Interesting article on translations

[fignewton]

Here's another interesting article on translation and how not to do it. Why yes, Stargate, you've been guilty of this, haven't you? :) With our dear Daniel as primary culprit!

Realistic Translation for Fiction Writers

OTOH, Stargate sometimes gets it very right, too. I loved Sha'uri teaching Daniel how to pronounce things properly in the movie. Come to think of it, that cheat gets used a lot: finding a native speaker. Teal'c often helps Daniel (I'm thinking primarily of Brief Candle, but there are many other times), they trick the Aschen into translating "sterility," Jack reads nu nani anquietus for Daniel in The Fifth Race, and Descended!Daniel can read Ancient much more fluently. I'm sure there are more that I'm missing.

What other canon moments qualiify, to you, as realistic translations of an unknown language?

Comments

[solstice0612]

Stargate gets it right many times--while at the same time showing that the whole galaxy speaks English of the US/Canadian variety.

My favorite moment: WoO, when Jack and Teal'c are forced to learn Latin and Ancient so they can help Daniel translated the text from the loopy time machine.

:)