Language LOL: Translator Malfunction

[rumham]

You know what's cool? Chatting with your pals. Reading the Internet. Navigating the roads because you can understand the Gods-damned street signs. You know what's not cool? Not being able to do any of that. By that metric, one might describe today in the Nexus decidedly uncool.

It's utterly without warning that the multiversal hub goes from automatic to manual translation. Shop signs, radio and television broadcasts, conversations on the streets between vendors and friends and businesspeople are suddenly a jarring cacophony of dissonant languages. Then there's the silence. Then there's the shouting. Turns out people get pissed off when nobody understands them!

Momentary chaos dies down as the average people of the Nexus come to grips with their new situation. Shopkeepers wait outside their stores and stands with expectant expressions, impatiently waiting for the translator to pull itself together and start working again.

Except...

It sort of doesn't.

No, it super doesn't.

Citizens of the Nexus, it would appear you're going to have to adjust...

((The temporary LANGUAGE LOL is now underway! It's freeform fun until you're done and participation is completely optional. Don't feel like this event should stop you from making threads which are unaffected by the LOL in the mean time. If you want your Language LOL'd character to interact with a non-LOL thread, please ask the OP if they want to play that dynamic first. For the OOC and organization post, GO HERE. ))

Comments

[smartass_captain]

Well there's a familiar face. Jim offers out the can of coffee to Hermione with a small smile of his own. Though it falls off his face when she greets him. What the hell? What's with the archaic structure and phrasing?

"Yeah, is bakker. Y'okay? 'Fornow no is looking rom." And it's about then that Jim's eyebrows raise and he licks at his bottom lip nervously. Is she going to understand a word of what he's saying? Jim' clears his throat and struggles to try again.

"I...am? I am back. Arrre you okay?" Oh god this feels so weird.

[mudblood_andproud]

Hermione takes the coffee with a grateful smile. And she can assume by his slightly concerned look that something is wrong. When he speaks, she understands why Jim was concerned.

"I am well enow. Doth thee knoweth what is going on?"

[smartass_captain]

Jim nods and points to his ear before gesturing around to everyone mingling about the Nexus around them. The cacophony of languages from every corner of every universe being spoken and hardly anyone able to understand each other in the slightest.

"Nexus transsprekker is Pòsuì." He makes a 'kchhhhk' sound and mimes breaking something with his hands for good measure. It's broken. Down. Inoperable. Many other words that mean the same thing. He's not sure which of them if any she'd understand right now though. So gestures and noises will have to do. What he finds most odd is how much more thick Hermione's accent is right now. Did the translator mess with that too?

"You. You ssound? You sound different. Is me too?" Jim's trying so hard but classical English is a bitch and a half to wrap his head around grammatically.

[mudblood_andproud]

"The Nexus translator...." Hermione nods after a moment, understand that it is broken.

"Thee sound different too. Thee art speaking words that art foreign to me." She answers his question. "Art thou alien words?"

[smartass_captain]

"Eh? Alien? Oh Xenoling."

Hearing someone pull that kind of word out in random conversation makes Jim balk the smallest bits, but it's not really a derogatory word in her time now is it?

"Some yes ways. Othersprek grabbing is Terraling." You know, Chinese, Spanish, French. Earth's become rather more of a melting pot over the centuries than it used to be. And since English became Federation standard, it's gotten even more immersed in other Earth languages over the years.

[mudblood_andproud]

"Xenoling." Hermione repeats. She would not want to use a word he considers derogatory.

"Oh. Thee speaketh a mixture of languages then. Very interesting."

[smartass_captain]

"Ehtwas." Jim lifts one hand and tilts it back and forth in a so-so gesture.

"Federation Standard based on English, so damj wordgrabbing from Terraling others had political reason forealso culture."

[mudblood_andproud]

"I would be interested in learning some of the Terra and Xeno languages, at another time." Hermione smiles. She is using this LOL as a chance to improve herself.

[smartass_captain]

"Yeah? Is fun times Xenoling mostways. I nosay many but sprekker all Federationling. Nowsay Hermione sprekker old ooooooooold English. Hark, yonder, et cetera. Yousaying....classical ling? Er. Old English."

Jim points at Hermione then. She sounds different to him too.

"Sprekker otherling?"

[mudblood_andproud]

"Thou are hearing me speak Old English?" Hermione wages another guess. "It might be the difference of time between our worlds."

"I can speakth one other Terra language. Bulgarian."

[smartass_captain]

"Bulgarian? Noexpect det possible. Skann? Relatives??"

Jim leads Hermione over toward one of the couches. Their conversation is a strange one but not completely impossible. Besides, talking about language is pretty interesting even if they're both in a bit deep at the moment.

[mudblood_andproud]

Hermione follows his lead. Still keeping an eye out for Crookshanks.

"Ex-boyfriend." Hermione answers his question. "He and I were a serious item for a few years."

[smartass_captain]

"I see."

Oops. Well, she doesn't seem that broken up to talk about it, so maybe it's not a sore subject. Still, Jim tries to focus on the language part rather than the 'ex' part.

"Hermione sprekker Bulgarian nowsay? Teach? Showme."

[mudblood_andproud]

If there is one thing Hermione can understand, is the desire to be taught something new.

"Аз съм having интересен време днес, обучение за различни езици. Как са работа за ситуацията, Джим?" She speaks to him in Bulgarian.

[smartass_captain]

This time Jim doesn't seem irritated at all about not understanding Hermione. His eyes are lit up listening to her speak, a smile on his face.

"Bulagian soundyes Russky! Nosame but kahwa. Dasneet."