I know that there are prisons where the interaction isn't face to face, rather via phone where the only thing separating both inmate and visitor is a window (from that type of interaction, the conversation is definitely recorded but can languages alone hide the nature of the conversation?) That depends on the language spoken and it's similarities to English (like Spanish) while languages that are very different (like Japanese or Korean) making it hard to translate.
I mean, most languages can be translated but the nuances from the mother tongue won't be 100% retained since changes can be made plus different languages have their own cultures attached to them. As in what is considered profanity and offensive in the mother tongue translates as a normal word in English (unless you clarify the context), as in what is 100% accurate won't be to the other party since languages are different the same way cultures are.
21 Jun 2026 04:06
I recommend people make their own "language(s)." Or code(s) to communicate openly without fear of deciphering (or at least quickly and easily). You don't run the risk of people really being able to translate and understand what you're saying.
21 Jun 2026 04:11
My dad and his best friend did that when they were growing up. Now we all speak it and so do our kids. Nothing fancy, but most people look confused when they overhear it.
21 Jun 2026 04:29
Considering the quality of automated translation and voice recognition nowadays, it's going to be really damn tough. Maybe if you learn something extremely rare and extremely different from English (e.g. some African language) that's hard to translate because it's a context-heavy language, but I'd assume that would be pretty hard to learn, too. Best you can hope for is probably to
delay them figuring out what you're saying, which might still be enough depending on your plans.
Might as well create your own coded language if you're already putting that much effort in.
21 Jun 2026 05:12
Hell yeah! That's awesome. I'm still trying to convince my wife to do this with me, so we'll see lol
21 Jun 2026 05:15
My wife does this with her mom (it was originally a "twin language" that her mom and identical twin spoke together as kids). And then I eventually picked up on it, and now we all sound strange when people hear us use it lol. It's also nothing fancy, but nobody really thinks we're actually saying shit when they overhear it
21 Jun 2026 05:29
Jim: Yes Dwight. Pam and I took what little time we have and spent hundreds of dollars learning Morse code just to mess with you at work.
Cut to Pam and Jim in the conference room beaming
Jim: That's exactly what we did.
21 Jun 2026 05:44
I think this depends more on who you are, where you are, and what you're in for.
If you are a dumbass who got put away for stabbing someone who looked at you weird at a bus stop, then you can probably make your plans in plain english. No one cares. You don't have plans. This is obvious, because you knifed a guy for looking at you weird. You got put away in the podunk prison for dumbasses. Sure, they
can listen to your calls, and might even do it if they are bored. But mostly the prison is trying to make sure everyone is fed well enough that they don't start a riot.
If you are the head bookkeeper for an organized crime syndicate, on the other hand, you can be sure that the FBI will be recording you every time you take a shit, and will have a team of translators ready to translate anything you say, along with slang, jargon, cultural cues, and unusual emphasis.
21 Jun 2026 05:53
I'd say that you're best bet is to go the "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" route.
21 Jun 2026 06:02
Lemmy
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