Re: TARDIS tricks


"Sean Huxter" <sean.huxter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:LGSrf.3561$Wl3.3401@xxxxxxxxxxx
>
> "The Bronze" <stevesimon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:1135597938.512977.240350@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Well, I loved The Christmas Invasion, and I can easily turn a blind eye
>> to plotting deficiencies if I'm having enough of a good time...
>>
>> But there is one little detail that warrants a mention, I think:
>>
>> The TARDIS gets in your brain, right? And enables you to understand
>> alien languages. A neat trick, presumably based on some kind of
>> Universal database of languages, a Tower of Babel with better admin.
>> Which is rather amazing - but still not quite as amazing as the
>> TARDIS's ability not only to translate languages, but to make the
>> translations fit the lip movements of the aliens perfectly! Shouldn't
>> the aliens look like they've been dubbed, like characters in an Italian
>> horror flick?
>
> I don't see why not. It could simply be that the lips are syncing up
> perfectly with the native language the aliens are speaking, but our brains
> are not actually interpreting it as English, just UNDERSTANDING it, and
> therefore the lip syncing will be perfect. The listeners are actually
> hearing whatever language the aliens are speaking, but the brain is simply
> translating it seamlessly.
>
> I don't see anything wrong with that at all. It's not English, it just
> feels like it to the interpreter.
>
> Now that you've opened up the can of worms, however, why the hell could we
> not hear the curse words the Doctor uttered, and the response? Hey, if the
> translator translates anything, why not that? Or does it have a profanity
> filter???

Almost certainly - in the books, the third Doctor often "curses fluently in
Venusian" :) Perhaps the song he sings to Aggedor (and which he first
yelled at Bok) is something ruder than a lullaby??? :-D

--

Frank
"Incidentally, I'm a bit alarmed by your assumptions that thinking and
laughing are mutually exclusive activities. Best wishes, Douglas Adams"


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: TARDIS tricks
    ... > Universal database of languages, a Tower of Babel with better admin. ... > TARDIS's ability not only to translate languages, ... > the aliens look like they've been dubbed, ... therefore the lip syncing will be perfect. ...
    (rec.arts.drwho)
  • Re: TARDIS tricks
    ... > Universal database of languages, a Tower of Babel with better admin. ... > TARDIS's ability not only to translate languages, ... > the aliens look like they've been dubbed, ... English-translation thing, implying that under normal conditioning (before ...
    (rec.arts.drwho)
  • Re: Translations from UK to US
    ... JKR made the changes - maybe as a result of recommendation - but nevertheless - it was NOT a publishing house or editor or anyone else who had the FINAL say - it was JKR. ... - That JKR chose to make a version of her books for her largest and most profitable audience is not insulting. ... I can't imagine she has the time to learn 62 languages, so that she could intelligently discuss how to translate a term onto Greek, or even Russian, let along Japanese. ...
    (alt.fan.harry-potter)
  • Re: (Falsifiability is binary) Re: Textbook text candidate
    ... recognise design in the abstract without reference to the methods ... you are the one making noises that imply you know how to recognize messages in DNA. ... and right up and down why would aliens not use a similar form. ... actually I read the page and it was about acquiring languages. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: What is "Turkishness" but a mistranslation of a concept
    ... It does not matter whether the Turks came to be called Turks much later. ... Of course they existed as evidenced by the fact that the Red Indians who crossed the Bering Straights into the Americas have words in their languages that are also found in the Turkic languages. ... Turkish is a very ancient and one of the original languages of the world whose mostly unknown history most probably stretches back tens of thousands of years and as such it has developed along lines that are different to most other languages of the world particularly in the use of suffixes to develop complex words from root words which make translation of concepts from Turkish into other languages rather difficult particularly for translators not absolutely fluent in both languages. ... Which reminds me of a report I read years ago that the CIA, finding it difficult to hire Chinese translators, picked up some promising students and put them through a five year Chinese language course only to discover that at the end of their five year training they could not translate a single sentence intelligently from Chinese broadcasts!!! ...
    (soc.culture.turkish)