The Orville Wiki
Advertisement
The Orville Wiki

A translator was a technology used to decipher and interpret alien languages into the native language of the user. There were probably two types of translators: The first kind was probably an implant hidden in the body to render sounds, while the second was a comscanner program to read alien writing.

Description[]

The translator was a physical device used to automatically render an alien language into one's own. Occasionally, the translator would not render speech, such as ritualistic speech used in Krill services[1] and during a Moclan ja'loja.[2] While the device often translated speech immediately, even during first contact,[n 1] that was not always the case. For example, early in the Battle of Earth, the translator did not process Krillain conversations.[3] The translator seems unable to process communications between Kaylons.[4]

The translator was probably an artificial implant. When Doctor Claire Finn taken by Drogen on a habitable moon, Drogen told her she was safe. Claire sarcastically replied that her translator must have broke because "safe" meant something else in her language, implying that she had her translator on her (despite having lost everything in a shuttle crash) and that the translator was a physical object.[5]

Comscanners also came equipped with translators to read foreign-language text.[6] This translator came loaded with all languages of member species of the Planetary Union, including major dialects. If the comscanner encountered an unknown language, it immediately began efforts to learn and translate the tongue as it gathered information. The translator could also attempt decipherment of an unknown written language.[7]

Trivia[]

  • The translator has not been shown on screen.
  • Curiously, some alien languages are not rendered by the translator - at least not on screen. Examples include the languages of the Benzians, Unk's species, and Brosk's species.

Appearances[]

Notes[]

  1. For example, the translator immediately translates the language of the Jahavus Dorahl's species with no background information. Episode 1x04: If the Stars Should Appear

References[]

Advertisement