I’m not entirely sure why this occupied my mind this
morning, but it did, so I thought I’d type it up.
My dad’s favorite episode ever of Star Trek: the Next Generation was one in which Picard findshimself stranded on a planet with an alien he can’t communicate. It’s not that they don’t share a common
language; as is the case in most episodes of Star Trek, everyone and everything
speaks the Queen’s English (or Starfleet’s English).
No, the problem is that while the alien’s individual words
might be decipherable, the underlying meaning of them is not. The reason is that the alien speaks in
nothing but literary analogies alluding to myths from his own culture. Without having a grounding in the culture of
the alien, Picard can make no sense of koan-like sayings, such as “Darmok and
Jalad at Tanagra” or “Temba, his arms wide.”
Eventually, Data and the trusty Enterprise computer figure
out where this alien comes from and provide Picard with a Wikipedia-esque
understanding of the characters and situations the alien makes reference to,
and this allows communication to take place.
Picard even creates his own version of this language, using phrases from his own culture's repository of literary allusions, such
as “Gilgamesh and Enkidu at Uruk.” Not
only does this newfound common language of analogy allow Picard and his
companion to defeat a monstrous beast that attacks them, but to forge a bond
between themselves and their cultures.
