INFLUENCE

Will Word Lens bring us closer to universal translation

From December 2010

One of the things I always found clever (and convenient) in Star Trek is the universal translator. Some alien would transport onto a Federation starship and, bang, instant communication. As the audience we, of course, realize that this new alien species does not speak any human language. However, we accept the alien speaking our language because, let's face it, subtitles can be effective, (example, District 9) but not for a television series. The stories are shorter and reading subtitles week after week would prove to be too taxing for the audience.

When you think about it, the universal translator is an amazing piece of technology. Nevertheless, the writers of Star Trek always tried to make the translator as realistic as possible. Like all technology, even in the future, it was not always perfect. In fact, many times it is the inability of the universal translator to effectively decipher a new alien language that framed the actual storyline.

Take, for instance, the episode "Darmok," in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Poor Captain Picard spends most of the episode trying to understand the Tamarian, Captain Dathon. It is a cleverly written episode that explores the nuances of language with clever references to the Ancient Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh.

But even with the new iPhone augmented reality application, Word Lens, it is highly unlikely that Picard would have figured out the Tamarian language any quicker. Apparently, the new application is far from perfect, but it does look pretty impressive. It may not be helpful with alien languages, but it looks like it could make life a little easier in many circumstances.