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That episode always kinda bothered me, because the universal translator was able to make English phrases out of it, which suggests a base language that would have to exist for the Tamarians themselves to understand their language. Surely, they could have shared some set of learning matirials that they would use to educate their young?
How would the Tamarians ever develop any advanced technology? Can you imagine an engineering discussion in Tamarian? Like, what is the word for capacitor? “Edward, when he enclosed conductive foil and electrolyte in a metal cylinder”? What would a Tamarian technical manual even look like?
I mean, they seem to have basic grammar for items and people and actions (“eyes”, “walls”, “fell”), it’s possible that they only use that weird allegory reference pattern when speaking formally to strangers or whatever. It’s also possible that their language in the original version makes more sense and is more practical and it just gets mangled by the universal translator.
it’s possible that they only use that weird allegory reference pattern when speaking formally to strangers or whatever
It seems like an awfully bad idea to use a communication method that doesn’t transfer what you mean if you have a better option available.
It’s also possible that their language in the original version makes more sense and is more practical and it just gets mangled by the universal translator.
I doubt that’s the case. I don’t see how a non-metaphor based language would get turned into a metaphor based one through a software bug. Some big hand waving would need to happen for that.
IMO the Tamarians probably have brains that are structurally different such that their metaphors come far more naturally.
Edward, he held the flood back. Edward, when flood released.
They may have tried that in the past to no avail. The episode specifically mentions there was several failed attempts at first contact.
A guide only works if you understand the guide. Think of it like this, if I sent you all 1679 ones and zeros from the arecibo message to you, but you didn’t understand the concept of zero, you’d have a hard time understanding what the message meant, even if the message itself was self explanatory.
Their language isn’t just grammatically different, it is uses a fundamentally different structure, and the Tamarian brain might be structurally different as well, able to easily account for language when young. So there may not be much of a “base language” that the metaphors are built on so to speak.
“Our communication happens through references to well-documented historical events and figures, but still uses the same vocabulary and grammar as the federation and most of the galaxy’s civilizations. Maybe we should share a short summary with the captain, to assist in establishing relations.”
“No! I wanna wrassle the monster like Darmok and Jalad!”
Their captain sacrificed his life so that we could communicate with them, and we never saw them again for the entirety of the show.
There was this other time they discovered a whole fucking Dyson Sphere, and then promptly forgot about it.
Didn’t it seal itself up or something? I vaguely remember them being trapped in there and having to pull some shenanigans to escape.
A big door shut, but they also knew how to open it again.
They should have sent the federation their history books. The only thing missing from the language is context. The fact that they speak in metaphors means that these stories exist somewhere for them to be referenced.
The thing is… do they? We don’t know that they’re actually referencing anything at all. I always thought that, once you got the vibe, you could contribute to the conversation with the phrasing and use the implied story of the phrase for the context.
I might say to you, “Kyle, when Janet left him.” You don’t need to know who Kyle or Janet are to infer that this might not be a good thing. Alternatively, I might say that, and mime like I’m wiping sweat from my brow as of relieved, and it might change the meaning.
We have no real way of knowing what history they might be referring to. Or if there even is one.
frankly i feel that most social species should be able to create a pidgin even if they have basically nothing else in common.
like… if we can communicate basic things with bears and deer, i think the idea that we somehow wouldn’t be able to communicate at all with aliens is a bit wack
I always thought it was incredibly absurd that a language would be based on such analogies until memes took over our discourse
Cat, at the table.
Butterfly, the man’s hand outstretched.
Goatse, his cheeks spread.
“Twitter, after Elon’s purchase.”
I always thought of “Shaka, when the walls fell,” as indicating a state of shock, disbelief, or otherwise not understanding what you’re witnessing, more so than failure.
Honestly I love interpreting Tamarian meme-speak…
Shaka is a place, right? So the city was destroyed, or otherwise taken over and no longer part of the prior culture’s territory. Gone.
That’s my take, anyway.
I thought it was a person, witnessing the fall of his city.
Shaka is implied to be a person.
Imagine if Dathon was actually this articulate but he was just trying to teach Picard a lesson.
I think half of the episode is the Tamarians genuinely struggling with human language. If the federations translation software wasn’t up to the task, it isn’t surprising that the Tamarian’s software wasn’t up for it either.
Based on the episode, it was posibly the first time Tamarians ever had friendly and successful first contact. Because if they had it previously, they might have asked for help translating when meeting new races such as with the Federation. The episode would have went a lot different if they had an Adorian ambassador with them saying “Yeah these guys talk in metaphor and only metaphor”.
I am of the opinion that these ‘before/after’ memes about twitter are disingenuous because that website has always been a heaping pile of shit and the vast majority of people on it don’t have the mental acumen to actually reflect or critically think on most subjects, and that’s a happy spin on how twitter was before musk bought it.
If anything he just unleashed the fools from every ‘group’ that masterfully fail at grasping even the most basic explanation of nuance and tried to cash in on it (and failed in one of the most typical ways a formerly public company could fail, under the weight of sheer ineptitude).
