tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Jan 15 10:38:39 2004

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Re: translation problems

Scott Willis ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2004 9:07 AM
Subject: translation problems


>  machenmoHlaHbej maH law' 'e'
> 'oH vuDwIj qan 'e'.  DaH teHHa'be'law' 'e' 'oH vuDwIj chu' 'e'.  Do'Ha'.
> My guess is that people aren't as imaginative as
> I had previously thought. That is too bad."

Now we're getting somewhere:
"Many of us are able to create. It is my old opinion. Now it has not become
untrue. It is my new opinion. It is unfortunate."

OK, it seems clunky, so we could probably clean it up a bit, but you have a
good foundation, and I am able to help you now.

the {'e'}'s before the {'oH}'s give emphasis. They are not necessarily
required for the sentence to be grammatical. Unless you want to emphasize
{maH law'}, etc., I would drop them.

{qan} means "old", as in "not young". You probably wanted {ngo'} "old, not
new".

Good use of the type 6 verb suffix {-law'} to indicate "I guess". It's
shorter than saying {'e' vIloy} after the first sentence, and is good form,
to boot. Well done. }}: )

To recast, try "My old opinion is that most of us are certainly able to
create. But now, it is apparently untrue. That is unfortunate." Translated:

{machenmoHlaHbej maH HochHom. vuDwIj ngo' 'oH. 'ach DaH teHHa'law'. Do'Ha'.}

If you want to explicitly state that your new opinion is that the old one is
untrue, you would insert {vuDwIj chu' 'oH} after {'ach DaH teHHa'law'}, but
IMO, it's unnecessary.

You could also try using {qen} "recently", and recast again, getting rid of
all direct references to an opinion.
{machenmoHlaHbej maH HochHom qen 'e' vIHar. 'ach DaH teHHa'law'. Do'Ha'.}
"Recently, I believed that most of us were certainly able to create. But
now, it's apparently untrue. It's unfortunate."

This way is not better or worse than any other. It's just a possibility for
you to consider. Others will also suggest more, if they have them.

--ngabwI'
Beginners' Grammarian,
Klingon Language Institute
http://kli.org/
HovpoH 701044.5

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