tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Oct 11 09:20:52 1998
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Re: Ke'Plak
- From: "David Trimboli" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Ke'Plak
- Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 22:23:39 -0400
As you can see, I still have not caught up with the list, but I'm working on
it.
-----Original Message-----
From: William H. Martin <[email protected]>
To: Multiple recipients of list <[email protected]>
Date: Monday, September 28, 1998 1:10 PM
Subject: Re: Ke'Plak
>There is a reason that I argue with the blanket statement,
>"Passive Voice and {-lu'} are not at all the same thing," is
>that I've seen at least one person use this as a justification
>for NEVER translating {-lu'} as passive voice, preferring to
>stick to very stilted "One Xs Y" kinds of wording. I believe
>this is not a good practice.
I recall having such a conversation with you a year or so ago. If you are
referring to me, I would like to point out that I repeated many times that I
found the "one Xs Y" translation to lead to correct use of Klingon {-lu'},
and NOT that it produced the best translation in English. While one can
easily become confused with what is the subject or object or preposition in
an English passive voice sentence, and then transmit any errors created into
the Klingon {-lu'} equivalent, working with the English active voice is
rarely confusing, even if it is sometimes stilted, and thus there are no
errors to be worked into the Klingon.
When translating from Klingon {-lu'} to English, feel free to turn it into
the passive voice if you want. However, when I was learning basic Klingon,
I realized quickly that it was the English passive voice which was causing
me to err with {-lu'}, and that always thinking in the active voice
prevented these errors. Yes, it's a little more work, but a little work is
worth it if it prevents errors. And once you get used to {-lu'}, it becomes
second nature, and you no longer have to worry about converting English
passive voice to active voice.
If you were not referring to me, then I apologize for going on like this
nearly two weeks later!
SuStel
Stardate 98776.5