57 réponses à ce sujet

[Eddo36]

I'm sure there are safeguards incase translator breaks.

Modifié par Eddo36, 07 janvier 2011 - 05:45 .

[Inquisitor Recon]

Eddo36 wrote...
I'm sure there are safeguards incase translator breaks.

I doubt it, you would just get it fixed. But until then Shepard would be clueless.

[Annihilator27]

caradoc2000 wrote...

Or just a minor malfunction when encountering the Reapers:

Reaper: "All you base are belong to us!"
Shepard: "Huh??"

Lmao, The Reapers are Tards.

Reaper "Set us up the bomb"

[Schneidend]

Considering Shepard's translator is probably a sub-dermal implant, I don't think it can be broken barring his being blown up by Collectors again.

[didymos1120]

InvincibleHero wrote...

Who says it isn't implanted knowledge. The Prothean beacon could have transferred it or biotics when he was trained by the alliance. There could also be many other explanations.

The game.  More specifically:

a. Shepard (see: Thane reference, this thread)
b. the Codex.

Also:

c. All the books.

[Al-the-Catman]

Love to this at a non-major critical pt.

[Eddo36]

ReconTeam wrote...

Eddo36 wrote...
I'm sure there are safeguards incase translator breaks.

I doubt it, you would just get it fixed. But until then Shepard would be clueless.

Aliens have translators, too. They can use their own translator to listen to Shepard if his breaks?

[Tennyochan]

that'd be awesome!

i want to hear turian language. *imagines District 9*



To much interference when you go to a home-world, so you have to read subtitles. and maybe just gestures for some npc's-*turian looks. says something. both start laughing/stunned/glare etc*

[Big stupid jellyfish]

This can be amazing.

This can be a 'test' of... Understanding? As Shepard & alien squadmates won't be able to talk properly we'd have to communicate via gestures; also, knowing your squaddies, their background, their views, their personalities, should help you to understand what they are trying to say/do and maybe help you to choose the correct option to make them understand you.

Also, just hearing alien voices would be great. What is turian or drell or asari language like, I wonder?

And this --

Silentmode wrote...

As lighthearted as the thread is I think this has serious potential in ME3. Imagine you and your squad are groundside during a Reaper attack on whatever planet and the Reapers send out a signal that disrupts everyones translator. Imagine the chaos that would ensue, all the aliens making incoherant sounds and the only people Shep can communicate with are other humans (assuming they speak english). It would make the situation very dire and all the more miraculous if you can overcome it. Plus I just think it would be infinately entertaining.

-- it'd also make a nice reference to the Tower of Babel; an ironical one, maybe, as Reapers can see themselves as some kind of gods organics are trying to threaten.

Modifié par Big stupid jellyfish, 07 janvier 2011 - 08:16 .

[Fiery Phoenix]

Silentmode wrote...

As lighthearted as the thread is I think this has serious potential in ME3. Imagine you and your squad are groundside during a Reaper attack on whatever planet and the Reapers send out a signal that disrupts everyones translator. Imagine the chaos that would ensue, all the aliens making incoherant sounds and the only people Shep can communicate with are other humans (assuming they speak english). It would make the situation very dire and all the more miraculous if you can overcome it. Plus I just think it would be infinately entertaining.

Like this.

[adam_grif]

How does the translator manage to lipsynch the aliens being translated in REAL TIME, and provide them all with unique earth-accents?  I mean like, how can it translate parts of words before the full word has even happened?

Effin' translators, how do they work.

Modifié par adam_grif, 07 janvier 2011 - 09:10 .

[Direwolf0294]

I would hate it. Having the aliens talk alien was the worst feature of kotor.

[Gleym]

To this day, Farscape has one of the best uses of translator tech, as well as a genuinely convincing set of alien dialects to go with its absence.

[Sammuthegreat]

adam_grif wrote...

How does the translator manage to lipsynch the aliens being translated in REAL TIME, and provide them all with unique earth-accents?  I mean like, how can it translate parts of words before the full word has even happened?

Effin' translators, how do they work.

I wondered this. I always assumed that the aliens all just conveniently spoke English, and mostly with American accents... I figured it was just a standard deus ex machina that didn't need explaining in the lore.

If all the aliens speak foreign tongues, does that mean all your squadmates have translators too? They all seem to understand each other just fine...

[GodWood]

Sammuthegreat wrote...

adam_grif wrote...
How does the translator manage to lipsynch the aliens being translated in REAL TIME, and provide them all with unique earth-accents?  I mean like, how can it translate parts of words before the full word has even happened?

Effin' translators, how do they work.

I wondered this. I always assumed that the aliens all just conveniently spoke English, and mostly with American accents... I figured it was just a standard deus ex machina that didn't need explaining in the lore.

If all the aliens speak foreign tongues, does that mean all your squadmates have translators too? They all seem to understand each other just fine...

Everyone has a babel fish-esque translator thing.
The reason why lips sync up with what they're saying is just for the cinematic enjoyment of the player, in universe their lips wouldn't sync.

