Why, I wonder, has science not learned to translate human-animal languages?

[Grasswire2]

Wouldn't we think it possible, with all the technology and knowledge we have today, to interpret animal language specifically and correctly?

[ret5hd]

1. They did, for dogs anyway:

[jmbar2]

2. There are folks doing it with talking buttons

There are several on youtube, and also some cats.

[Orrex]

3. Because animals know better than to talk to jerks like humans.

[OldBaldy1701E]

16. Hear Hear!

Once we do something like this, we are going to get an earful and they are going to be really pissed once some things finally get explained in a way that they can comprehend the concepts. REALLY pissed.

[intrepidity]

4. AI will do it

But first someone needs to build a LLM based on animal communication. Maybe it is underway right now?

[Turbineguy]

5. Are you sure we want to find out?

[Marcuse]

6. There is an app. Apparently it works only for the English language.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/human-to-dog-translator-ultra/id1412695777

[Ocelot II]

7. Animals don't have "language" as such, in the sense of having a structure

with grammar and words with specific meanings. They can learn to understand some of our words, and they make sounds that have meaning to them and that we can learn to interpret. But a cat, for example, makes sounds that mean something to them and to their human, but another cat might make a different sound with the same meaning. There is no "cat" language that all cats speak in the same way, only a variety of sounds they make to get their human's attention. They have sounds their humans can interpret, but not words; they can meow in a way that the human can interpret as a demand for food, but the cat doesn't have a word for "food," let alone a grammatical construction with specific words, e.g., "I'm hungry and I want tuna-flavored Friskies." https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/cats-meows-actually-mean-cat-103003369.html

[Think. Again.]

8. Great explanation...

..I've long-believed that animals communicate to each other far better than humans do, even with the complex crutch of human language that we need to do it.

My cat and I have always understood each other. We don't have much to discuss, but what we do want or need to share is done pretty easily.

Of course, I don't try to base our communication on human language, we don't really need that.

[Grasswire2]

9. interesting

BUT...

My rescue cat knows the word "hungry". She knows what it means. And she knows the word "birdie". If she can learn those, I ostensibly could teach her other words. She can't SAY them, but we could understand each other in a primitive way.

But I am thinking, I guess, more about AI opening up avenues for human-animal communication.

[Ocelot II]

10. But that's just one-way language understanding.

The cat knows what some of your words mean, but you have to guess what her sounds mean based on her behavior and her other body language. So it isn't language-to-language translation, in the same sense as, for example, German and Chinese, languages that have specific words that can be translated word for word. "Meow" isn't a word; it's a sound that can mean a whole lot of things, and can vary from one cat to another.

[Grasswire2]

13. but how do we know that?

Cat behaviorists ought to be able to understand whether or not there is a common or universal "meow" sound or word for something. I assume that cats have language and can communicate with each other using it. Why haven't we learned to copy it, and what a sound means?

[Ocelot II]

14. Here is a good explanation in terms of linguistics and cat behavior:

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/cats-meows-actually-mean-cat-103003369.html

[wnylib]

21. See the video in my #19.

[Voltaire2]

15. We actually don't know if that is accurate anymore.

Some birds primates and cetaceans all may have more complex language functions than used to be considered possible, their utterances are culturally acquired, specific utterances appear to have specific meanings, their utterances have rules, and there are active projects using ai to try to decode those utterances.

[wnylib]

17. But cats can understand words. So, they are able to

decode people language a little, at least for some nouns and verbs. Some smart cats can understand a couple words put together and distinguish when one word changes. I did not know that cats were capable of that until my current one.

Example: Ember understands that when I say, "Ember play?" it means some interactive time with me and a toy. She perks up and looks at me, waiting to see what the game will be. Her two favorite toys are the laser light, which she knows as "red light," and a wand toy with a feather on the end. If I say, "Ember play red light?" she starts looking around the floor to see where it will light up. She does that before I even touch the laser light, so she is responding to the word.

If I say, "Ember play feather?" she looks at the feather wand toy.

But spoken language is so limited that it's easier to communicate with body language, like eye blinks or finger pointing.

