The process is based on making significant assumptions - mainly that the language in question has some kind of mapping to a known language. Note that this is pretty much how things like Linear B were deciphered so it is quite an achievement.
Not really a "universal translator" as it presumably won't work with a language that has no shared structures with other languages.
From Wikipedia: "Darmok" is an episode of the television science fiction series Star Trek: The Next Generation, first broadcast in the United States on September 30, 1991; it was written by Joe Menosky. The episode contains a brief, but notable recounting of the Gilgamesh epic, which is communicated by Picard to the Tamarian captain. The episode has an average rating of 4.5/5 on the official Star Trek website (as of 18 August 2009 (2009 -08-18)
The most relevant part of that episode to this discussion being that the universal translator still left the language on the planet unintelligible because they spoke in metaphor & with allusions to their planet's version of the Gilgamesh epic.
Comments
The process is based on making significant assumptions - mainly that the language in question has some kind of mapping to a known language. Note that this is pretty much how things like Linear B were deciphered so it is quite an achievement.
Not really a "universal translator" as it presumably won't work with a language that has no shared structures with other languages.
"Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra"
From Wikipedia: "Darmok" is an episode of the television science fiction series Star Trek: The Next Generation, first broadcast in the United States on September 30, 1991; it was written by Joe Menosky. The episode contains a brief, but notable recounting of the Gilgamesh epic, which is communicated by Picard to the Tamarian captain. The episode has an average rating of 4.5/5 on the official Star Trek website (as of 18 August 2009 (2009 -08-18)
The most relevant part of that episode to this discussion being that the universal translator still left the language on the planet unintelligible because they spoke in metaphor & with allusions to their planet's version of the Gilgamesh epic.
Thus "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra"