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[Treknology] Yes Captain, I can Hear You! The Universal Translator.

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Communication has always been a vital part of Star Trek. It’s foundational to finding peaceful coexistence and basic common ground between hundreds of worlds and civilisations across the galaxy with different cultural norms, traditions and an uncountable variation of foreheads. But with an infinite number of ways to evolve, learn and construct a way to communicate, every language is different.

Even here on Earth we have places like Nigeria and Papa New Guinea with hundreds of language variations and even discounting the multiple local dialects and slang within the United Kingdom, we’re always a short flight away from a wildly different national language. Within a wider galaxy of influences and evolutionary origins, the difference between Gaelic and Hangul will seem inconsequential to a Vulcan stuck in a lift with a Cardassian.

For all the might of phasers, the wonders of transporters or replicators, and even the engineering impossibility of deflectors of warp drive, the one piece of tech in the Trek bubble is a vital piece of the grand tapestry. The key to learning and understanding one another. The Universal Translator.

Varying in technology (and sometimes explanation), the universal translator is a device that allows to people to understand each other in circumstances where each person speaks a different language. Using a complex real-time translation system, the translator instantly translates words and sentences and the meaning behind them from the speakers language to an understandable compatible sentence to the listener.

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[Treknology] Yes Captain, I can Hear You! The Universal Translator.

Communication has always been a vital part of Star Trek. It's foundational to finding peaceful coexistence and basic common ground between hundreds of worlds and civilisations across the galaxy with different cultural norms, traditions and an uncountable variation of foreheads. But with an infinite number of ways to evolve, learn and construct a way to communicate, every language is different. Even here on Earth we have places like Nigeria and Papa New Guinea with hundreds of language variations and even discounting the multiple local dialects and slang within the United Kingdom, we're always a short flight away from a wildly different national language. Within a wider galaxy of influences and evolutionary origins, the difference between Gaelic and Hangul will seem inconsequential to a Vulcan stuck in a lift with a Cardassian. For all the might of phasers, the wonders of […]

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