tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jun 21 12:40:01 1995
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Re: "It was raining hard"
>Date: Tue, 20 Jun 1995 00:31:30 -0400
>Originator: [email protected]
>From: "R.B Franklin" <[email protected]>
>On Mon, 19 Jun 1995, Jim Boniface wrote:
>> Can someone help me out here, I'm ATTEMPTING another translation (Taxi by
>> Harry Chapin) and I'm already having problems (first two lines :) ) This is
>> what I've come up with so far..
Always dangerous to translate songs/poetry...
>>
>> It was raining hard in 'Frisco,
>> *'Frisco* jevlI' 'oH
>maj.
I'm not sure. "jev" is "storm", which Okrand probably meant as the
military term, but I use it for weather too. We really don't know how
Klingons talk about weather; do they really say "peD 'oH" "*it* is
raining"? Maybe they say "SIS bIQ" (water is raining [down]) or something.
I don't know that we can say this well. If they do use "'oH", somehow I
think it sounds better with the 'oH unstated, so it's not so obvious
(otherwise I really wonder *what*'s storming).
Also, using the verb transitively makes it harder to believe you're not
using it as the military term. If it's storming S.F., then the city
probably is sending out its defenders, strengthening its walls... Then
again, maybe Klingons would view a storm as an attack by the weather and
use the same terms the same way for both. But maybe "'Frisco"Daq jev 'oH
is better.
Also, I don't like -lI' is right. You're not really dealing with the storm
as a finite thing. Sure, it'll eventually end, but the fact that it's a
finite process with a goal really is not part of this sentence. It's an
ongoing event. -taH makes mroe sense.
>> I needed one more fare to make my night.
>> mevpa' jIH Qav jIH DIl nuv vISuqnIs
>Don't forget your verb prefixes, you would say
>{jImevpa'} instead of {mevpa' jIH}.
I also don't follow this Qav jIH DIl thingy...
>You could say:
>DaHjaj ram jImevpa' leng DIl raQpo' latlh 'e' vIpoQ.
>(Before I stop tonight, I require that another passenger pays for a trip.)
This works.
~mark