EDIT: Codex entry on languages and translators here

Modifié par GodWood, 07 janvier 2011 - 11:36 .

[The Interloper]

It's a good idea, both for exploring the universe and for the comedic value.

[ISpeakTheTruth]

Pacifien wrote...

With Shepard's luck, the translator would break just as he was about to tell the Council that the Reapers were here.

No it would be easy for Shepard to communicate that to the Council at least for the original Council if you saved them.

Shepard would run and do an 'air quote' for the Turian Councilor.

"What Reapers!!!"

[gabrielk2020]

Obviously the ME translators are from the same manufacturers that provide them to the people in Star Trek. I always found it amusing that the Universal translators in Trek translated everything perfectly. Except for all the cool Klingon words that the writers wanted to highlight.



But you know....logically the translator would only handle verbal language right? It wouldn't help you make sense of physical cues. So yeah, among Turians, using "air quotes" might be an indication of great respect--a cue that the listener is taking your words very seriously. OMG!

[InvincibleHero]

didymos1120 wrote...

InvincibleHero wrote...

Who says it isn't implanted knowledge. The Prothean beacon could have transferred it or biotics when he was trained by the alliance. There could also be many other explanations.

The game.  More specifically:

a. Shepard (see: Thane reference, this thread)
b. the Codex.

Also:

c. All the books.

BTW are the novels any good?

Well Quarians  and Volus would be no problem since obviously integrated into their suits. Asari and Hanar telepathy takes care of them. Every one else doesn't seem to have any visible translators. So there is a a small chip implanted somewhere in the body that translates every alien word in real time for you to be able to carry on a conversation like a native speaker. Too amzing even for a sci fi game. Some of my explanations might be better.

Star Wars actually makes more sense in having a protocol droid to do translation. How did someone get all alien words to even make a translation device. I doubt you could get a krogan to sit down and look at a picture of cat and say the Krogan word for it.  Plus I am quite sure many words would not exist in each language. If they have never seen a dog then they would not have a word for it.

I know just let it go. It is like the stuff in movies they expect you to ignore the plausibility.

[samurai crusade]

Novels rock. They also mention that translators can be as small as a pendent or locket on a necklace.

While I like the thought of hearing the aliens native tongue... I feel it'd ruin some of the mystery.

[Phategod1]

Piwgh wrote...

 I actually think this would make a pretty amusing (but not very long) side quest.

I think so too or at least some good DLC, 

[Praetor Knight]

Phategod1 wrote...

Piwgh wrote...

 I actually think this would make a pretty amusing (but not very long) side quest.

I think so too or at least some good DLC, 

Again, yes please.

[adam_grif]

The reason why lips sync up with what they're saying is just for the cinematic enjoyment of the player, in universe their lips wouldn't sync.

Of course, lol. I'm just pointing out the holes, as usual.



The thing about natural language translation is that you can't translate a sentence until it has already been completed. Further, some sentences won't make any sense when translated unless understood in the context of sentences that have come before it and the cultural context of the speaker - in a worst case scenario a sentence might have three or more possible translations depending on context.



Even individual words require an understanding of context in order to properly translate, because so many words have multiple meanings, but the foreign language equivalents often assign those meanings to different words.



For example, the english word "lie" has a completely different meaning if you say it as "he was going to lie down on the couch" compared to "she was going to lie to him about her criminal record". Or perhaps they ask "does your town lie in the countryside?" Unfortunately, foreign languages do not have easy, direct 1:1 translations, so they cannot simply translate it into a single foreign word that has the same three possible meanings. For instance, the usage of the word to indicate dishonesty is "mensonge", but the "to be situated somewhere" meaning of the term translates as "se trouver" and finally the positioned horizontally on a surface meaning of the word translates as "être étendu" or "gésir".



Then, when dealing with audio translations instead of text translations, we get an additional problem - homophones! What if they meant "lye" not "lie"? Oh dear! Being able to translate languages to the degree that MEverse or Trekverse or what have you does is basically impossible without a fairly sophisticated A.I., and even then it would not be able to work in real time the way it does in those two series, as per the above context problem.

Star Wars actually makes more sense in having a protocol droid to do translation.

Realistic in so far as it doesn't magically make aliens speak English instead of their own language, although I'm not sure having a whole dedicated robot to do it is strictly necessary. I like the way it's handled in District 9 - the aliens speak their language, and humans speak English, and they just have to learn to understand each other since neither languages is pronounceable by the other species.



Babylon 5 is also good because there are no magic translators, everybody just has to learn other languages. Although they all look roughly human like and can all speak English fine (vice versa) so it's not quite as realistic perhaps

[Fiery Phoenix]

It's called suspension of disbelief, Adam. You do raise good points and I've often wondered the same myself, but it's not worth over-thinking. Just imagine it to be some extraordinarily advanced tech on which the translators are based, which apparently it is.

[adam_grif]

NO.



I demand TOTAL REALISM. The game must remove all FTL travel, all mass effect technology, and be set on Earth, in modern times. Bullets must kill people in one or two hits and if you die your hard drive self destructs.