tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Aug 16 18:42:31 1998
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: KLBC - attempt at translation, v 1.1
ja'pu' Qermaq:
>The rule of thumb I've followed that seems to have been successful is this -
>if you can leave a word out or rephrase more concisely, and the sentence is
>still clear, yIruch! Economy of words is not a prerequisite for good
>Klingon, but it is a trait I see in the writing of the best Klingon-users on
>the list.
>
ja' Roci:
>Well. generally speaking, the task of any good translator is distilling a
>mixture
>of syntax and ideas. The translator is generally honor bound by the ethics
>of his
>office to render between languages the *Concept and or idea in the phase*
>regardless of any "Word count"
Qermaq didn't say anything about "translating", Roci. He was just pointing
out that the clearest and most easily understood Klingon *compositions* tend
to present things in small chunks without a lot of superfluous wordiness. I
think that's also true of English, to a large extent.
>Based on what I have seen here in a few days time, and almost 100
>messages, there
>are some here whose translation work pays all attenton to lingustics, which is
>very fine for the beginner, but at length, one must ask oneself if such
>rigidity
>is common to the language used by native speakers. This is not a
>criticism. It is
>a well known fact for example, that someone who learns say French in a
>language
>lab will have a different quality to their speech and deportment of the
>language
>than someone who has learned their French on the streets of Paris, or Lyons.
I think this was addressed already, but I wanted to emphasize it again. The
rigidity in translation you're commenting on is not a feature of the use of
language itself. It's a feature of the *translation* from one language into
another. When one is learning a language with grammatical features distinct
from one's native language, it's important to make sure the distinctions are
recognized. That's the reason for the "attenton to lingustics [sic]" you
see.
Klingon is quite expressive when it's used to express ideas. It, like any
other language, suffers from "stiltisms" when it's used to translate words.
other language, suffers from "stiltisms" when it's used to translated words.
-- ghunchu'wI'