They cannot speak Galactic Standard or Galactic Simple, the translator is broken. Fortunately, the human has learned to speak, and understand, their whistling language. -- Anon Guest
Translator units were never entirely reliable. It was why most of the Alliance relied upon JOATS, polyglots, and stunt linguists to assist in negotiations. Make no mistake, translator units do an excellent job of translating the words. However... idioms, slang, and cultural references often slip through the cracks.
Translation software is always updating in an attempt to keep the metaphorical finger on the pulse of ever-changing language.
And then there's the Rennijym. A species of Avian Havenworlder who communicate exclusively in clicks and whistles. Most species can at least imitate the sounds necessary to handle GalSimple, even with some difficulty, but the Rennijym are not made that way.
To make things worse, some of the low budget translator units have sensors that can blow out from some Rennijym frequencies.
The workaround for most is to have a GalStand sound board to speak for them. It's just so much quicker.
Humans, of course, find ways to be helpful about this. They're mimics of the best quality, and evolved to stellar travel by spreading their pack-bonding across all boundaries[1]. Therefore, when encountering and bonding with a Rennijym, only the Humans considered that learning their language was polite.
The amazing part was that they did it.
Some used tools. Some had a superior method of imitation and didn't need them. They started with simple translation, and then started joking.
They had to be stopped from making puns. Sometimes physically.
Which gave rise to the Rennijym axiom, If a Human shows their teeth, they won't bite - their words will.
The Humans, of course, loved it.
[1] That does include the boundaries that Humans made for themselves. Eventually. With Humans, it's always the way that peace is achieved upon meeting other species. White and black band together to stand against green.
[Image by Marius Masalar on Unsplash]
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