tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Apr 20 19:01:12 1998
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Re: KLBC - What do I do
- From: Qov <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: KLBC - What do I do
- Date: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 18:58:24 -0700
At 13:16 98-04-20 -0700, Ken wrote:
}Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1998 08:06:05 -0700
}From: Qov <[email protected]>
}To: [email protected]
}Subject: Re: KLBC - What do I do
} Message-ID: <[email protected]>
}
}>}chay' vIQaH 'e' vISovbe'vIp
}>}I'm afraid that I don't know how to help.
}
}>There's also a controversy over using using question words in the SAO
}context the way you have, and {vISovbe'vIp} >translates as "I'm afraid to
}not know..."
}Yes I am aware of the controversy (and like everyone else have my opinion).
Fair enough.
} For this particular instance if you do not mind lets go with it or just
}drop the ( chay' ) for now.
}>And as there's no object for {QaH}, you need {jI-} not {vI-}. So it
}doesn't work.
}>Do these translate the meaning you are after? Or do you have another
}context in mind?
}
}They were all go but I'm missing the context.
Right, so was I. "I don't know what to do" has so many possible contexts.
This is a good example for everyone about translating meaning, not words.
}Picture a situation where a
}crisis has occurred. You feel the desire to help or assist, yet you realize
}that there is nothing you can do or if there is you don't know what it is.
}Thus "I am afraid that I don't know how to help"
}If I take it a part and make three structures out of it I still don't
}necessarily know how to put them back together.
}How can I help - chay' jIQaH or forget ( chay' ) and
}I help - jIQaH
}I don't know that - 'e' vISovbe' <----- Yes for now I am going with
}question in SAO
As the BG I'm constrained to try and steer inside all the controversy, so
I'll go with {jIQaHlaHbe'}.
}That bothers me, worries me etc. <---------- ???????? got me
jIQaHlaHbe' 'e' vISovmo' jISot.
"I am distressed because I know I can't help."
QaHmeH mIw vISovbe'mo' jIQuchbe'.
"I am unhappy because I don't know how to help." (lit. "don't know the
procedure to help.")
jIQaHmeH jIvanglaHbe' 'e' vIpay
"I regret that I am unable to take action to help."
You can do mix and match on these to find your favourite, e.g. {QaHmeH mIw
vISovbe' 'e' vIpay} "I regret that I do not know the way to help."
Or follow up again explaining why none of *these* hits your target. If you
don't have the Klingon vocabulary at your mental beck and call, sometimes
the way to explain an English idea in Klingon is to explain it over and over
again in English, as if to a particularly dense BG, until you hit on words
that are in the dictionary.
qaQaHbe'taHchugh ghu' vIpay.
Qov [email protected]
Beginners' Grammarian