tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri May 22 11:07:04 1998
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Re: Quapla' (Warning: VERY KLBC)
- From: "Robyn Stewart" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Quapla' (Warning: VERY KLBC)
- Date: Fri, 22 May 1998 11:05:01 PST
- Organization: NLK Consultants, Inc.
- Priority: normal
} nuqneH! (That's hello, right?)
Actually there is no Klingon hello. The traditional way to
begin a conversation is to start talking. {nuqneH}
translates roughly as "whattayawant." It's explained in the front
matter of TKD and then elaborated on in KGT (don't have the books in
front of me).
} I just joined the list and I wanted to say hi!
Good to have you with us.
} I have one question: Where can you get the Klingon tapes? I have
} TKD and I've seen "Klingon for the Galatic Traveler", but I can't
} find the "Power Klingon" or "Conversational Klingon" anywhere. If
} anyone has an address or web page where I can order them, please
} let me know.
If you have a credit card, you can order them from the merchandise
page page off www.kli.org. You should also be able to get the same
bookstore or SF shop that sold you TKD to order the tapes in for you.
They are from the same publisher and are still "in print."
}Thanks! jiH batlh SoH "with" janglij.
I take it this should be "You honour me with your answer."
You're righ: it's bad, but it's not the worst first attempt I've
seen. You have paid attention to the Object Verb Subject word order
of Klingon and tried to use a noun suffix for possession.
Now for what needs fixing:
batlh is a noun meaning honour and an adverb meaning with honour.
It's not a verb. The verb "make honoured" is {quvmoH}. The pronoun
and suffixes you have chosen indicate a singular you, you're talking
to me only. If that's not what you meant, notice that Klingon (and
lots of other languages, get used to it) has separate words and
affixes to represent "you" when it refers to multiple people.
The pronouns are mainly just used for emphasis and to resolve
ambiguity. The necessary way to indicate the subject and object is
using the prefixes on page 33. See where the row for subject "you"
and the column for object "me" intersect? {cho-}. Thus {choquvmoH}
- "you (singular) honour me."
Klingon, unlike English, does not have scads of prepositions. There
is no "with." There's a verb "be together" but that's not what you
meant. And {jang} is a verb, not a noun. You must pay attention to
the parts of speech of these Klingon words.
So rephrase in verbal form, using a type 9 suffix to indicate
"because" and a prefix on the verb ...
bIjangmo' choquvmoH
"You honour me because you answer."
}P.S. I can just see Kahless turning in his grave over my horrible
} tlhIngan...My sincere apologies.
He'll be proud you are learning the warrior's tongue. Pay attention
to the parts of speech and learn about those verb prefixes and you'll
be on your way. Please include a translation of what you think
you're sayong next time, because it's not always so easy to guess.
Regarding your subject line:
} Quapla' (Warning: VERY KLBC)
Because English q is *always* followed by a u, it is difficult for
some newcomers to get used to typing Klingon Q and q without.
The q sound is almost nothing like the English kw sound made by the
qu combination. Don't think it, and don't write it. Qapla' -
success.
- Qov