And any pet that learns its name seems to be pre wired for recognizing a sound that specifically means them. My guess is that the animal's mother might use a sound that gets its baby's attention, and the baby animal transfers being addressed by a sound from its mother to being addressed by a sound from people. It makes sense to me that responding to a sound from the mother would have an evolutionary advantage. The mother can call the baby away from danger, or toward herself to give it food, or to check on where it is if it wanders.

[Ocelot II]

18. Your cat understands some words, but is your cat saying actual words

or is she just making sounds that you can interpret? Language implies the existence of structure and grammar. Cats and other animals (maybe with the exception of some whales and dolphins) make sounds that mean things but that's not the same as actual language. Kitten squeaks signal to the mother only that the kitten needs her, but not why.

[wnylib]

19. No, cats do not have expressive vocal language

Last edited Tue Oct 24, 2023, 05:27 AM - Edit history (1)

that people can decode. I was not suggesting that they do. But cats and some other animals do have some limited receptive language ability. They don't use sounds to communicate that are consistent across their species, with structures like grammar and syntax, as far as anyone currently knows. But that might be due only to biological limits on the ranges of sounds that they can make. They have intent to "say" or communicate something, but without the range of sounds to express themselves in structured language, they use combinations of body language and sounds to get their meaning across to people.

But they do recognize and respond to single and some multiple words spoken to them. They have the ability to comprehend the meaning of some human sounds addressed to them. That's receptive language comprehension. It's limited to concrete, demonstrable words like nouns and verbs. When Ember understands the meaning of a word from me, she responds to the word no matter who says it.

Dogs generally have a greater receptive language capacity than cats. (Or a greater willingness to "admit" that they understand a word.) Anyone who has lived with a border collie can tell you how astonishing their ability to pick up word meanings is, even without attempts to teach them.

I have read animal behaviorists' statements that cats do not use vocal sounds to communicate to each other, that they only try to do it with people because people use sounds. But I love this old video from about 20 years ago.

[wnylib]

20. The woman who posted this video to You Tube

later explained that the two cats had been having a tussle with each other when one of them tried to groom the other, who resisted. Then one went to the bedroom and the other one hopped onto the bed with the first one and this "conversation" took place. They appear to be discussing the issue, then one yields to being groomed by the other.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

26. If brain functions are translated

Into a format we can understand maybe we could communicate that way.

[Ocelot II]

27. Temple Grandin, an expert on animal behavior who is on the autism spectrum,

thinks animals think in pictures and senses, as she also does to some extent. https://northernwilds.com/temple-grandin-how-animals-think/#:~:text=Animals%2C%20she%20found%2C%20think%20in,a%20walk%20with%20one%20knows.
We would need to figure out how to translate animals' sensory observations into human words.

[vanlassie]

11. Have you heard about Bunny?

https://fb.watch/nSCg4K1kHy/?mibextid=DqYSjB

[wnylib]

22. Can't see it. I'm not on Facebook. Can you describe it?

[vanlassie]

23. Web site:

https://www.whataboutbunny.com/

[wnylib]

24. Thanks.

[brewens]

12. You can't trust anything my cat would say anyway. LOL n/t

[I_UndergroundPanther]

25. I would be so happy if this could be invented

First thing I would tell Othello is that I love him .
Secondly I would show him all the feline gods and explain that many humans adore cats ,spiritually,and I am one of those humans . Then I would watch cat videos with him and ask his thoughts on them and maybe translate what the stranger sounds the cats make ,what they mean. Then we would go to see kiffness and I would show him we write songs about your kind etc..

[JackSabbath]

28. Noooo!

When we can talk to them there will be people who will use that to threaten them and force them to work. Enriching themselves at the animals expense. For example, asking a herd of cattle to keep a patch of grass cut to a certain height or become a steak.😔

[Deuxcents]

29. Humans always need to conquer everything

I’m for leaving the cats and dogs to their own ways of communicating and they seem to be doing just fine even if it’s a mystery to us. In my house, my kitty never disagrees with me and I am her servant in return. We get along just fine with our unique ways of understanding. 😻

[Chainfire]

30. My dog certainly understands a lot of language. I am resonalbly sure that she could speak English if she

really needed to, but she sees it in her best interests to remain mute. That dog is smart!