tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Jan 24 22:23:33 1998
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Re: KLBC: RB Illusions
- From: Qov <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: KLBC: RB Illusions
- Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 22:22:41 -0800
At 09:37 98-01-10 -0800, edy wrote:
}ghItlh vIghItlhHa'chugh vaj HIlugh
}(If I wrote wrong the text then correct me)
{vImughHa'chugh} might be better.
}Here is a test to certificate if your mission on Earth is accomplished:
}If you are alive, it itsn't.
}
}rInchugh tera'Daq Qu'lIj Sovchu'meH qaD tu'lu':
{Sovchu'meH qaD} is nice, but a couple of errors: Always put the nouns that
are not part of OVS BEFORE the OVS. That's what all that "bug on the hand"
stuff was about. I don't give you those exercises for busywork, you know.
I'm trying to get you to fix a habitual error. Also Klingon {-chugh} does
not mean "whether" the way English "if" can. I'd break it in half:
{tera'Daq rIn'a' Qu'lIj? Sovchu'meH qaDvam yIqel} - "Is your mission on
Earth finished? Consider this test of certainty." (lit. "challenge in order
to know for sure")
Do you understand that "if" in English has two different meanings? When
English "if" can be exchanged for whether, or "that", translate it with
{'e'}, not {-chugh}. Or recast.
}bIyIntaHchugh vaj rIn 'oHbe'
{rIn} means "be finished". {bIyIntaHchugh vaj rIn} No {'oHbe'}.
You have a persistent confustion between cases where pronoun-as-to-be are
appropriate and cases where the to-be is part of the Klingon verb. I think
that translating a lot of English is causing this, because English used 'to
be' so much. I hereby forbid you to use the pronoun as to be construction
for two weeks. Every time you are tempted to use it, choose a real verb,
instead. I'm hoping this will break you of a bad habit.
}(There is a test in order to know perfectly if your mission in Earth
}is ended: If you are alive, it itsn't)
}
}or
}
}rInta'chugh tera'Daq Qu'lIj 'e' Sovchu''a'. 'e' 'angmeH qaD tu'lu':
}bIyIntaHchugh vaj rIn 'oHbe'.
}(Do you know perfectly if your mission in Earth is "fully" accomplished?
}There is a test to show that: If you are living, it isn't).
Perfective isn't a bad idea here, but it wouldn't be wrong without: "is
finished" vs. "has been completed" but I would use {-pu'}. I don't think
that the book wants to imply that people deliberately set out to complete
their life's missions, just that they bumble through them. Same problems
with word order and {-chugh} and {*rIn 'oHbe'} as above. You have a bit of
a mess with {'e'}.
First off: always use the front tick, {'}, (to the right of the semi-colon
on an American English keyboard). Don't pair it up with the back tick
(under the tilde at the top left on my keyboard, I think its position varies
somewhat).
Next, the sentence that {'e'} refers to must be a complete sentence.
{rInta'chugh tera'Daq Qu'lIj} besides having the words in the wrong order
is a subordinate clause with no main verb.
{tera' rInta' Qu'lIj 'e' DaSovchu''a'? 'angmeH qaD tu'lu'} = "Are you
certain that your mission on Earth is finished? There is a test to show it."
Slightly different.
}Valorize your limitations and you'll certanly never be free of them
The original English (I have read the book) was close to: "Argue for your
limitations and sure enough they're yours."
}
}veHmeylIj Daje'chugh vaj not Datlhabbej
}(If you enrich your frontiers then you'll never be free of them)
{je'} works quite well here: both buying and feeding and describe the
process of accepting and arguing for something. I think there might be a
better word than {veH} for limitation, but it's not coming to mind right
now, and {veH} does work.
{tlhab} is "be free." Say {not bItlhab'eghmoHbej} "You'll certainly never
make yourself free." Or {not chaHvo' bItlhab'eghmoHbej} to make clear what
you would be freeing yourself from. I think the image of physically moving
away from the limitations works, even though {-vo'} isn't a general
translation of non-physical "from".
More sentences to practice. Check carefully to avoid making the same
mistakes over again:
The man lay in the water.
If you want to eat in the kitchen then bring a chair.
We are enjoying life on Kronos.
The first student is free.
Free the second student!
I'm not sure if the guards arrested the protesters.
The presentation is finished.
Tomorrow they will have finished arguing.
They finished the espionage.
They finished the gakh (serpent worms as food).
Qov [email protected]
Beginners' Grammarian