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Questions tagged [babelfish]

For questions about the babelfish, an animal from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy that can translate unknown languages.

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1 answer
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How does the Babel fish translate the Vogonic phonetic for Barnard’s star?

I saw this question asked recently. Presuming that Vogonic cosmography and Human cosmography are unlike, the brain waves for the Human interpretation of Barnard’s star would not correlate with the ...
44 votes
5 answers
12k views

What is the ‘babelfish effect’ when Bilbo puts on the Ring and understands the spiders?

In the movie Hobbit, The Desolation of Smaug, the band enter Mirkwood and are attacked by giant spiders. In the movie the spiders appear to ‘chitter’ to one another. After Bilbo puts on the Ring, ...
1 vote
3 answers
866 views

How does Arthur Dent see English vocalizations, not Vogon ones?

When Ford Prefect shoved the Babel Fish in the ear of Arthur Dent, he is able to understand and comprehend speech by Vogons instead of hearing the screeches of their native language. But in the film, ...