Stargates & diplomatic incidents

[gryphonrhi]

Okay, I may be working from fanon here, but the SGA eps seem to support this.  As I understand it, the gates in Pegasus and (after some reprogramming by Sam?) the Milky Way will teach you the spoken forms of a planet/moon's language as you go through.  Not the written language, and not the societal mores/customs/tells, but you'll be able to

Comments

[lady_alys]

Interesting! I'll admit that the bulk of my Stargate knowledge comes from the fic, not the source material, but I always assumed it wasn't that travelers learned the language(s) of the planets they were visiting, but that there was some sort of magic handwave translation going on. See: the Tardis and the Babel fish.

I also assumed that the show creators didn't put much thought into it. ;-)

[gryphonrhi]

Mischief tells me that you're right, it's a Gate translation going on. To which I say, "Across the entire planet? Are you *serious*?" I'm going with 'not much thought.' ::sigh:: Damn. Such lovely possible fic out of mine.

[sinanju]

This is one of those issues where I wish they'd just NOT ADDRESS IT. The gates 'teaching you the local language' idea is just...preposterous, for all the reason mentioned.

I think we'd do better to just admit that the issue of language mostly gets glossed over (save for an occasional plot point, when it matters to the story) because this is FICTION. I mean, really, if we're gonna worry about realities, I'd be a lot more interested in the threat of disease spreading like wildfire amongst human populations who have mutually devastating bugs to share, since both populations are vulnerable to diseases they've never before been exposed to.

SG teams would be spreading death and destruction everywhere they go, like European colonists in the New World. And, of course, bringing home fun bugs too, since they don't have any kind of quarantine procedure place. (Hey, even the astronauts going the moon--a dead world with no atmosphere and no life...that we knew of--spent two weeks in quarantine upon their return.)

[gryphonrhi]

Mmm. The astronauts were in 1969; we've improved tech a little since then. But yeah, movie to show doesn't fit, but I'm used to that. Show itself makes no sense... I wish they'd thought more and handled it in off-hand comments once. A mention of the standard medcheck before they left, standard medcheck and decontam now they're back... It was doable.

FYI, 'this is FICTION' when I've just spent a post trying to start sorting something out followed by 'I'm more interested in' can sound a lot like 'who cares?' with a side note of 'why aren't you writing what I want?'

I'm going to hope you didn't mean it that way, but it can come across as pretty damn rude.

[sinanju]

Ah, no, I didn't mean it that way at all. Sorry if it came across that way

[gryphonrhi]

Fair enough, hence the FYI.

And yeah, either teach everyone Ancient or something like the old Koine Greek that was a trade tongue. It would make more sense, and thanks for the suggestion!

[adina_atl]

To quote a friend: "Ah, the problem is you turned on your brain and the TV at the same time!"

I love the idea of SG-1 getting into trouble in any of the ways you mentioned. Or all of them! "5 Ways"?

[gryphonrhi]

Eh, this happens to me every time I contemplate fic in a new fandom. The inconsistencies leap up and have to be settled! ::amused:: Thanks for the cheering!

[bugeyedmonster]

See this is why I thought that maybe the vanished Furlings were what later became the Time Lords. If that 'gate is getting in your head and acting like a translator, then clearly it's like the TARDIS. The Furlings and the Ancients did the gate network together, right?

Anyway...

[gryphonrhi]

::throws hands in air:: That is a perfectly good theory so far as *I'm* concerned. Run with that mother!