Intergalactic Summit

As most of you capsuleers are well aware there are a multitude of languages and dialects in New Eden, which of course I imagine seldom few of you know more than one or two of sans implants.

I'm curious as to your translator settings and how you navigate these issues.

For example, for text-based communication my computers all translate other languages into proper and correct Imperial Standard. Occasionally when the translator has an issue with a specific word I might get a [ ] with the closest Imperial approximation.

For real-time vocal communication, my implants serve this function, and translate spoken dialogue directly into the Amarr tongue in my mind. My implants make adjustments for accents and dialects, so for example a Gallente speaker would be given an 'gallente' accent to my ears, which is a nice indicator of their native tongue.

I can still 'hear' the native tongues if I choose but this seldom done, as I find it offensive to my ears.

I of course do not deem to speak the language of the lesser races under any circumstances, and additionally reserve the ancient tongue for private rituals and intimate situations.

How do you capsuleers navigate these issues in your own ways?

I find translation technology to be most helpful. Because of the speed of translators, I able to hear the sound and quality of the person's voice but in my language. As said, accents and dialect characteristics are preserved. Unlike Ms Vitalia, I find these nuances of culture and language a joy to hear. In our rescue work, I speak from the pod to our rescued ones and they respond back. Both of us hear the other with all the emotion, rhythm, stresses, and poetry of our respective tongue, yet in well translated order in our own understood language. Is it a stressed language or fluid language? I want to hear the art of the language as well as the specific content.

I set my written translators to minimal in order to preserve differences such as word order and syntax arrangements. Having studied some language, I find that I can usually finish the translation in my head. I like to see different word orders, because they often create a different word picture. That, after all is part of the uniqueness of language and part of what makes a culture different from my own.

Let me give you an example. Some languages have what is called a reciprocal pronoun. It is a pronoun that only occurs in the plural. It is often mis-translated with a reflexive pronoun in some languages by some translator programs. A reciprocal pronoun is alway plural, even when spoken by an individual in individual conversation. It is used more commonly by cultures that are highly communal and less individualistic. The reflexive pronoun is not an accurate replacement. I set my translators to preserve such language distinctives both in written and spoken communication.

Even so, sometimes nuances are lost.

A translation is always flawed in relation to the original. Learning the language is a necessity if one wants to understand.

I normally will set my translators to either Seb common or vulgar Amarrish, depending on the company around and the atmosphere. Combat comms are in Seb common, though (fleet battles or intense stalking efforts leave little mental capacity for fussing with translator settings).

Gallentean tongues I always translate, usually to Seb as vulgar Amarrish doesn't map well to them much of the time. I also need a bit of help with the other Matari dialects (Brutor and Krusual, in particular), Napanii (I can make out enough of the language when hearing it to get by, but my knowledge and High Amarrish; I don't think I've ever had someone try to speak native Achur at me *laughs* Last but not least, Ni-Kunniae I usually translate to vulgar Amarrish.


For written texts, I generally write and read Seb (the Amarrish alphabet is a bit awkward for me to use, still...) and rely on the translators for, well, almost everything else. I can read bits and pieces of Amarrish, but can't write it at all; just how do you Amarrians form some of those letters anyway?

In the event of a translator malfunction, I find that speaking Amarrian loudly and slowly generally gets the point across.

As I speak very little Modern Standard Matari, my implants cannot always translate words and phrases from another language to my own (Sebiestor) which can be quite frustrating; this is especially true with slang or figures of speech. Progress is being made in this area, and hopefully, someday, I will be able to hear everyone in my own language.

I do speak Amarrian quite fluently, however, so generally, my translator converts things to Amarrian for me, which is much more widely supported and recognized. I tend to reserve speaking my native language for other Sebiestor anyway, and muddle through what MSM I know when speaking with other Minmatar.

Also, I find that screaming at someone in Sebiestor is far more convincing than doing as the good Admiral Blake suggests!

I've been told that the reason why some words are not translated (this is especially true of much of Napaani) is because the speaker -has turned off my translators ability to translate that word-.

I find this a bit rude, frankly.

Uka arekainya! Nei suskidei uoka hyovata!

Those might be useful as well!

I grew up speaking a pretty formalized (what my mother called "proper") form of Gallentean and that's pretty much all I speak to this day. I have my various translation interfaces set to give me results in this language although since I moved to the Republic a number of years ago I began learning Standard Matari and more recently, thanks to Ava, Sebiestor. Caldari languages I find very difficult and I refuse to speak any form of Amarrian. As I don't wish to offend anyone by mispronunciation, I generally leave the heavy lifting to the translation algorithms and stick to the language I know best.

I'm hoping that soon, when I'm confident enough, that I'll be able to hold a coherent conversation in Sebiestor.

Translators are a necessary compromise given the multitude of live languages, accents and dialects across New Eden.

While both software and hardware are conveniently seamless for capsuleers (i remember reading a paper about how ideas and concepts are actually intercepted before reaching the speech centers on the brain, thus allowing for more precise contextual translations) it still feels like looking through frosted glass.

Now, Linguistics is an old passion of mine; hard plenty of opportunities to experience foreign languages in my pre-capsuleer years at Irmalin.

One aspect that impacted me the most is how some phrases and expressions have high information density - so high, in fact, that it is enough to force the source to break any translation attempt and cite the expression itself, the option being to describe the whole context, something that can be time-consuming.

Just to illustrate this point, i want to share something that happened a few months ago. I passed through Luminaire together with a Caldari corpmate, and we made a slight change of course in order to see the Titan stationed there. 'I wonder what Taleweaver Kerghans would write about this', she said - and tossed me a Starsi bottle. She then said something that would translate as 'It does taste like revenge'. It looked like it meant a lot to her, so i decided to dig some information later.

Took me a couple months to compile the available information about the Taleweaver and the whole promotional campaign for Starsi, how it was related to Caldari Prime, how it impacted the life of this corpmate - and why even State dissidents have a grudging respect for this sole point of Heth's administration.