Temba, his arms open

[asakiyume]

wakanomori announced last night that we had to watch a particular episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation called "Darmok." It had come up in a discussion of Japanese poetry translation--relevant, because part of what makes translation of Japanese poetry difficult is its reliance on shared cultural references and metaphors to convey meaning, and the episode is about the Enterprise's encounter with the Children of Tama, an alien people that the Federation has never been able to communicate successfully with. The universal translator is no good, because the Children of Tama communicate entirely in cultural references and metaphors, and these are unknown to the Federation.¹

The aliens beam Captain Picard and their own captain, Dathon, down to the planet El-Adrel, where Dathon assiduously repeats pertinent cultural phrases ("Darmok and Jalad, at Tanagra," "Temba, his arms open," "Shaka, when the walls fell"), trying to make Picard understand.

The way in which understanding finally dawns, and what happens after that, is very effective and moving and involves Picard reading from the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Picard remarks at one point, "In my experience, communication is a matter of patience, imagination. I would like to believe that these are qualities that we have in sufficient measure." Those words of hope and confidence filled me with pathos, thinking of where the world is today.

Anyway. It's a good episode. I recommend it.


¹ As the tall one observed, "They talk entirely in memes." Unsurprising, then, that the episode has generated memes of its own--like this one, featuring Winnie the Pooh and Piglet.

Comments

[deborahjross.livejournal.com]

I loved that one, too, and especially the Picard quote.

[athenais.livejournal.com]

It is, as far as I am concerned, the finest Star Trek episode of all. I was so smitten with it when it aired. I still occasionally say, "Shaka, when the walls fell."

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Oh, I have to watch that one! Sounds good.

[lizziebelle.livejournal.com]

One of my all-time favorites, and I *love* that Pooh meme. I saw it when it originally aired.

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

I loved that episode. Definitely one of the better ones. :)

[heliopausa.livejournal.com]

Oh, I like that! Communication entirely through cultural references. :) (And I like its hopeful outcome.)

[desperance.livejournal.com]

It doesn't actually work, though. If they have no concept of language outside metaphor & reference, how can they tell the stories that the metaphors reference? (And if they have language enough to say "Shaka, when the walls fell," then they have language enough to say "You see, what happened in Shaka was this, and the consequences were thus-and-thus, and why don't we just have a straightforward conversation instead?")

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

i need to watch this!

[cecile-c.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen this episode, but I just love the idea! Come to think of it, a large part of our communication works that way, too...
I love how calling someone a 'winner' is apparently a positive thing in the USA, for instance. In France, if you say that someone 'looks like a real winner', it's anything but flattering. And yet the original meaning of the word is exactly the same as in English.

[oiktirmos.livejournal.com]

Tilia, among the goats and the clouds.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

I remember that episode! I had an interesting conversation/argument once with a Chinese friend about all the poetic allusions in the Chinese language. He was just a bit chauvinistic and I was getting a bit bored with it, so I started rattling off examples of common allusions in English (which, of course, I have all forgotten now). I don't think I convinced him, but it was an interesting eye-opener to see just how much cultural norms shape the way we speak.

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

Now I have rewatched the episode with Sheeyun, and it was fascinating-- thank you!

I agree that the limitation of speech production to the highly referential was unlikely in the wild-- but I also don't care. (And, notably, the Captain clearly understood Captain Picard's more mundane attempts at clarificatory speech.)

But more broadly, I noticed with interest Mr. Worf's fairly impoverished paradigms, as presented in this apisode, and with reference to a not-really-known people-- enemy? attack; or friends?

And I think of US President George W. Bush's paradigms--enemy? attack; or friends? they should do what I want!