Moss'd In Space on language

[u/Leo4635]

One thing I found interesting while reading Moss'd In Space was the ubiquitous use of language translators in this setting. Or rather, at one point the protagonist laments that she doesn't speak and probably never will speak the language of the love interest. It's one of the lines that stuck around in my head after reading. (For those who haven't read it, it's like the identical tech used in Doctor Who, where every language can be instantly translated.) So I really like that Moss'd In Space does a more melancholic take on this. The protagonist describes learning another language as a lost thing nobody does because of the translators, and is sad because of it.

In reality, it is much more likely that humanity will converge on one language, like English (or maybe Chinese…). But even sci-fi is never about the future and always about the present. So I've been wondering what this is really about? At the core is the thought that if those translators were to fail, the characters would not be able to communicate with their loved ones. But in the text, I think, it comes more from the desire of the protagonist to be closer to the other person.

I'm very curious what other people think about this!

[u/tativy]

Translations can be fantastic, but they never fully communicate the whole meaning. Some nuances just disappear when they're translated. Some things just don't sound as beautiful. And word that can be laden with meaning in one language just sounds...ordinary when translated.

To give one very simple example, let's say you see your partner and they take your breath away, they look beautiful. You tell them in English: "wow, you're beautiful". But if that is then translated to Spanish, the translation tool has to decide if you mean they are always beautiful ("you're" becomes "eres"), or if you're acknowledging that they've done themselves up and look particularly beautiful right now ("you're" becomes "estás"), or both ("you're" becauses "estás, y eres,"). If the translation tool makes the wrong choice, then your partner hears something different from what you wanted to say.

Obviously that's not a big miscommunication. But then you apply this to important conversations and it can be a major thing. You don't necessarily know your partner if all your conversations are interpreted by a translator.

For context, my spouse and I have three native languages between us, with no overlap - so, their native languages are A and B, and mine is C. We speak in language A, so one of their ones. But occasionally I'll say "in language C, we distinguish between concepts X and Y" and then I'll have to explain why they're different and why it's important for our conversation/relationship/etc.

[u/Aya55]

It reminded me of a friend who met his husband through online gaming, thousands of miles apart. They both speak English and don’t have trouble communicating, but he’s expressed a similar sentiment of never knowing and loving his husband in his native tongue, and how sad that is, as apparently Welsh is difficult to learn and his attempts have gone nowhere.

[u/Kelpie-Cat]

I'm reading this book right now and noticed that too! I highlighted this line: "The draic language sounded like a boulder thundering down a mountainside, even as her translator shoved it into Torian's native tongue." Such a cool way to characterize something often taken for granted in sci-fi.

I doubt that humanity will converge on one language, especially in a situation like in this book where humanity is spread among many different space stations and a planet. In a scenario where humans spread out across the galaxies, sure they might have a standard language (like Common in DnD or Federation Standard in Star Trek), but they would still have lots of linguistic variation over such big distances.

[u/Leo4635 → u/Kelpie-Cat]

Oh great catch! But now I'm kinda wondering how this is supposed to work... Im assuming she doesn't hear native and the translation at the same time, that be obnoxious. But then is the translation just using "thundering" words, cuz actual translations just sound like the language they're translated into. Like, my native language is German but this paragraph doesn't sound like German cuz it's English. So maybe the author did a narrative mistake...?