors in the modern age right now, they have something probably more advanced.
Astramancer
The doors malfunction tragically often https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMX9ZAD_h3g
DynamaxAgumon
I like how on Stargate they just don't address how everyone speaks English
3nd3rwiggin
Well, it is because they all came from Earth... Ummmmm???? LOL
Lampmonster
Transporter was Trek's worst mistake. They came up with it to save budget on shuttles and immediately started writing around it.
DynamaxAgumon
We already know that bending space is trivially easy in Star Trek. Why didn't they just say the transporter bends space around a person. >>>
DynamaxAgumon
Instead of saying it takes a person apart and reassembles them? Also they should have made it much shorter range. And only works outdoors.
Selerox
Much simpler in Babylon 5, where people literally just had to learn the other languages.
dmjalund
part of the treaty with the Klingons was that the Klingon language would not get translated by Federation universal translators
AgamemnonsMemes
Stargate had a similar problem
ReyReyDMSisTheWorst
The original movie had the “aliens” speaking ancient Egyptian…the show just said F it
AgamemnonsMemes
The creators literally said 'we don't want to spend half the episode explaining why everyone speaks english every week'
ReyReyDMSisTheWorst
Good reason.
lemjau
I was fine with ignoring that until some alien commented on Beckett's Scottish accent. Hush, you're un-suspending my disbelief!
Mithi
Easy: the translators has read the script so knows when to STFU
Afewflowers
Shouldn't their mouths be out of sync with their words?
DonnaNobleInTheLibrary
Yes, but that'd mean you'd have to film with the actors saying one thing and then dub over it, which is a lot of work for a gimmick.
DonnaNobleInTheLibrary
Also, once you dub it into other languages (like German), the mouth movements don't match anyway.
Noodlesocks
They touch on that in Discovery briefly and is a good example of why they don't portray it like that every time.
geoffreyfourmyle
For a show that struggles with its focus, that was a really excellent scene.
MotherSekmet
THAT ALWAYS BUGGED ME!! like they should be being translated at all times but sometimes just randomly speak klingon! like isn't that also
MotherSekmet
translated?! and if not, why? and when Riker was on the klingon ship as exchange officer they acted like they were speaking English instead?
Djchoragos
they were. at the beginning the captain tells them to speak in Riker’s language
ImGoingToGoFallAsleepOnABench
Compare to DS9: "Little Green Men", where the Ferengi speak ONLY Ferengi until their translators are adjusted, then never again.
DynamaxAgumon
And why does the translator say "Huuuu-Mon" for ferengi but nobody else?
MotherSekmet
its trying to translate the disgust/sass through tone?
ImGoingToGoFallAsleepOnABench
I'd imagine that it's interpreted as a pronunciation of "human" and left untranslated (AFAIK "hu-mon" isn't a defined Ferengi word anyway).
LoneOrtolan
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
ItHappenedInThe20thCentury
I think you can go further: Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo. And so on.
PballQhead
Any sentence solely consisting of the word "buffalo" is grammatically correct, from "Buffalo!" up to "Buffalo buffalo buffalo [∞]"
SuggestedUsernamesAreWeird
I hate this sentence with every fiber of my being. +1
ReLighter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo
Mirilali
The fact that it has its own wiki page impresses me.
NotTinyPancakes
ow myhead
KillerTofu615
I'm not sure if I feel smarter or dumber having read that. My brain does hurt though.
UnitConversionBotButTerrible
SmallMarbleDancer
It would help if there were a pair of commas place appropriately along with the capitalization of the proper nouns.
horsestache
Came here to say this.
Sechran
Police police police police police police.
friendlyneighbourhoodchristian
T.I.L.
ExoCyberBit
Malkovich Malkovich?
SidewalkWidflower
Malkovich.
ByThePowerOfSCIENCE
I still think they there's two instances of the same ungrammatical elision.
theimgurappsucksballs
CrypticalEnvelopement
I like this game! Syracuse Syracuse Syracuse syracuse Syracuse... What do you mean I misunderstood the rules?
atcggcta
Ooh ooh! Rochester Rochester Rochester Rochester Rochester rochester with little r
Smogmonster69
Thunderbolt and lightening very very frightening.
TeflonTrout
Nothing clever to say, but I was the 420th upvote and I just think that's neat
LoneOrtolan
For that, I salute you.
UrbanSatyr
HassyWan
Mushroom! Mushroom!
TheFleshItBurns
My first genuine lol of the day!
IWantedOneOfThoseLongUsernamesTooSoIGotOne
Have you met my friend, a buffalo from Buffalo? His name is Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo. So, [deep breath] Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo... (1/25)
YouTubeRed
babel fish
CantStopTheRock
Literally literally means literally. (This is now 6 correct sentences)
Sickma
Even with its 2nd definition from Merriam-webster this is correct, I think... https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally
Helveticus
Chicken, chicken chicken chicken chicken?
rowanmc
BahamutBBob
Every time someone posts this, it breaks my brain a little bit. I know it "has meaning" but it means nothing to me.
blaknwhitejungl
I appreciate your correct capitalization
4Astaroth
Gibst du Opi Opium, bringt Opium Opi um.
fakieflip180
The Latin name for American buffalo is Bison Bison.
kennelbreach
The western lowland gorilla's latin name is Gorilla gorilla gorilla.
WalkersNonsuchToffees
Bison bison bison actually
PandaWaffleking
Will Smith will smith Will Smiths.
CuddlyMonster
Good one
CantStopTheRock
Will Will Smith smith Will Smith smiting Will Smith's smithy.
CrypticalEnvelopement
Lowktar
How many exhibits would Xzibit exhibit if Xzibit could exhibit Xzibits?
UnitConversionBotButTerrible
No one knows but it'll have spinners
xyxyxyxy31
d3jake
So, "to buffalo" is a verb, or is for this sentence?
aethryll
buffalo (v) - overawe or intimidate (someone).
aethryll
replacing the words to read more sytanx more easily, (the) Rochester bison (the) Syracuse bison inspire (have) inspire(d) (the) Albany bison
PotatOSLament
I ordered a “Fish and Chips” sign, but the words were too close together. So I sent it back telling them to put more space between 1/
PotatOSLament
Fish and and and and and chips, but they wrote back saying they didn’t understand. So I had to write another letter with quotation marks
PotatOSLament
Before fish, between fish and and, and and and and, and and and and, and and and and, and and and and, and and and chips, and after chips.