Sep said
I never understood it. I mean you saw them in rooms with several aliens speaking several different languages at the same time. So the translators > English does that not mean that the crew will hear both the alien then the English? When translating from English wouldn't the aliens hear both English, the translation for them and the translation for the other aliens creating an annoying echo?
You would get an echo yes, and a highly annoying one, and also why in UN Summits everyone wears headphones so that does not happen, and they only hear the translated aspect.
Sep said
Would it not be worse when trying to discover what language someone was speaking?
Well there'd be no echo, but actually trying to understand stuff from a limited exposure more-or-less impossible without a wide selection of material to compare to, I'd guess.