tambo2063 wrote:would that ear bud thing work like the universal translator?? trip & that princess from season two had no trouble understanding each other, also didn't it let the delegates at the peace conference on earth understand each other as well. just wondering
I don't recall Trip and the princess using UT's. Didn't he just thaw her out and BINGO, they could talk to each other? (Seems like another OOPS on the part of the show's writers.)
I always understood the UT to be a device that would translate your speech into mine. You say something in your language. The UT 'hears' it and then repeats it in my ear, in my language. When I reply I speak in my language, and *your* UT repeats it in your language. In this scenario, both parties must have a UT to communicate. But in the book, only Trip had one. OOPS.
Okay, but what if you only need one UT? How would that work? You speak, it translates in my ear. Got it. Then I speak and... what? A loudspeaker around my net repeats my words in your language? That would work, but it would be rather obvious I wasn't speaking your language, don't you think?
Okay, how about this... I subvocalize what I want to say in MY language, and the UT translates it for me, and I just repeat (out loud) the string of gibberish that the UT said in my ear...
This would let me communicate, but there is no way I could pass myself off as a native speaker. In addition to the awkward delay while I whispered what I wanted to say to myself, then listened to the translation, I would be tripping over the unfamiliar sounds and mispronouncing most of what came out of my mouth.
But even if the UT would let you sound like a native (which it can't) how would you know what to SAY? The proper forms of address. The forbidden topics (do Romulans have a fetish about revealing their age like the Vulcans do? I dunno. Does Trip?) The accepted gestures (shrugging, nodding, hand-waving). There is more to communicating than just stringing words together.
Sorry, but I don't see any possible way Trip could pass himself off as a Romulan without knowing a hell of a lot more than he knew. If I wanted fiction that ignored the hard realities, I'd watch Saturday morning cartoons. (Do they still have those?) I require more from the fiction I read. Especially if I have to pay for it.
Any commercial writers out there who might happen to read this, take heed. Do your homework when you write! If you see a flaw or an implausibility in your plot, you must address it. (If you saw it, then we did too. In fact, we see them even *if* you don't.)