tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jun 17 19:13:33 1996
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Re: verengan qoghDu'
- From: [email protected] (Alan Anderson)
- Subject: Re: verengan qoghDu'
- Date: Mon, 17 Jun 1996 21:17:16 -0500
Kenneth Traft writes:
>Let me know if I am asking too many questions!
lu'.
Note that I didn't say {HIja'}. Although both words have "yes" in their
translations, {lu'} really means "okay, sure, will do."
>vay'vaD vuvHa' vIHechbe'chu'.
"I clearly don't intend he disrespects for anybody."
The english word "disrespect" is a noun, but {vuv} is a verb and doesn't
fit in a sentence the same way in Klingon as it would in english. We'll
have to turn this into a sentence-as-object construction:
{vay' vIvuvHa' 'e' vIHechbe'chu'}
"I clearly don't intend that I disrespect anybody." The verb "disrespect"
is a bit unusual in english, but its meaning is quite precise in Klingon.
>poHvaD Dochmey puS vIyu'.
"I interrogate a few things for the benefit of a time."
I think you're trying to translate "for a while" here. {-vaD} doesn't
quite fit that particular use of the word "for". The way I usually
translate "times" like this is with the verb {qaS} "occur":
{qaStaHvIS poH} "while a time is occurring". Can you further describe
the period of time? ("While a Klingon may be inaccurate, he is *never*
approximate!") Is it a long or short time? Is it a definite time?
I note that {yu'} is translated in TKD as "question, interrogate" while
{tlhob} is translated "ask". I think {tlhob} better fits what you are
trying to say. {yu'} seems to refer to the act of questioning a prisoner,
or maybe querying a database.
>tutuv 'e' vItlhobqu'...
"I emphatically ask that y'all are patient me..."
This has a couple of problems.
Verbs like {tuv} are called "stative" by linguists. In TKD's words, they
"express a quality or condition" and are usually translated "be [something]."
Stative verbs don't accept objects very gracefully, as my "are patient me"
translation shows. If there were a verb "be patient with", that would work
just fine here, but since {tuv} is just "be patient" and Klingon doesn't have
a direct equivalent for the english prepositiong "with", we need to find a
different way to say it. Something like "You are patient for my benefit"
sounds perfect to me: {jIHvaD Sutuv}.
{tlhob} is a "verb of saying" (see TKD 6.2.5, the middle of page 67). It
isn't used with {'e'}; instead, one states a direct quote. In this case,
you need to say something like "I emphatically ask, 'Be patient with me.'"
Note that the quoted sentence is a command, so it becomes {jIHvaD petuv}.
>...'ej tuyaj 'e' vItlhobqu'.
"...and I emphatically ask that y'all understand me."
This part needs to use a direct quote also.
The result: {jIHvaD petuv vItlhobqu' 'ej HIyaj vItlhobqu'}
I'm not sure I like using {tlhob} with an order instead of a question, but
it seems to work. It would probably work as well without it, though:
{jIHvaD petuv 'ej HIyaj}
>muquvlaH neH Hoch qIchgrachmey.
"All your *condemntions can only be honored me."
The first word ought to be {muquvmoHlaH} "can cause me to be honored." The
combination {quvmoH} "honor" even has its own entry in TKD. :-)
The suffix {-ghach} (I assume that's what you misspelled as {-grach}) isn't
normally used on a verb without any intervening suffixes. I've tried to
translate your word in a way that indicates how it looks in Klingon; there
is still an apparent meaning, but it's a "highly marked" usage which calls
undue attention to the word itself rather than the meaning. {-ghach} is
rarely the best way to translate an idea in any case; usually it's better
to rephrase the sentence to use verbs as verbs.
What do you think of this translation?
{tuqIchtaHchugh tuquvmoH neH} "If you condemn me, you merely honor me."
>batlh Satlho'!
"I thank you all with honor!" Gee, you're welcome! [Hmm. Wouldn't it
really be up to *us* to decide whether you've thanked us honorably? :-)]
-- ghunchu'wI' batlh Suvchugh vaj batlh SovchoH vaj