tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Aug 25 09:49:39 1998

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Re: Beginner's question

---Mark Eidemiller  wrote:
>
> I have been lurking on this list for a few weeks now, and would like
to
> introduce myself and ask a question regarding a particular turn of >
phrase.
> 
> My name is Mark Eidemiller.  I live in Portland, Oregon, and work for
> US Fish and Wildlife.  I was twelve when Star Trek first came on 
> NBC.

Welcome, Mark!  As a lurker of that duration you probably know the
spiel, but I'll repeat it for the benefit of other lurkers, and
because I'm feeling garroulous today.  I'm Qov, the current Beginners'
Grammarian (BG), the person charged with the duty of providing
guidance and first response to beginners before they are overwhelmed
by suggestions and arguments from everyone else.  I have been BG for
exactly one year today (just wanted to say that), so soon there will
be a new BG.  Tag messages for his or her attention with the letters
"KLBC" at the beginning of the subject line.  The list FAQ at
http://www.bigfoot.com/~dspeers/klingon/faq.htm explains this and
other mysteries of the list.

> I discovered this mailing list out of curiosity.  I got the tape
> "Conversational Klingon" when it came out, but only got the 
> Dictionary a few days ago, 

Now you can really learn.

> and am getting ready to transfer the pages > to a small ring
> binder for easier access (besides, the cover broke off it when I
started
> flexing the pages), and to add to it along the way.

A common strategy.  TKD is appallingly poorly bound, even for a book
intended to be read once, and it's a reference book!  I got a discount
on my last copy just by pointing that out.
 
> (Has anyone ever thought of putting "Conversational Klingon" or 
> "Power Klingon" as a CD?  It would be easier to locate certain 
> sections if review was needed.)

There is a CD that contains Power Klingon.  It also contains an
interactive adventure and a language lab. See the FAQ for that
information.
 
> I've been facinated by what I've seen, and intrigued.  I admit, I am a
> total beginner at Klingon language, and had been a little intimidated 
> by some of the posts.  

I think everyone here either remembers or still lives that experience.

> But I got over that.  I may not understand it, but what
> I've seen is very interesting.

maj.  tugh Dayajchu'.

> My question.  I've seen the translation to "Today is a good day to 
> die,"
> but I have a variation I'd like to learn.  The phrase is: "Today is a 
> good day to die to the flesh" -- flesh can be substituted for self, 
> self-will, self-pleasure, self-desire, etc.

I don't *quite* inderstand the English that needs translating. Do you
mean that today is a good day for the flesh to die?  Or that as far as
the flesh is concerned today is a good day to die?  Or is "to the
flesh" an extent of the dying, like being chilled to the bone?

Another difficulty is that the Klingon word for flesh is /Ha'DIbaH/
the same word as "meat" or "animal," so it would sound like you were
talking about an animal dying.  In other words, in English "flesh" is
a good and traditional ("the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak")
stand-in for earthly desires and concerns, but in Klingon it's a poor
choice.  I recommend you start by writing sentences that represent
literal things, and save the symbolism for when you have a full
command of grammatical structures and vocabulary.  

> (Also, how would you translate the name Mark?)

That's also answered in the FAQ, although curiously not in the way
someone who responded to your post interpreted it.  You're free to
translate the meaning of your name (pach puqloD), transliterate the
sounds in a way a Klingon could pronounce them (marqem), do the same
backwards (Seqram), translate or create some sort of handle
(ghunchu'wI'), make up a combination of sounds you like that works
according to Klingon rules (voragh), even a combination of letters
that doesn't work or exist in Klingon (K'ryntes).  And if you don't
like what you come up with you can even change it (Qov), but that's
embarrassing, so better to wait and be sure.  Lots of people here have
no "Klingon name."   Words in parentheses are examples of what people
on the list have done.  Two of them are actually Marks.

Success!
==
Qov - Beginners' Grammarian
"1999 is the penultimate year of the 20th century."


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