Universal Translators in Everday Life.

Image by chillhiro via FlickrI have been reading some sci fi blogs (some of which I have linked on the right) and these guys are hard sci fi writers. They love the science to be as accurate as possible in the context of their stories. There were also discussions of which technology has been predicted in the Golden Age of Science Fiction that has come true and what inventions were left out. I am not a hard sci fi writer and tend to look more at the psychological and sociological aspects of behavior in the context of science fiction. One aspect I always look at is communication. On a basic level, we need to be able to understand each other. In my favorite series, Star Trek, they use universal translators. I wish this invention could take place now. I do use google translations to read websites in languages I do not know. I am able to fully comprehend two languages and fairly understand two more languages, but that is leaving me to the lame translations of google for a myriad of languages. We could call this new translator I invision the International translator and for now it could be a hand held device that will immediately and accurately translate all earthly languages. In the future, maybe a device could be implanted in our bodies and send the communication directly to our brains, but I digress.
If we could understand each other fully, and everyday folk could communicate, would that make us all more understanding of each other and our different ways? I often wonder this because people who speak the same language often do not understand each other. However, if horizons are broadened, just maybe people can become more central and less extreme, but there I go again, searching for hope that I so often find in science fiction.