Design challenges for a universal translator
Star Trek's Universal Translator interprets brainwave patterns and then voices the closest equivalent into your language. It can't, for some reason, detect what you mean by an elaborate metaphor/literary or historical reference and translate that into either a non-metaphorical equivalent or an equivalent metaphor. (Really, it couldn't just pick two mythological Earth heroes who became friends though facing danger together as the nearest translation to Darmok and Jalad? Maybe they forgot to apply the latest software updates.)
So how does it handle poetry? (I have only seen TOS, some of TNG out of order, and haven't gotten to DS9 yet. I spent a lot of time doing homework instead, once upon a time.) If it rhymes in the original, does it try to make the translation rhyme? Does it try to preserve the meter? Or does it just go for the most literal translation--which, of course, is not quite the same as the most accurate?
The questions that keep me up at night...
So how does it handle poetry? (I have only seen TOS, some of TNG out of order, and haven't gotten to DS9 yet. I spent a lot of time doing homework instead, once upon a time.) If it rhymes in the original, does it try to make the translation rhyme? Does it try to preserve the meter? Or does it just go for the most literal translation--which, of course, is not quite the same as the most accurate?
The questions that keep me up at night...