NationStates Jolt Archive

Finally DarkSith can proudly announce a major communications success with a long-known sentient, but almost impossible to communicate, race.

The hard part in understaning the language spoken by dolphins is the fact that there are very few common points between us, tool-using sentient races. Dolphins don't make tools, don't trade, don't have the notion of property, don't use fire. Their social behaviour is much richer than ours as most of their communication is social in nature.

DarkSithian Scientists have finally assembled a working, self-learning translator. It is, for now, one-way, from their language to ours. And for now it has succesfully translated one complete phrase:

"(I) want tunna, not sardines."

And, yes, we changed the specimen's diet, though she didn't thank us. Or may be we weren't able to translate it.

This is the point where we can start actually talking to them.

On another note, the team studying the other sentient marine race, the Orcas, has stated that the language spoken by them is totally different from the one all dolphin races use. But also said that this achievement brings new hopes on the chance of ever understanding them.

The communications effort with the dolphins has been successful. Once contacted, they have expressed an interest in those tools of ours, specially our translator. Funding has been diverted in order to create a dolphin-portable version of it. This way, The dolphins will be able to communicate with any sentient race.

In another note, even though the orca language is totally different from the dolphin, several common psychological and social traits have made possible a tentative test of a translating device for orcas. No results have been reported so far.

All this effort with communicating with so mentally alien species can lead to the design of a really universal translator.

All these successes have brought the DarkSithian Scientific community to a revolution in several key concepts in psychololgy, language and sociology. These changes can lead to unexpected additional realizations, opening new fields of study in all Humanist and Xenologist sciences.

The so-called dolphin-translator device has seen its name changed to Universal Translator. Due to an accident, a Dolphin and an Orca have been able to communicate through it, before the eyes of the amazed scientists.

For better information-gathering purposes, one terminal to the translator was put on open waters, where free dolphins can (and do very often) visit and talk to the scientists of the project. Dolphins are a very social race and the ability to communicate with another sentient race has brought them by big numbers into DarkSith waters. This terminal also doubles as a means of communication with the stationed dolphins in the waters of DarkSith Mars Colony.

A few days ago, an Orca approached the device where all the dolphins were gathered, curious about such a massive meeting. At the beginning nothing happened, but as the orca kept speaking, the translator activated and started translating her language both in dolphin and human language.
The translators works best with close species, so it seems that orcas and dolphins can communicate nuances and concepts that are lost to our language.
From the transcript, the orca demanded the dolphins to vacate the area, as they seem to be straining the available food resources. The answers from the gathered mass of dolphins can be resumed and translated as "Get lost, you fat ass". That made the orca retreat, only to get back with her male and the rest of the harem.
At that point, the scientists finally reacted and intervened. They offered to help feeding the free dolphins and the orcas around. Also, the team devoted to translating the orca language has merged with the one for the dolphins, though it seems that dolphins and orcas are changing their languages to one common and easily understandable for both of them, rendering all previously learned almost useless.

Upon knowing that there is a dolphin-portable version of the translator, the orcas have started to ask for them to be fitted with these too.