tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Jun 26 02:55:40 1994

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Re: KLBC (old): SaQum



Lisa Stappvo':


>              tlhIngan Hol vIjatlh 'a vIQaQbe' 
>                    jIghojnIsqa'bejlI'qu'
>
>(I know what I intended to say, and tried to say... What did I
>***ACTUALLY*** say?)


Well, let's look:

Your first line comes out: "I speak Klingon, but I am not good it."  The 
problem here is that you used the verb prefix vI- on "to be good."  vI- has an 
"I" subject, but with a "him/her/it/them" object.  This is a very common error 
for beginning students, so don't feel bad. {{:)  What you wanted here was an 
"I" subject, but with no object, to say "I am not good."  (If you were trying 
to say "I am not good *at it*", then this is another thing altogether.  This 
would likely have to be re-worded somehow--but I beleive the suggestion I gave 
above would be understood by just about anyone.)  That would be the verb 
prefix jI-:

	tlhIngan Hol vIjatlh 'a jIQaQbe'

Another possibility would be to say:

	tlhIngan Hol vIjatlh 'a wej jIQaQ
	"I speak Klingon, but I am not yet good."

Well, you have made a good start, and I am certain that, given some time, you 
will certainly improve. {{;)


Your second line reads: "I certainly am in the *process* of needing to learn 
again."  This is a grammatically correct sentence, but it might be considered 
a bit "long-winded."  Is this the translation you intended?


>               lujmeywIjvo' vIghoj


I *think* this line was intended to read:  "I learn it from my failings."  I 
assumed the "it" referred to was <tlhIngan Hol>  (which you can do).  (If you 
just wanted to say "I learn from my errors" then you would have wanted that no-
object prefix again, jI-:  <jIghoj>.)  The main problem here is that <luj> is 
a verb, not a noun.  As far as we know, you cannot just turn a verb into a 
noun.  A better choice would be <Qagh>, which is both a verb and a noun, 
meaning "to err" or "an error":

	QaghmeywIjvo' vIghoj
	"I learn it (Klingon) from my errors."



majQa'!
batlh bIghojchoHbejqu'!
'ej Qaghmeychajvo' ghojnIS Hoch {{;)


--HoD trI'Qal

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