Assuming that human messages actually reach their target, what would earthlings and aliens talk about? The obvious subject to focus on is mathematics; its basic concepts are often assumed to be universal. Any intelligent species might have an interest in natural numbers (1, 2, 3 and so on) as well as things such as pi. But moving beyond that to wider conversation would be far harder. Scientists have worked on “self-interpreting” languages— written in a way that aims to teach the reader the language as they go—which might make the next steps possible.
假設人類的信息真的到達了外星人那里，地球人和外星人會聊什么呢？最明顯的主題是數學；通常認為數學的基本概念是普遍的。任何聰明的物種都可能對自然數(1、2、3等等)和圓周率之類的東西感興趣。但要想超越這一范疇，開展更廣泛的對話，難度要大得多。科學家一直致力于“自我解釋”語言的研究，“自我解釋”的寫作目的是在讀者閱讀的過程中教會他們語言，這使得讓下一步交流成為可能。
Is there any reason to think alien communication systems would share the two key design features of human language, words and grammar? A word like “book” is a symbol for all objects that exhibit bookish qualities; would aliens also employ symbols, rather than having separate names for every object in their world? Mr Oberhaus adduces arguments that they might. Whatever type of society they inhabit, alien life-forms would have limited time and energy, as people do. It is efficient to use symbols. Similarly, human grammar allows a vast number of sentences to be made from a finite number of rules. Any resource-constrained Moon-man might develop such grammar, too.
有什么理由認為外星通訊系統會共享人類語言中詞匯和語法這兩個關鍵的設計特征？像“書”這樣的詞是所有表現出書卷氣的物體的象征；外星人是否也會使用符號，而不是對他們世界里的每個物體都有單獨的名字？奧伯豪斯先生引證了他們可能會這樣做的論點。不管他們生活在什么樣的社會里，外星人的時間和精力都是有限的，就像人類一樣。使用符號是有效的。同樣，人類語法允許大量的句子由有限數量的規則組成。任何資源受限的月球人也可能發展出這樣的語法。
Even if all such hurdles were overcome, however, distance would still be a problem. Human children learn their first language by listening, trying it out and getting instant feedback. This give-and- take allows them to use fluent sentences by the age of four. In 2015 the first known exoplanet at a “goldilocks” distance from its star (not too near and not too far), and with water, was discovered 110 light-years away. A message sent today would arrive in 2129; its reply, in 2239. The kinds of exchanges depicted in sci-fi films would take lifetimes.
然而，即使所有這些障礙都被克服了，距離仍然是個問題。人類兒童通過傾聽、嘗試和獲得即時反饋來學習母語。這種“輸入并輸出”的方法讓人類兒童在四歲時就能使用流利的句子。2015年，第一顆已知的系外行星在距其恒星“適居帶”距離(既不太近也不太遠)的地方被發現，在這個行星110光年外發現了水。今天發送的消息將在2129年到達；它的答復是在2239年。科幻電影中描述的那種交流可能要花上好幾代的時間。
The awesome challenges of communicating across the galaxy mean that some think it not worth the effort—to say nothing of a political question raised by Mr Oberhaus: “Who speaks for Earth?” But pondering these obstacles raises another thought, not about aliens but what humanity has in common. Linguists argue about whether languages share universal features or are unique products of local cultures; whatever the answer, the world’s 7,000-odd tongues are vastly closer to one another than anything to be found out there.
跨越星系交流的巨大挑戰意味著有些人認為不值得付出努力——更不用說奧伯豪斯提出的一個政治問題了：“誰代表地球講話？” 但思考這些障礙引發了另一個想法，不是關于外星人，而是關于人類的共同之處。語言學家們爭論語言是否具有普遍的特征或者是當地文化的獨特產物；不管答案是什么，世界上7000多種不同的語言彼此之間的距離比其他外星語言都要近得多。
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