S0V13T Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 Okay, I must have missed something, but it just dawned on me that humans all over the Milky Way, and now in Pegesus seem to speak and understand english. In the Stargate movie, the purpose of having Daniel tag along was to be a translator, and it carried on in the TV series. Did they develop a universal translator at some point? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wahaha Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 No. They do it to save money in the real world. In the sci-fi world, the simple explanation would be to save time, and because danny boy is more of a dirt digger, not a translator or linguist. His primary training is in archaeology. Notice how they use him more to cross reference artifiacts and trinkets with the aliens who used them more than they do to translate texts. It would be impossible for them to know every alien language when he never met them, except for the ones who visited earth and left people behind who speak a dialect. In order to SPEAK a language, you first have to hear it. It'd take forever and waste a whole episode for him to learn a new language everytime. He did get to practice with that unas in one ep. And you saw how much trouble he was having with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest c4evap Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 Actually, English IS spoken throughout the universe. Maverick and I have been on a 67 year mission to bring English (and also pig-latin) to every nook and cranny. We are now on year 1.5 c4 :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taleitha Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 I think that the reason they are saying English is spoken throughout at least the milky way is because humans were all seeded from Earth and so have the same language background. The Goa'uld wouldn't have taken them just from Egypt, so you should run into variations of German, French, etc. Anybody who knows a little linguistic evolution (yeah ok, so that's a short list of people really) will know that English developed as a Trade Language in Europe for traders from what is now England, France, Germany, etc etc. Traders coming from different areas of the world brought their own languages with them and English developed as a bastardisation of them all to enable traders to speak to each other and not get ripped off. So with a little imagination, you can say that the Goa'uld took peoples from all over the world, transplanted them throughout the galaxy, and a version of English developed for exactly the same reasons as listed above. The Goa'uld then learnt it so that they could understand what their slaves were saying all the time, and then it disseminated through the ranks of the Jaffa and out into the common populace. With different Goa'uld taking over each other's territory, this language would have then spread throughout all the Goa'uld territories. Therefore English would be spoken throughout the Milky Way. Or we go with the simple explanation where the English speaking communities of modern-day Earth are so self-absorbed that they don't actually realise english isn't the dominant language on the planet and apply that thinking to the rest of the universe. Take your pick.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foil Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 His primary training is in archaeology. Notice how they use him more to cross reference artifiacts and trinkets with the aliens who used them more than they do to translate texts. He's actually a fairly accomplished linguist it would seem. Many times jonas wished he was around to translate. He seems to be translating stone writing every few episodes. Maybe he's making it all up however and thats why they are having so many misunderstandings with all dem aliens, jaffa and goa'oulds. And I have this wierd feeling that the ability to understand each other was explained in one episode or another. Something to do with the Stargate? Just an inkling though. Maybe someone watching all the episodes from season 1 can keep an ear open for the explanation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taleitha Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 Jack did actually ask it, and the answer Sam and Daniel gave him was PRETTY close to the ramble I gave in my previous post, just without the evolutionary linguistics crap associated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weyoun Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 I thought there was some sort of special feature on one of the dvds where RDA says they just did it because it was easier, and to get over it? Or something to that extent. In all reality, it is because it's t.v. But we all knew that already(or at least I hope we did. ;) ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarneyCletus Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 Also, what happened to the whole freezing thing when people went through the gate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foil Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 Also' date=' what happened to the whole freezing thing when people went through the gate?[/quote'] Now that one really confused me. No more frosty SG-1. I guess they just got climatised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wahaha Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 Saves time and money, sweet and simple. No one wants to watch subtitles like on a poorly dubbed kung fu movie. They changed a lot of things for the TV show. The staff blasts don't sound like thunder anymore, instead they sound weak, and Jaffa wear rubber body armor. They don't have time to translate every language, besides, people are more interested in "digging up" new tech, and using it to blast holes in the enemy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenebrae Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 They used to have Daniel spending time interpreting in SG-1 but that lead to the whole thing being a bit stilted and there being more itneresting. I assume that in Atlantis they realised they'd already covered the language barrier and decided to just avoid the whole thing. Which is pretty sensible, you can't really have much of a show if people spend half the show going "what's he saying?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foil Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 But a reasonable or interesting explanation like the one given in Farscape would satisfy most Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wahaha Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 That, and the fact English is one of the most adaptable languages in the world. New (weird/stupid) words and terms are being added and used all the time. Look at ebonics lol. You jive talking gold chain gould. Slap me some skin snake eye sucka, on the flipside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howiepoohs Posted September 16, 2005 Share Posted September 16, 2005 Jack did actually ask it, and the answer Sam and Daniel gave him was PRETTY close to the ramble I gave in my previous post, just without the evolutionary linguistics crap associated Which episode please? if any one knows let me know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maverick Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 Actually, English IS spoken throughout the universe. Maverick and I have been on a 67 year mission to bring English (and also pig-latin) to every nook and cranny. We are now on year 1.5 c4 :p bloody hell c4, 65.5 more years together? the sexual tension will finish me off in less than 10 :p ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taleitha Posted September 22, 2005 Share Posted September 22, 2005 Also' date=' what happened to the whole freezing thing when people went through the gate?[/quote'] Now that one really confused me. No more frosty SG-1. I guess they just got climatised. Sam explains it when they get their own DHD. She says that it corrects a lot of the faults previous experienced with gate travel, including bumpy rides, nausea, and "other side-effects" *shrug* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taleitha Posted September 22, 2005 Share Posted September 22, 2005 I'll try and find the 2 episodes that the DHD and language thing are mentioned in. It'll have to wait till university holidays though....TOO MUCH WORK! ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furious Posted September 23, 2005 Share Posted September 23, 2005 Daniel was teaching Egyptains in the past. That answers your question. Don't get me stared on Christianity in space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paniq Posted September 25, 2005 Share Posted September 25, 2005 Easy, they all learnt english when they came to earth for their supplies of watches and US guns LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zerotop Posted September 28, 2005 Share Posted September 28, 2005 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unas_language :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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