tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Jun 15 22:07:46 1996

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Re: new here

KATIE MONCELSI (B'Elanna) writes:

[I've lost track of who I've introduced myself to and who is new here.
I'll assume I haven't greeted Katie yet...]

Hi, Katie.  I'm the Beginners' Grammarian at the moment.  I'm called
ghunchu'wI', and I'm supposed to help beginners (like you) when they
have questions.  I also look over beginners' messages and try to offer
corrections when there are grammatical errors.  Flag me down with the
codeword "KLBC" somewhere in the subject of a note, and I'll try to
read and respond to that note quickly.

>pongwIj Katie 'ach jIhtu' Hoch lo' tlhIngan pong vaj jIh lo' tlhIngan
>pong B'Elanna jIh tu' vay' ghotpu' ja' Dochmey bID tlhIngan Dochmey
>ghobe' ja' vay' pong

Your message is very hard for me to read.  I can't tell where one
sentence ends and the next begins.  I know The Klingon Dictionary
doesn't use punctuation, but it also doesn't have any examples of
many sentences in succession.  The Klingon Way, however, does use
punctuation; each of the "proverbs" ends with a period or with an
exclamation point, and commas and semicolons appear as well.

I'd like you to write this again, either placing each sentence on
a separate line (which is how some of us "punctuate" Klingon), or
using "Federation standard" punctuation marks.  It would also help
me to help you if you include the english translation of what you
are trying to say.

>how do you say "about" or "this"?

Asking for single words in isolation rarely yields useful results.
Klingon isn't a code for english; there sometimes simply *isn't* a
direct translation for some english words.  For instance, the idea
"this" is carried in Klingon by the noun suffix {-vam}.  The phrase
"this book" becomes {paqvam} in Klingon.  One can't manage to say
"this" without specifying what "this" is.  "About" is used in english
with many different meanings; without knowing which one you want to
express, I can't help you find a good way to express it.

If you're having trouble translating something into Klingon, it's
usually best to present the entire sentence or idea that is giving
you problems.  Occasionally there is a translation that carries the
original idea *perfectly* but bears no resemblance to the original
words themselves.

-- ghunchu'wI'               batlh Suvchugh vaj batlh SovchoH vaj

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