C-3PO, Babel Fish and Mind Melds

A while ago, I gave a lecture on aliens in science fiction. One of the topics I covered was the means of communication.  I discussed a number of fictional translation tools with students.  The first example was, of course, C-3PO.
"Hello, I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations."  C-3PO is a protocol droid, and translation is one of its major functions.  From a translator/interpreter's point of view, C-3PO is rather "basic" even though it (or he?) is familiar with over six million forms of communication.  It is a robot in place of a human (or some other intelligent life form) translator/interpreter.  It still lacks skills in recognising human emotions.  For example, in The Empire Strikes Back (1980), when Han Solo was kissing Princess Leia, it walked in untimely.  A human butler would have waited and avoided causing embarrassment.

Interestingly, it does show some human traits, like being fussy...  Is that one of the GPP features? You know, genuine people personalities.

C-3PO is one of my favourite sci-fi robots.  Sometimes, as a translator/interpreter in difficult situations, I just couldn't help but quoting,
"We seem to be made to suffer.  It's our lot in life."
Well, at least I never complained about having to meet people at the airport or hotel and take them to some other place.  "Here I am, brain the size of a planet, and they tell me to take you up to the bridge. Call that job satisfaction, 'cos I don't."  This is not C-3PO.

Now, let's look at another fictional translation tool.  The Babel fish is probably more flexible and much more portable than C-3PO.  Just "stick one in your ear, you instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language."  It is sort of an universal translator.
Here is what "the Guide" said about the Babel fish, from BBC TV (1981):

The Guide also warns that, "Meanwhile the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different cultures and races, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation."  I can see why.  Some cultures have nasty names for aliens, I mean, foreigners.  That is fine as long as the foreigners don't know it.  They may even happily accept the nasty names.  But once they learn the truth... Oh!

I told the students that the fascinating "computer animation" was actually hand-animated because CG technology was not up to the job in the early 1980s.  Some students laughed so hard... I guess it was difficult for them to imagine, huh? (CGA was introduced in 1981, supporting up to 16 colours.)
The 2005 movie does have real computer animation:

Because of this fictional creature, now we have a real translation tool with the same name, and no need to stick one in your ear.  But with a limited number of earth/human languages, it is hardly universal.  By the way, I used to type "babelfish.altavista.com" in the URL field to get there and was surprised one day to see it being redirected to Yahoo!  (Yes, and AltaVista was once part of Digital. Digital acquired by Compaq and AltaVista went to Infoseek.  And then Infoseek became part of Go.com.  Currently, AltaVista is part of Overture and Overture is part of Yahoo!... But for how long? Seems like nothing lasts forever. Huh?)

Back to translation tools.  Interestingly enough, C-3PO and Babel fish were "created" around the same time, in the late 1970s, by George Lucas and Douglas Adams independently.  Although C-3PO and Babel fish were not the first fictional translation tools, both played an important role in the story and showed the "awareness" of the need for communicating effectively and efficiently.

Another communication tool, more than translation, that is, is Vulcan "mind melds" in Star Trek.  Two individuals can understand each other without speaking.  It was used in the Original Series, and we could see it in the 2009 movie.  It usually requires physical contact with a subject, so it may not be convenient.  Only Vulcans have this skill, so it is not universal.

On the subject of communicating with aliens (in science fiction), I also mentioned using mathematics as a means in Contact (1997) and using music, or just simple sound frequencies, in Close Encounter of the Third Kind (1977).

Many people think that translators only have to deal with words, with the languages.  It may be so when translating a book, an article or some written materials.  But from what I observed in my real world experience as a translator/interpreter, I think the verbal language is just a small part of the message.   We need to observe the tone, the gesture and all other subtle but useful hints to learn what others really mean and think.  And when we deal with people from distinctively different cultures, we just can't take anything for granted.

Humans have other means of communication, like sign languages and braille.  We also have music and symbols to convey our messages.  Dolphins, whales, birds, dogs and cats may have their own languages, and most people are just not able to understand those.  Bees dance.  Many animals and plants release chemicals.  A real universal translator/interpreter should decode these messages.

In a broader sense, a financial analyst or a programmer is some sort of translator/interpreter.  An analyst can translate figures into words; a programmer can realise actions through codes.

Since we can use a general-purpose computer to aid translation, data analysis, etc., some powerful artificial intelligence in science fiction could have been programmed to translate.  Therefore, Data (Star Trek TNG), HAL 9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey), Marvin, the Paranoid Android and the Ship's Computer (Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy) all have the potential to double as a translator.  I vaguely remember that the Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy (BBC Radio, Secondary Phase?) also mentioned some kind of "pills" that one can take to learn new skills.  In that case, it would be possible to learn a new language quickly and eliminate the need for a translator.

Oh, I almost forgot the most primitive (and useful) form.  Flesh and blood, with brain.  Exceptionally large mind. That's all we have at the moment before AI, artificial intelligence, catches up.  In science fiction, we have Uhura, the xenolinguist in Star Trek.  According to James T. Kirk (in the 2009 film), xenolinguistics is "the study of alien languages. Morphology, phonology, syntax."

External Links
Wikipedia - Universal translator (device in science fiction)
HowStuffWorks - How Universal Translators Will Work
Wikipedia - C-3PO
Wookipeedia - C-3PO
BBC - The Babel Fish
Hitchhikers Wikia - Babel Fish
My Chinese/Taiwanese blog - Sci-Fi Robot - C-3PO
My Chinese/Taiwanese blog - Babel Fish (fiction and reality)