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I am reminded of a scene at the end of the Sci Fi novel "The Mote in God's Eye" (note: title describes appearance of a local asterism - the book is a "first con

I am reminded of a scene at the end of the Sci Fi novel "The Mote in God's Eye" (note: title describes appearance of a local asterism - the book is a "first contact" type story). The alien ambassadors come back to meet the human politicians who throw a parade and start speechifying. The boss alien asks the translator minions "What is he saying?", to which they respond ... "but he has said nothing!" "Then you shall respond in kind."

oxryly1 11y ago
Or like in the movie "Wing of Honneamise", a character goes to meet with officials and speaks for awhile in the standard language. One of the officials says, aside, to him "you can switch to vernacular if you like". The character responds, "oh, well in in that case I'm done speaking."