tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Oct 12 16:15:26 1998
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Re: jIHaghnIS
- From: "William H. Martin" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: jIHaghnIS
- Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 19:15:11 -0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
- In-Reply-To: <[email protected]>
- Priority: NORMAL
pagh will return soon. Until then, I'll help out. - charghwI'
On Mon, 12 Oct 1998 13:23:35 -0700 (PDT) [email protected] wrote:
> qatlho
> thank you, pagh
>
> I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Charlie Bender.
Welcome. Your name, "charlie" sounds a lot like mine {charghwI'}
insomuch as any tera'ngan name does.
> As you can
> see, I chose the klingon name "SIHwI'", which I thought was an obvious choice.
bIwuqchu'ta'.
> I have been a Star Trek fan (particually Klingons) for a long time (yes, I am
> old enough to VAGUELY remember the original series when it was firs ton!)
ghaytan jIH qan law' SoH qan puS. If you have trouble with that,
write back and I'll translate.
> I have also been fasinated by language, especially ones created for fantasy
> and science fiction (like Tolkien's elvish, or John Normans Gorean).
I don't know about Gorean. I know that Tolkien left very little
to go by in terms of making elvish anything close to functional.
It makes for a good mystery in that it gives hints to the mind
of Tolkien, but it really is useless as a language. The author
of the language did not sufficiently describe the grammar and
the vocabulary is very small and unusually focussed, heavy on
nouns and light on anything else. Lots of proper names.
> When my son received a set of Star Trek cd's, including "Conversational
> Klingon", I was hooked. I have been observing the posts for about a month and
> decided to throw my attempt into the ring. Speeking of which:
Good.
> << However, this whole thing is a bit awkward. You have stuck to the most
> literal translation of the English. Think about what it means and try to
> come up with a more Klingon way to say it. Here is my attempt:
>
> bIHaghtaHvIS bIvor'egh.
>
> See what you can do. >>
>
> I thought about the meaning, and am not sure the "self cure" really conveys
> the irony that the English does. Calling something that is not medicine, the
> best medicine of all. Perhaps a way to expres it in, and to , klingons is
> something like this:
>
> qa' vorqu' HaghtaHghach
>
> laughing can really cure the spirit
Fine. I'd go for something like:
Haghbogh nuv pIv law' Hoch pIv puS.
Or to take a totally different angle on it:
pIvnISbe'choH Haghbogh nuv.
A laughing man does not need to become healthy.
Or along the same line:
Haghchugh nuv, ram porghDaj Dotlh.
That's my favorite.
The fact is, you can't perfectly translate a thought that is not
your own. That is the problem with translating anything like
this kind of proverb or a poem or song or written text that came
from anyone but yourself.
Especially when, like this proverb, it is supposed to have broad
ranging context of applicability, the meaning you glean from it
is all that you can translate. You cannot pretend to translate
the actual text. You can only translate the specific meaning
that you are drawing from that text.
So, especially as a beginner, it is better to write original
thoughts in Klingon than it is to try to translate someone
else's words.
> pechovneS
>
> SIHwI'
>
charghwI' 'utlh