They may have tried that in the past to no avail. The episode specifically mentions there was several failed attempts at first contact.
Comment on Sokath, his eyes uncovered!
cannibalkitteh@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 months ago
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?
Olgratin_Magmatoe@startrek.website 10 months ago
rtxn@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Take a look at the Pioneer spacecrafts’ plaques. NASA scientists have broken down our abstract expression of distance to language-agnostic universal constants. I refuse to believe that a space-faring civilization with friendly intentions wouldn’t do everything in its power to find a common language, no matter how far removed from their spoken language.
Olgratin_Magmatoe@startrek.website 10 months ago
They’ve also run things like the pioneer plaques past other scientists, who often have difficulty discerning the meaning behind them. If human scientists have difficulty discerning the meaning, I can only imagine what kind of difficulty aliens who speak in metaphor would have, let alone if they weren’t linguists/scientists, which appear to be the case in the episode.
We evolved to hunt, and so it is suspected that as a result of that, we understand arrows to indicate direction. A species that hasn’t evolved in such a way might not understand the meaning of arrows. Apply that same principle to language and you potentially have your problem.
Kolanaki@yiffit.net 10 months ago
The translator is able to translate the words themselves, but not the context needed to actually understand the translated phrases.
rtxn@lemmy.world 10 months ago
“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!”
Zellith@kbin.social 10 months ago
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.
flicker@kbin.social 10 months ago
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.
Olgratin_Magmatoe@startrek.website 10 months ago
That’s assuming that they could understand Federation text books, and that their metaphor based thinking wouldn’t make it nigh impossible for them.
Anticorp@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Their captain sacrificed his life so that we could communicate with them, and we never saw them again for the entirety of the show.
frezik@midwest.social 10 months ago
There was this other time they discovered a whole fucking Dyson Sphere, and then promptly forgot about it.
Anticorp@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Didn’t it seal itself up or something? I vaguely remember them being trapped in there and having to pull some shenanigans to escape.
frezik@midwest.social 10 months ago
A big door shut, but they also knew how to open it again.
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 10 months ago
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
NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 10 months ago
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?
morhp@lemmy.wtf 10 months ago
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.
Olgratin_Magmatoe@startrek.website 10 months ago
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.
Anticorp@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Edward, he held the flood back.