There is a long tradition of science fiction anticipating actual developments; some would even argue science fiction inspires such developments, given that many scientists and engineers were sci-fi fans in their youths. Terrence Deacon, professor of linguistics at Cal-Berkeley, thinks the universal translator may one day be reality.
Professor Deacon argues that any language would have a structure, and would be based in references to the physical world. Once those references and that structure are understood, software can be developed to build on that base and translate even completely unconnected languages.
Physicist Michio Kaku comes to the same fundamental conclusion in his new book, Physics of The Impossible. Of course, before we can translate alien languages, we must find aliens-- or have them find us.
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