tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Dec 24 15:19:54 1996
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RE: Need help for a translation
- From: "David Trimboli" <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE: Need help for a translation
- Date: Tue, 24 Dec 96 22:43:05 UT
December 24, 1996 2:33 AM, jatlh R�my Villeneuve:
> I'm a real beginner in Klingon, but in a RPG in which I play, my
> character falls in love with a Klingon... I've got no problems with
> their culture... The problem is the language... How should I say...
>
> *name of the klingon woman* I love you and I want to be closer to you.
Oh, dear. That's a bigger question than you might think.
Okay, here's my translation first. I'll explain some of the problems after.
<name>, qamuSHa' 'ej maSovchuqchu' vIneH.
<name>, I un-detest you, and I want us to know each other perfectly.
That's the closest I could come to exactly what you had.
There is no Klingon word for "love." There has recently been the discovery of
the Klingon noun, {parmaq}, which seems to mean "love," but is much more
aggressive or violent that the human concept of love. Also, it's uncertain
how the noun is used.
The phrase "get closer" is an English metaphor; you don't actually mean "cause
your body and mine to reduce the range between them," you mean "feel love
stronger and know the mind of the other better." Unfortunately, this is not
the sort of thing that Klingons worry about a lot, and so it's not really
supported in their language. Klingon mating is rather hasty, and except for
the occasional love poem, probably isn't very verbal. And I'm sure those love
poems are about honor and victory, not feeling mushy.
Did this help you any?
--
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 96982.7