tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Feb 08 10:46:36 2002

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Re: Translating into Klingon



DantlhIgh wrote:
>Joseph Conrad (who, I believe, was French) loved writing in English 
>because of the diversity of meaning in English words (he cited varying 
>usable 'definitions' of "oaken" as an example).

Conrad was a Pole, original name Józef Konrad Teodor Korzeniowski.  (I just 
picked up a copy of his 1907 novel "The Secret Agent", which I'm going to 
read this weekend.)

An even better example is Vladimir Nabokov, who wrote brilliantly in his 
native Russian, as well as French and English after he emigrated after the 
Bolshevik Revolution.  He too loved playing with and exploring the multiple 
meanings of words.

These, however, are the exceptions to the rule.  Nabokov, a product of the 
landed gentry, had the benefit of both an English and a French nanny while 
growing up near St. Petersburg.  Conrad's accomplishment is more remarkable 
as he only learned English after he left Poland when he was 18 or 19, 
working his way around the world in the merchant marine IIRC.


-- 
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons



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