Khaaan!

...or why Star Trek and the universal translator can give us geeky insight into the future of interpreting.

Notice: this is a tribble-free article.

The basic premise of Start Trek, as any viewer knows, is that the starship Enterprise, in one of its numerous incarnations, travels around the galaxy, exploring, meeting new life-forms, finding new civilizations (and doing so boldly).  This raises brings up the inevitable problem of communication.  Communication can be in person, via viewscreen, or through audio communication only.  In versions of the series set at earlier points in the timeline, the so-called universal translator is as yet imperfect, thus requiring trained linguists to be part of the crew.  But even in later times, the translator can break down, or simply be incapable of parsing some species' modes of communication.

As an interpreter, professional curiosity encouraged me to reflect on what this might mean for our profession.



It is often said that there will be a shrinking need for interpreters as more and more people adopt the lingua franca, english.  Besides the usual objections to this - people don't really speak english, but some type of pidgin better known as globish - the truth is that more and more people are finding ways of communicating with one another, without the services of a translator.

This has been concerning english interpreters first and foremost, but can be applied to other booths as well.

The simple truth (in star trek) is that no interpretation - automated or not - is perfect.  The difference, is that human beings become accustomed to the infallibility of their tools, while expecting other humans, no matter their brilliance or competence, to at least occasionally stumble.

This is obvious today when we look at financial tools, computer systems in a variety of disciplines, and even our relationship with our personal computer.  We tolerate - even anticipate - human error.  Machines, on the other hand, have it rougher.

What does this mean for interpreters?  Will we have to compete with technology?  Will we see the emergence of computer-assisted interpreting, as we now see computer-assisted translation?