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In the beginning of the episode, the communication between the Starfleet and the Tamarian people was solely verbal. Because the Tamarian people spoke a different language than the Starfleet, this created very poor understanding between the two groups. Initially the Starfleet believed that the Tamarian people were a threat to them because of their inability to communicate effectively.

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When Captain Picard and Dathon, the Tamarian captain, were teleported to the planet’s surface this further encouraged the confusion of the Starfleet. They interpreted this teleportation as the kidnapping of their leader.

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As the Starfleet spent more time in their presence they became more aware of the Tamarian’s use of body language in conjunction with their use of verbal language. This is also what put the Starfleet on guard when they made initial contact as prior to the teleportation of the captains, the Tamarian captain was making gestures with knives.

While the two captains were in each other’s presence, Captain Picard spent a lot of time observing the nature and habits of Captain Dathon. For example, when Captain Picard was seeking to light a fire to maintain warmth as the night fell, Captain Dathon made a comment using his words and gestures about him not being able to start a fire. This interaction is also what lead to understanding of the Tamarian language further in the episode.

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Both the Tamarians and the Starfleet use technology to communicate with each other. Prior to physically meeting, the Tamarians reach out to the Starfleet on by radio. However, there was no connection made due to the difference in language. Once the Starfleet made contact with the Tamarians and Captain Picard went missing, the Starfleet staff used their recording technology along with their universal translator to see if they were able to determine any meaning of the words that the Tamarians were using.

The Starfleets used their technology to be able to find more context as to how the Tamarians articulate their words. They found that this language and its people use references to their people’s history and mythology to be able to express their ideas and desires. Additionally, we did see that Starfleet used technology to reach out to the Tamarian people directly while they were on their ship, but that communication was short-lived as the Tamarian’s disconnected that communication.

The technological findings by the Starfleet was validated as the episode shared Captain Picard’s individual process of understanding Captain Dathon. Prior to the death of Captain Darthon, Captain Picard was able to use his interpretation of the language to determine what it is that the Tamarian people were seeking to achieve by this interaction: connection and successful communication.

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In the end of this episode, this communication and interaction between the Tamarian people and the Starfleet lead to Picard realizing that "more familiarity with their own mythology, might help them be able to relate more to theirs." This realization would help them to be able to realize the dreams of Captain Dathon as well as increase the Starfleet's knowledge, awareness, and understanding of other people in the galaxies.

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Ian Bogost makes an interesting point in his article about the "Darmok" episode. He states that the term allegory would be more fitting for the description of how Tamarians use language. He preferred that term over the use of images and metaphor like the Starfleet described. I would agree with using the term allegory as it leaves more room for interpretation of the language rather than limiting it to concepts that the Starfleet can understand within their regular use of language.