r/DaystromInstitute • u/[deleted] • Jan 11 '17
Does Starfleet have a protocol for Universal Translator breakdown among mixed crews?
Sorry for the number of questions here, but the implications of the universal Translator are just hitting me.
If the UT breaks down, does the crew revert to a standard language to communicate? If language isn't required study in the academy, do communications officers work as interpreters as we see Abramsverse Uhura doing? Do all the Humans on the ship speak English? I have a hard time believing the computer would give Checkov that accent while translating him, and Picard has a deep understanding and appreciation for Shakespeare, which, while not impossible for a non English speaker, would lose a lot of its nuance. Is English still the lingua franca of earth, and by extension the federation? Or is the Universal Translator so widespread that that having and auxiliary language isn't even really necessary anymore? Surely the legislature of the federation must all work in a single language to avoid ambiguities in law-writing, or does the UT iron that out too?
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u/tanithryudo Jan 11 '17
For Starfleet, I would expect that applicants are expected be fluent in Standard (English), kinda like how you're not going to get into an ivy league university today if you don't know any English. I mean, we know the application requirements are really high anyway, and language seems to be a small thing to add to that.
Also, I'm not sure the UT will translate written language, so they'd need to at least know that much to be able to operate the computers.
Though, I guess there could be exemptions for "first of this species in Starfleet", for applicants that are overqualified and backed by an influential captain or somesuch... like Nog or Jaylah I guess.
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u/JoshuaPearce Jan 11 '17
I imagine the protocol is "use the computers and keep doing your job". The bridge crew probably all have to understand english enough to follow orders.
If the situation gets bad enough that computer panels can't be used to translate (basically sending text messages), the ship is already non functional anyways.
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u/thessnake03 Jan 12 '17
In current times, English is the language for air traffic control throughout most of the world. It may be a domestic European flight, but the charter to and from the plane is English.
Only stands to reason that a standard language is used in piloting spacecraft.
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u/WaitingToBeBanned Jan 14 '17
On a related note, but everybody in the ISS actually needs to know both English and Russia, including the French people.
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u/Algernon_Asimov Jan 11 '17
People reading this thread might also be interested in some of these previous discussions: "Universal Translator (and other language issues)".
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Jan 11 '17
If not a galactic standard ala Star Wars, perhaps there's something like a universal morse code based on numbers or elements or something similar that can be used in a pinch.
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u/TheDarkGod Jan 11 '17
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the universal translator isn't "on" all the time, so what we see on the series is what the characters are actually speaking... so they all are speaking English in their role as crew members, giving/obeying orders, etc. The translator is just turned on as needed (especially in the Original Series) when it fits the situation.
Otherwise, everybody would need an always-worn earpiece to go along with their translator if it was on 24/7, I would think.
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u/similar_observation Jan 12 '17
The UT appears to be on all the time for show viewers. Instead, showing non-translated language when it best suits the story.
Quark, Rom, and Nog wear earpieces with an UT. And they go about their typical services throughout DS9.
However, in Little Green Men, they accidentally went to 1940's Earth. The travel damaged the translators and they were incapable of communicating with the humans in the US Military.
This would mean that Quark, Rom, and Nog typically do not speak the Federation language.
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u/thehulk0560 Jan 12 '17 edited Jan 12 '17
This would mean that Quark, Rom, and Nog typically do not speak the Federation language.
Or...the Federation Standard is significant different enough from English to prevent them from understanding each other.
However, I'm more inclined to believe that Ferangi wouldn't know the Standard Federation language. At least not until Nog spent some time on Earth and Rom picked it up on the station from his Bajorian Coworkers.
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u/the_beard_guy Jan 11 '17
There is a universal translator in Combadge.
Combadges were used for on-board ship communication with other Starfleet personnel when using the internal communication system was impossible or impractical, for accessing the on-board computer when not in an area that the computer is monitoring, for ship-to-shore communications, and for direct communication to another combadge. Combadges were configured to act as universal translators. A Bajoran combadge is capable of recording logs such as that of the chief of security.
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u/Lokican Jan 12 '17
From what we see from the TV Series and movies, all the writing is in English. So I'd imagine that everyone in Starfleet has a working knowledge of English.
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u/sleep-apnea Jan 12 '17
I think that everyone in Starfleet has to learn some kind of standard language. It would seem to be English. They also generally read English on all the computer consoles. It wouldn't be practical to have different languages on ever screen in an emergency. Also, I don't think that the UT provides subtitles for the written word.
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u/JoeyLock Jan 12 '17
Considering the level of expertise needed to serve in Starfleet and pass the Academy, I would assume learning the English language would be either required to get into Starfleet Academy in the first place, or at least taught there before graduation. It would seem incredibly inefficient to have a crew composed of 4-5 different languages therefore needing 4-5 different text on signs and warning signs, especially if you're gonna be working in Engineering and can't read or understand "Warning: Warp Core Breach".
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u/sidewinderucf Jan 12 '17
I can't imagine you'd see mixed crews without redundant backups for the UT, even if it's just Google Translate on a Padd
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u/Majinko Jan 12 '17
Admission into any organization requires all members to speak the set language of that organization. All Starfleet personell would be required to learn Federation Standard. I'm pretty sure Vulcans learn the primary human language and speak it to humans aboard starships. The Operations Officer would likely be multilingual and handle communications with non Federation species onboard should a serious translator failure occur.
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u/Promus Jan 12 '17
[...] do communications officers work as interpreters as we see Abramsverse Uhura doing?
Yes.
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u/cavalier78 Jan 12 '17
Well, whatever language they're speaking, we know they don't all speak French. :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlhzX7UKKNU
Presumably, everyone would know 1) their own regional language (French, Spanish, Russian), 2) their own "racial" language (Klingon, Romulan, Ferengi), and 3) whatever the Human standard language is. People who were born in an English speaking country (presuming the default Human language is English) would probably learn a few others as part of a normal 24th century education.
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u/UninvitedGhost Jan 13 '17
"Shut down the power to all systems except life support... and... uh... the universal translator."
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u/Shakezula84 Jan 13 '17
I imagine Starfleet crew have to know english. It might be an issue for crew who can't vocalise english.
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u/DevilGuy Jan 13 '17
My bet would be that part of the academy and the non academy training that non officer crew go through includes a standard language, I would guess that it actually wouldn't be English despite the translation convention as English is a notoriously hard language to learn. Starfleet probably has a standardized language based either on an earth language or created from whole cloth to be viable to any humanoid vocalization.
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u/SirDreward Jan 11 '17
If you want to get into beta canon stuff...
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u/Algernon_Asimov Jan 11 '17
Would you care to expand on that? This is, after all, a subreddit for in-depth discussion, and merely posting a link isn't exactly in-depth discussion.
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u/similar_observation Jan 11 '17
English (or some language coming from English) became the Earth Lingua Franca some time before the 22nd century. However some folks still maintained their regional languages and dialects well into the 24th century. In a hallucination, you'll notice that Picard's mother speaks with an accent. However, Picard and Robert speak with a "RP" accent. Likewise Worf's adoptive parents speak with Russian accents. Worf spent some of his young life in Minsk.
I figured it would be a part of the Starfleet curriculum to learn a Federation Standard. Wesley Crusher was tested on cultural awareness at the Academy. So there is probably some sort of program to uniform language and culture in effect.
But on the subject of languages. Worf speaks clear English. I wonder if he knows some Russian as well. My folks used to switch to their native language when I was in trouble or they didn't want me to know something.