Video: Military Voice Response Translator A Far Cry From Universal Translator

I have conflicted feelings about efforts to make portable translators that bear the promise of breaking language barriers around the world; enabling their users to communicate with anyone, anytime, anywhere. As a geek, the possibility of a Universal Translator like in Star Trek gets me all hot and bothered, but as a linguist, I can't help but think the beauty and joy of learning another language (and the insight it provides - the cultural, psychological and philosophical education I've received from learning five languages has been invaluable to me) would be immediately destroyed by such a device.

The Military Voice Response Translator; however, is a far cry from the Universal Translator we've seen on TV, as Joel Johnson of Boing Boing Gadgets shows us in this rather hilarious video as he attempts to use the military grade translator in the streets of Brooklyn:

The money quote:

Some of the phrases were really quite violent, commanding people to get on the ground and put their hands over their heads. The guy who sits outside the five-and-dime all day on a folding chair thought those were especially funny.

BBtv: Voice translator device tested by ignorant white doofus [BBG]