tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed May 06 19:14:30 1998
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Re: literal translation
- From: TPO <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: literal translation
- Date: Wed, 06 May 1998 22:14:57 -0400
>I'm taking a class called "Foreign Languages for Musicians." One of our
>projects is to present a foreign song to the class along with
>translation and phonetics. I've gotten permission to do a Klingon song
>and have chosen the Klingon Anthem. I've gotten several translations,
>but can anyone give me an exact word for word translation? It probably
>won't make much sense, but it's what I need. Thanks for your help.
>From a previous post:
>Okrand did indeed translate Hilary Bader's original lyrics. You're not alone
>in finding this confusing. The anthem first appeared in the Klingon CD-ROM -
>whose script and novelization was written by Bader - and was later sung
>twice (with phonetic subtitles) in DS9 "Soldiers of the Empire." KCD
>executive producer Keith Halper explains how the song was written:
>
>"The way was that Hilary wrote something in English, then she faxed it out
>to Mark Okrand. Then Okrand translated it to Klingon and put his literal
>translation below the Klingon verses. The literal translation is always
>skewed a bit, so if you send him `Row, row, row your boat,' you'll get back
>`Propel, propel, propel your craft.'" (ST:Klingon! novel p.212)
>
>Oddly enough, the anthem was not in Klingon for the Galactic Traveler but
>does appear (I'm told) somewhere in the four-book Day of Honor series. I
>found this version of the "never-before-published lyrics" in English and in
>Klingon at Simon & Schuster's Day of Honor page in September or October 1997
>(http://www.simonsays.com/titles/honor):
>
> Qoy qeylIs puqloD.
> Qoy puqbe'pu'.
> yoHbogh matlhbogh je SuvwI'
> Say'moHchu' may' 'Iw.
> maSuv manong 'ej maHoHchu'.
> nI'be' yInmaj 'ach wovqu'.
> batlh maHeghbej 'ej yo' qIjDaq vavpu'ma' DImuv.
> pa' reH maSuvtaHqu'.
> mamevQo'. maSuvtaH. ma'ov.
>
>Hilary Bader's lyrics, c1997:
>
> Hear! Sons of Kahless.
> Hear! Daughters too.
> The blood of battle washes clean
> The Warrior brave and true.
> We fight, we love, and then we kill.
> Our lives burn short and bright,
> Then we die with honor and join our fathers in the Black Fleet where
> we battle forever, battling on through the Eternal fight.
>
>Okrand's literal English back-translation:
>
> Hear! sons of Kahless.
> Hear! daughters.
> The battle blood perfectly cleans the warrior who is brave and loyal.
> We fight, we're passionate, and we kill perfectly.
> Our lives are not long, but they're very bright.
> We certainly die, and we join our fathers in the Black Fleet.
> There we always really continue fighting.
> We won't stop. We continue fighting. We compete.
>
>If it helps, remember that this is poetry, which often utilizes unusual or
>archaic syntax for stylistic effect. Also keep in mind that Okrand will
>occasionally use an unexpected construction for his own amusement, or to
>help with the fiction of a natural feeling, idiomatic language with
>occasional irregularities.
>
>Voragh
Visit www2.rpa.net/~cheesbro to hear it.
A "RealAudio" file labeled [wo' bom].
Audio is from the episode "Soldiers of the Empire".
DloraH