tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Apr 14 11:41:23 1995
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Re: Fresh blood - 'Iw chu'
On Fri, 14 Apr 1995 [email protected] wrote:
Welcome the List! My name is yoDtargh and I'm the Beginners'
Grammarian. My job here is to help you with any grammar questions you
may have and to critique your Klingon writing.
We have a system set up here to help beginners if they have any basic
questions, or if they just want someone to review their writing. If you
write "KLBC" (which stands for Klingon Language Beginner's Conference) in
the subject line of the header, that will indicate you want the Beginners'
Grammarian (me) to help you or go over your sentences. If it is something I
can't answer, then one of the Grammarians, ~mark or charghwI' will step in
to help.
The "KLBC" in the subject indicates that your post if off-limits to the
others on the List until the BG or the Grammarians have had a chance to
respond to your post and this will prevent you from receiving a flood of
confusing and contradictory responses from everyone on the List. It also
allows the more experienced speakers to skip over topics of an elementary
nature if they don't wish to read them.
> nuqneH
> tlhIngan Hol BBSDaq vIchu'
In this sentence, the prefix {vI-} would indicate that the verb {chu'}
has a direct object. Since the verb in your sentence has no object, you
would use {jIchu'} instead. {tlhIngan Hol BBSDaq} is not the object of
the verb, it simply states where {jIchu'} is taking place.
> nIteb mang Hol vIghojtaH
As a stylistic note, many folks refer to Klingon as {SuvwI' Hol} (the
language of the warrior) or (the warrior's language).
> DaH vIqeqlaH
maj.
DaH naDev tlhIngan Hol DaqeqlaH.
nIteb SuvwI' Hol Daghojpu' 'ach DaH nIteb Daqeqbe'.
> This is my first posting to tlhIngan-Hol (of many, I'm sure). I've been
> learning tlhIngan Hol in solitude (as I'm sure most of were at first) but now
> I can hone my skills. A little about myself - I'm a chemical engineer,
> married, 2 kids (who both mastered bIjatlh 'e' yImev very quickly!) I don't
> yet have a tlhIngan name. (is it required?)
How old are your kids? How much Klingon have they learned? There were
some people on the list who were teaching their children Klingon, but I
haven't recently heard how they have progressed.
Many here have adopted Klingon-sounding names but it is simply a matter of
personal preference and it is certainly not required.
> I just read the welcoming transmission nd was a little confused by the
> following statement:
>
> > I don't expect rudeness to be a problem on the tlhIngan-Hol list, but I
> > won't allow it to become one, either.
>
> I thought tlhInganpu' were rude (OK, curt) by nature. I assume this
> prohibition does not apply to mu'qaD veS. :-)
Flaming people in English is not tolerated on the list. But of course,
since Klingons regard good insults as an art-form, engaging in mu'qaD veS
is perfectly acceptable here, as long as you do it in Klingon.
> It must be difficult adhering to a fixed lexicon. There are so many things I
> want to say but there are no words available. At some point, tlhIngan Hol
> will become larger than KLI, Paramount, or even (dare I say it) Okrand
> himself. At that point it will truly become a living language with new words
> being introduced or adapted as necessary. But until that time, I will
> continue to expand my dictionary as "proper" words make themselves known to
> me.
As you become more familiar with the language, you will discover there
are ways you can express yourself which are not immediately apparent by
just looking at the words listed in the dictionary. Many words which are
normally nouns in English, are expressed as verbs in Klingon. Some ideas
are conveyed by the use of suffixes.
The first trick to learn is, when you can't find the word you're looking
for, look for a synonym. If that fails, then look for a word with the
opposite meaning; sometimes you can change that word to the meaning you
want by using an appropriate suffix, like {-be'} or {-Ha'}, which negate
or reverse the meaning of a verb.
Sometimes Klingon expresses an idea in a unique and very un-Englishlike
manner. The most skilled Klingon speakers here are those who have
learned to recast an idea into Klingon words by expressing the idea in a
different way.
But if you have trouble with how to say something, just ask. All of us
are here to learn and have fun.
> Brad Wilson
yoDtargh