tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Oct 17 12:45:00 1998
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Eye On The Ball
- From: "Qermaq" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Eye On The Ball
- Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1998 15:54:27 -0400
Holtej just wrote the sentence:
>Please folks, let's keep our eye on the ball.
For some reason this makes me think about how beginners translate word for
word and ask "How do I say 'helicopter' in Klingon" and so on. Leaving off
the polite "Please, folks" the remainder of the sentence can be easily
translated as:
moQDaq mInmaj wIpoljaj
(literally, "May we keep our eye on the sphere!"). Is it unclear to any
beginners that this would not be understood by a Klingon? First, the plural
would be understood, since 'we' cannot have one 'eye' unless we were in a
truly glorious battle... but our 'eye' must be removed and kept on a ball?
Let's remember, word-for-word translating is not the goal. Concept
translating is. This humorous example illustrates one of uncountable
examples of English usage where the words don't say it all - the thought
behind them is so important.
Any beginners want to try to express the true meaning of "may we keep our
eye on the ball" in Klingon?
Qermaq