Completely Unnecessary Translator: Difference between revisions

 

Common with characters who [[Majored in Western Hypocrisy]]. [[Subverted Trope|Subverts]] [[Tactful Translation]], as it turns out at least one person in the conversation knew exactly what the other really said the entire time.

 

== Film ==

* ''[[Star Wars]]'': According to [[Word of God]], Jabba the Hutt doesn't actually need an interpreter. He just likes to keep one around as a status symbol, and because he won't condescend to speaking any language but Huttese, though he is able to. The only exception in the novels was when Prince Xizor, head of a criminal empire that could have wiped out Jabba's enterprises in a fit of boredom, demanded he speak Basic. Unsurprisingly, the Hutt complied.

* Joseph, of ''[[The Bible]]'': While there were probably many people for whom the translator proved indispensable, he had one case where he wasn't technically needed was when Joseph's own brothers showed up. He used the service anyway, as a means of hiding his identity.

* One scene in ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' has Dany speaking with a slaver via a little girl slave, who provides a [[Tactful Translation]] of the slaver's comments. Dany, who speaks the language being translated, alternates between amusement at the slave and disgust at the slaver.

* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' book ''Changes'', {{spoiler|The Red King, through his translator, arranges a duel with Dresden. Once Dresden wins, the Red King goes back on his agreement, stating, IN PERFECT ENGLISH "We never even spoke to each other."}}

** Harry should have seen it coming (though of course it wouldn't have helped him even if he had). Earlier in the series, Queen Mab speaks through one of her servants, and Harry wonders to himself if she's doing this so she can pull a "I never said that," trick on him later on. Eventually, he learns {{spoiler|she's using the "translator" because she's '''''really''''' pissed at Harry, and if she spoke with her own voice, it would kill him, such was her rage.}}

{{quote|''...After some moments of silence, which not one of us dreamed of breaking, "Gentlemen," said he, in a calm and penetrating voice, "I speak French, English, German, and Latin equally well. I could, therefore, have answered you at our first interview, but I wished to know you first, then to reflect…”'' }}

* In ''[[The Hunt for Red October]]'', when Mancuso, Jonesy, and Ryan have finally managed to get on the titular submarine, the Americans and the Soviets just look at each other. [[The Captain|Ramius]] notices Mancuso's prominently displayed sidearm and mentions it to his [[Number Two]] in Russian (fearing Mancuso is the "Buckaroo" type he'd been worried about), causing Ryan to chuckle, as he known Russian. Ramius questions him for a bit in Russian, then switches to fluent English. At least one other Soviet officer speaks English.

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==