Do you constantly have fights with your significant other? Went to Facebook jail or got ratioed on Twitter after saying something that was supposedly well-intentioned? Been accused of misusing a phrase? The reason for this is that most of us fail to recognize that everyone encounters language differently, which is why so many of us fail at communicating effectively.
I’m not the best communicator, but after I watched the 2016 film Arrival and Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s “Darmok”, I’d say that ‘I’m on track to becoming one. What they taught me about language ensured that I will never ever have to say, “Maybe it was lost in translation” again.
- Viewing foreign languages/people as scary impacts communication. The first thing that I noticed is that in Arrival and Star Trek: The Next Generation’s “Darmok”, foreign languages were either met with fear or hostility. In Arrival, the military is sent to deal with the issue of a possible invasion. At first, when they couldn’t understand what the heptapods were saying, they went with the worst possible scenario: that the heptapods were there to harm them. But, Dr. Banks breaks the language barrier by putting down her own by removing her hazmat suit and abandoning conceptual metaphors in order to understand how the Heptapods’ brains worked. For example, she started to think of herself moving through time rather than time moving towards her, which allowed her mind to travel to the future and decipher the language.
- The Importance of Context
Metaphors gave meaning to the Tamarian Language: In Darmok, the Tamarian captain kept repeating the phrase “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra”. While the phrase held meaning for the Tamarians, it sounded like gibberish to the humans. Even after they cross-referenced Darmok and Tanagra, they still came to the conclusion that the Tamarians wanted to fight because they didn’t have the full narrative. Had they known Tamarian history, they would’ve realized that ‘Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra’ was a request to join forces.
Dual Meanings of ‘Weapon’:
In Arrival, there is a moment when Dr. Banks translates a logogram and it comes out as “weapon”. Though Dr. Banks tries to defend the heptapods, the military interprets the word as a threat and starts shooting at the heptapod ship. The men in the military are surrounded by guns, explosives, etc., which they use to attack people hence why ‘weapon’ is associated with violence. On the other hand, the heptapods did not associate weapons with war and division as the humans did. Rather, they saw a weapon as a tool of collaboration. Here, we see that a difference in framing brought about two interpretations. This is similar to Captain Picard and the Tamarian’s time in the woods.
“A shared danger might bring people together”
Captain assumed that when the Tamarian handed him the dagger, he was challenging him to a fight. However, it’s later revealed that the weapon was not meant for fighting each other; it was meant to help each other. In the words of the Captain, the Tamarian hoped they would meet because the story of Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra showed him thatThe act of throwing the knife now being regarded as positive is an example of frameshifting. With more information, the alien species was no longer seen as harmful.
7 thoughts on ““Maybe It Was Lost In Translation?””
Hi Tonicia,
I love the listical format of this blog post. I feel like it could have a title like “3 things I learned about language from this week’s films (number 2 will shock you).” It is a very fun approach and makes good use of the affordances of the genre.
I really like your observation about the role that metaphors play in the Tamarian language, and how that nearly leads to a breakdown in communication. As you note, the members of the federation lack the proper context to make sense of the metaphors that the Tamarians are using because they are not embedded in the same culture. Can you connect this what you learned from this weeks’ VT about cognitive frames and conceptual metaphors?
In addition, your discussion of weapons is also great! I love that you are thinking about these conversations in terms of frame-shifting. Can you say a bit more about that? How do we see frame shifting at work in these examples?
Jessica Hautsch
I think as humans we want to go with how we learned how to communicate as the natural way. I think when there are other languages we may not know we are generally not giving the person a fair shot at trying ways to communicate. Sometimes it may come off as pretentious or mean. The example you give with social media is a big one. We cannot see how things are said and sometimes it comes off in a different context. You cannot see peoples expressions or anger or emotion in their words. Facial expressions are a big way of communication and understanding. It took the captain time when Tamarian was trying to help him, captain did not understand and thought he was against them. This is the first conclusion people will jump to.
ellryan
Hi Toni!
You brought up a lot of the themes that I thought made this week’s films so interesting to watch. When communicating with an alien race who’s intentions you’re unsure of, I imagine it would be hard not to wonder if violence might occur. It reminded me of “Return to Tomorrow”, the episode of Star Trek: The Original series we had to watch a few weeks ago where they meet Sargon and the other surviving members of his people. Like the heptopods, interacting with them was tricky, as they could likely both destroy humanity with little effort.
I particularly love the metaphors that make up the Tamarian language. I found myself wondering if humans spoke in the same way, what mythos would we use for each expression? This was brought up briefly in the show, saying that “Juliet, on her tower” could be used as a symbol for romance.
mchupick
Hi Toni!
I like that you began this blog with some references to the more common cases of miscommunication in the modern day, it expands the idea of miscommunication beyond simply different languages, to challenges In communicating in the digital age, but also generally through text. The implications are lost, when you don’t have nuances and subtleties of inflections in the human voice. Along with the fact even in the cases where it’s simply a case of ignorance, and as you said, someone may miss using a well-known phrase. I also appreciate the format a lot, I love the numbering through out.
Olivia Nobs
Hi Toni!
Great post! I liked the examples you gave about misinterpreting language in relationships and on social media. Getting our point across becomes incredibly important when we share it with so many others, especially today because of social media. A lot of relationships fail because of miscommunication, and it’s usually because some couples do not outright say what is bothering them and they hint at it instead, which usually ends up being misinterpreted. I really liked this sentence: “Metaphors gave meaning to the Tamarian Language.” Metaphors were so specific to their history and culture and it reminded me of languages in which the tone and the way the words roll off the tongue imitate unique parts of that culture.
Alessa Bustillo
Hi Toni!
I definitely agree that there is an importance of context when speaking to people and due to the language barrier the Enterprise did not understand the Tamarians and because of this it cause some confusion due to miscommunication. In the end Picard understood the Tamarians and was able to communicate with them but it didn’t save the confusion from the start. Great Post!
Rebecca Kennedy
Hi Toni !
The little comic at the beginning was cute lol.
I like how you brought up in the Star Trek episode that Picard’s first thought to the knife being handed to him was immediately to fight. It just shows how language can be weaponized. Similar to the movie when the alien translations for tool was confused for weapon. I can’t really blame them in the movie and show because if you were to encounter an alien, what would your first thought be? To be friends or think they were an enemy?
Brianna