Is the universal translator silly?

Hi All,

The .....Thé

These two words seem the same , but mean completely different things in two languages and are pronounced completely differently as well. 

Yet in star trek they have a magic box  "universal translator"  that seems to  allow everyone to speak in a variety of  North American accents, whilst inexplicably Klingons can occasionally go off into a vernacular rant , normally when they're swearing or going on about glorious battle .  

Then there's the Breen who just talk static - but everyone seems to understand them anyway- and there's no explanations as to why they don't speak  Canadian or American :

[Personally I think they should sound like they have a southern drawl]

I can get you could have a interstellar version of Google translate  for existing  known languages and this could work verbally as a computer voice, I fail to see how exactly one could do this with  unknown verbal or written communication in an instant, even with some super computer, let along bodily gestures which can convey meaning.

For example here on Earth if you hold up one hand it means to us in the west "stop". In Iraq it means "welcome" or "come out".  This  difference between humans of different cultures caused tragic consequences when the  America and British military  was occupying Iraq and set up military check points.

These are other cultural differences between the west and middle east (or at least Iraqi) culture as I picked up from my grandparents and other elderly relatives who left Iraq between 1941 and 1950 , who were typically Jewish in the sense of being  very traditional , but also adapting to modernity . Nonetheless they kept some traditions  :

•  A thumbs up in western culture is a positive sign . In Iraq it is the equivalent of the middle finger in western culture.

•  A  handshake in Iraq is rather gentle- a vigorous handshake is seen as aggressive-  after which one places a hand on your heart with a slight bow. This signifies that the greeting is sincere and from the heart.

• With women, non familiar  men aren't allowed to touch them, so the hand gesture  to the heart  is appropriate. 

• Never refuse beverages or refreshment  as it's an insult and we have a culture of hospitality.  This also means that you can't just pop in for quite quick chat in the western sense. A quick chat is at least an hour or so. 

• Also you'd greet each other with "Salaam Aleikum "or in my family "Shalom Aleichem". Both the Arabic and the Hebrew mean "peace be with you".

• Hands -  the right hand is the proper hand to use, but my family ignored this as there were too many left handed people in our family. Also ignored as the separation of women , even within the household. I think our family has always produced feisty girls without any feminist movement!

In Dr Who , the TARDIS has "telepathic circuits"  which allows everyone , alien or Italian to speak with received pronunciation. 

I appreciate that out of universe it would of course be tedious for a tv show to spend time understanding new languages every week, so you can either ignore the problem or try and solve it with "a wave of the hand device". 

Personally I prefer the creative solution of Dr Who , although to my mind or my solution ,  would be that there would be  an interstellar language that everyone used for diplomatic or trade reasons. This is analogous to Earth. Off the top of my head I can think of 

Aramaic

Greek

Latin

French 

Arabic 

English

Spanish

As trading or diplomatic languages that have or are used between governments or even as a dominant language within a multicultural empire.