tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Aug 13 07:24:20 1996

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Re: tlhIngan Hol chu' jIH

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>Date: Sat, 10 Aug 1996 11:58:59 -0700
>From: Randal Lanning <[email protected]>

>At 11:29 AM 8/5/96 -0700, you wrote:

Where "you"==Me, Mark Shoulson.

>>>Date: Sun, 4 Aug 1996 16:36:24 -0700
>>>From: Randal Lanning <[email protected]>
>>
>>A comment on the subject first: "tlhIngan Hol chu' jIH"...  Doesn't quite
>>hold together.... I think you mean "tlhIngan Hol ghojwI' chu' jIH" or
>>something.  That right?

>   I was trying to say that "I am new to the Klingon language."
>Although I have been studying the TKD for about a month now off and on, I
>decided to write my first letter in it. I read the above as "I am a new
>student to the Klingon language." Which if I have read it right, would be
>correct also.

Right, that's what I was saying.  "New to..." is not really attested
anywhere in known Klingon, and it's not clear how it would be done.  Would
the thing you're new to be the object of the verb "chu'" (as you have it)?
Possibly, but I wouldn't guess it at first.  And if it were, you'd have to
put the right verb-prefix (presumably vI-) on the verb.

>>>choja' vIQaghchugh
>>... you should say "jIQaghchugh" (if I make a mistake), since there's no object
>>involved.

>   I started out with "jI...." but then looked at "mistake" as being a
>noun. I wasn't sure if "I make" (Subject-verb) "a mistake" (object) was
>correct. That is why I asked. :)

Ah... Don't think too literally.  "Qagh" means "make a mistake"; it's a
*single* verb, a single concept.  If you prefer, translate it as "to err."

>   Should an object be defined as something more tangable so that the
>implied "it" becomes meaningful? Would "choja' 'oH' vIQaghchugh'e'" be
>correct? It doesn't sound right to me for some reason.

No, it doesn't hold together.  There is no object in "Qagh."  "If I err it"
or something doesn't work.

>>>Qu'wIj ghuntaHwI'
>>
>>Here too, "My task is a programmer..."  You need 'oH.... 

>   I could not find a word for "job". Though I might have said
>something like "It is what I do to earn money." However, I could not find
>anything to correspond to "Earn" and "Make" felt like I was creating it as
>if I was counterfeiting so I avoided that one as well.

Oh, I certainly agree that "Qu'" is acceptable for "job" (I use it that way
myself).  The problem is that you need a verb (Qu'wIj 'oH ghunwI''e').
Also, your job isn't a programmer, is it?  Your job is a job, and jobs
aren't programmers.  Your job is *that of* a programmer, or *to be* a
programmer, which would probably have to be expressed differently in
Klingon.

>>>batlh choghItlhchugh
>>
>>Hmm.  Not sure I understand this adverbial with -chugh.  "If you(sing.)
>>write to me honorably..." then what?

>Since Klingon's do not use please and thank you and I do or at least try to
>anyway, I tried to say, "I would be honored if you write." Perhaps I should
>have stressed it as "batlh jIH'e' choghItlhchugh".

It still means "If you write to ME honorably."  "batlh" as an adverbial
means the sentence happens "honorably."  "I would be honored if you would
write to me" is "choghItlhchugh, jIquv" (well, tughItlhchugh, actually) or
"jIquv choghItlhchugh," etc.  "batlh" isn't a verb for "to be honored";
that's "quv" and it has to be treated as a verb.

>   Thank you for your help Mark and your criticisms and compliments.
>Learning the language has been fun thus far and I have no one to use it
>with. Hopefully when I write again, I won't butcher it so bad. <Grin>

That's what we're here for.

~mark

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