tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Oct 09 10:21:09 1996
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Re: Translation
- From: "Mark J. Reed" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Translation
- Date: Wed, 09 Oct 1996 13:18:29 -0400
- Organization: Internet & Systems Security Lab, Hewlett-Packard Company
- References: <[email protected]>
David Barron wrote:
>
> >
> > Could someone please tranlslate the name Rene utilizing the Klingon alphbet.
>
> Sure.
> If you want to translate is phoneticly it would be <renay>.
ghobe'. <reney> 'oHnIS.
{renay} sounds like "ren-eye", with a long "i" sound at the end. The
closest thing to "Rene" in tlhIngan phonetics would be {reney}.
But none of this is *translation*. Names don't get translated, because
usually they don't mean anything. Any historical meaning has long since
disappeared, leaving a name that is only used as, well, a name. When I
correspond with colleagues in Japan, I don't go by the name of the
Japanese War God ("Mark" is thought to derive from "Mars"), or some
version of "red"(which "Reed" derives from) - I'm just Mark Reed,
adressed by them as "Mark-san" or "Reed-san". With Japanese phonetics
my name comes out more like "Maaku Riidu", but that's just subjecting it
to the phonetic rules of the other language; it's still not a
translation.
Now, many names have equivalents in other languages because of the
common histories of the languages - for example, the name "Mark" in
English maps to the name "Marcos" in Spanish (Marc in French, Marco in
Italian, Markus in German . . .). But that's still not a translation;
it's a different type of mapping from one language to another, based on
history instead of meaning. And obviously two completely unrelated
languages (such as pick-a-Terran-language and Klingon) are not going to
have any such shared history to go by.
So when picking a Klingon name, most people do one of four things:
1. transliterate their English name, or a version thereof
For example, I go by {marqoS} which is as close as you can get to
"Marcos" in Klingon phonetics.
2. make up a new name with a Klingon meaning.
For example, {charghwI'}'s name means "conqueror" in Klingon.
3. make up a new "Klingon-sounding" name that doesn't mean anything.
For example, {r'Hul}
4. don't bother with a Klingon name and just use your English name
For example, ~mark. (Although he does answer to Seqram when being
addressed in Hol)
Any of the above are acceptable, as is anything you can think of not
listed above; your name is your own, to do with as you like.
-marqoS
--
Mark J. Reed | http://issl.atl.hp.com/lab/employees/mark
Email: [email protected] | HP Internet/System Security Lab
Voice: +1 404 648 9535 | 2957 Clairmont Rd Suite 220
Fax : +1 404 648 9516 | Atlanta GA 30329-1647 USA