universal translator n.
a device, computer system, etc. that (instantaneously) translates among languages
SF Encyclopedia
Language
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1949 Indianapolis News 26 Aug. 5/3 (headline)
Italian Boasts Machine as Universal Translator.
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1967
Gene L. Coon
[Kirk] The universal translator on the shuttlecraft. We can try that, talk to that thing. [Spock] The translator is for use with more congruent life forms. [Kirk] Adjust it, change it…. Adjusting the translator will give you something to do.
Metamorphosis (Star Trek episode) (transcription) -
1973
page image
Jack Williamson
bibliography
With a hard-won deftness, he extracted transit coupons from one folder, the visaed passport from another, gathered a medical clearance and a credit disk and a universal translator, working his way along the float until it was entering the slot between two control islands, within moments of the portal.
Power of Blackness in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Dec. 75/2 -
1975
Franz Joseph
bibliography
UNIVERSAL TRANSLATOR U.F.P. STANDARD For communication between United Federation language forms and with unknown alien language forms in the Treaty exploration territory.
Star Fleet Technical Manual 03:02:04 -
1987
page image
George Alec Effinger
bibliography
I don’t speak Austrian, you know. Do you have some kind of universal translator with you or something?
Another Dead Grandfather in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Dec. 115 -
1999
page image
R. Garcia y Robertson
bibliography
This time she used the surface dialect—a combination of hoots, clicks, grunts, and glottal stops that few non-Neanderthals could twist their tongues around. But she had a universal translator in her memory chip, part of her diplomatic equipment. He stared hard at her, plainly shocked that she could talk.
Diana by Starlight in Asimov’s Science Fiction Mar. 25 -
2015
page image
Sheila Williams
bibliography
Much as I’d like to believe that all humanity needs to do is pack a universal translator when negotiating with aliens, I’m pretty sure that won’t really be the case.
Translation Enigmas in Asimov’s Science Fiction Mar. 3/1
Research requirements
antedating 1949
Research History
Suggested by Bill Mullins, who also supplied many of the cites.
Last modified 2021-05-13 18:51:30
In the compilation of some
entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries
in OED.