Could Magic mouth be used as a one-to-one translator?

[Mossy Abyss]

Assuming one had the time and the resources, is it feasible that you could create a magic auto-translator? For instance, the trigger being a word in draconic and the message is the corresponding word in common with instructions to only respond after a few moments. I'd image it would be a crude translation with no room for nuance, and the many Magic mouths would have to be cleverly cast. Maybe on thin strips of paper as a sort of magic book the players could find?

[DeTess]

Theoretically, yes, but the translation would be really, really bad. Translation nearly always relies on some form of context to give meaning to the words (some languages more than others), and this method would completely miss out on that. If you've ever used google translate or similar to translate between two more obscure languages you probably have already seen what I mean.

See this TV tropes page for lots of examples of the kind of results you'd likely get: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BlindIdiotTranslation

[Unoriginal]

Assuming one had the time and the resources, is it feasible that you could create a magic auto-translator? For instance, the trigger being a word in draconic and the message is the corresponding word in common with instructions to only respond after a few moments. I'd image it would be a crude translation with no room for nuance, and the many Magic mouths would have to be cleverly cast. Maybe on thin strips of paper as a sort of magic book the players could find?

Magic Mouth is a 2nd level spell that costs 10gp per casting.

Comprehend Language is a 1rst level spell.

You'd be better off with a Comprehend Language spell and a phonetic dictionary for the language if you wish to speak back.


Theoretically, yes, but the translation would be really, really bad.

Also true.

I doubt anyone wants to pay 1000gp in component alone just to have 100 words being literally translated without any understanding of the context or grammar.

[Darth Credence]

You'd need a magic mouth for every word, wouldn't you? Number of words depends on the language, but 100,000 words is a decent estimate of the number of words for a language. If you cut that in half to eliminate less likely words, that's 50,000 magic mouths. For one language to another. Repeat that for each additional language to be translated.

[Unoriginal]

You'd need a magic mouth for every word, wouldn't you? Number of words depends on the language, but 100,000 words is a decent estimate of the number of words for a language. If you cut that in half to eliminate less likely words, that's 50,000 magic mouths. For one language to another. Repeat that for each additional language to be translated.

So a shinny million gold pieces for a two-languages "translator".

[greenstone]

The big reason why this won't work is that languages don't have one-word-to-one-word translations. You need the entire sentence.

For example, you can't translate just the word "the" from Engligh to French. You need to know the following words to be able to determine if it is "le" (masculine) or "la" (feminine).

Also, words don't have just one meaning.

How would you translate the word "bark"? Is it the outside of a tree or the noise a dog makes?

[JonBeowulf]

The big reason why this won't work is that languages don't have one-word-to-one-word translations. You need the entire sentence.

For example, you can't translate just the word "the" from Engligh to French. You need to know the following words to be able to determine if it is "le" (masculine) or "la" (feminine).

Also, words don't have just one meaning.

How would you translate the word "bark"? Is it the outside of a tree or the noise a dog makes?

Not to mention some languages don't even have some words. Russian doesn't do "the", "a", or "an" at all and also completely ignores the present tense of "to be". So to say "I am at the store" in Russian, you say "Ya v magazinye" (I at store). You still get the general point, but it's not a 1-to-1 translation anymore.

[Mastikator]

Wouldn't it be cheaper to craft a helmet of comprehend languages?

[JLandan]

So a shinny million gold pieces for a two-languages "translator".

Kinda pricey. It would be much cheaper just to hire a translator.

[sithlordnergal]

It could, but as people pointed out, Comprehend Language would do the same thing, and be a lot cheaper. That said, I have an even better spell. Two better spells in fact:

Tongues and Hallow.

Comprehend Language has the issue of being a Self spell. So you can't give it to two separate beings. Tongues lasts an Hour, isn't Concentration, has a range of Touch, and allows you to fully understand and speak any language.

Hallow is even better. Given the system you proposed, I assume you'd be using this in some kind of base or building. As such, Hallow does everything you want and more. Its a single 5th level spell, lasts until dispelled, has a 1k cost, and you can use it to provide Tongues to everyone within the Hallowed area. And if you're worried about it excluding things like Undead or Celestials, you can just exclude them from the negative aspects of the spell. Far cheaper than trying to spend who knows how much on crafting Fantasy Google Translate.