tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jul 02 22:23:13 2004

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Re: models of excellent language use

Alan Anderson ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

[tlhIngan Hol DIvI' Hol je ngaS QInvam. Both Klingon and English follow. The
English is *not* a direct translation of the Klingon, by the way.]

ja' weQqul:
> when i am ready and i want to i will use klingon on this list.. no
> one will force me!

pIraD wIneHbe'. pItungHa'moH wIneH. pIpIlmoH 'e' wInID.  Do'Ha' tlhIngan Hol
Dalo'rupbe'ba'.  'ej ghomvam chut DabuSHa'taH. naDev batlh bIjeSmeH, cha'
QInmey Segh lajlu'.  DIvI' Hol Dalo'chugh, tlhIngan Hol DaqelnIS.  tlhIngan
Hol Dalo'chugh, Hoch DaqellaH.  yaj'a'?

We don't have the means to force you, so what we're trying to do is
encourage and inspire you. Maybe you're not ready to read what we're saying
yet.

> I don't give a damn to your challenge. i have my own to contend with.

Do'Ha'. chaq qaDwIj choyajbe'.
Maybe I overestimated your ability to read and understand the challenge. I
was trying to get you to start writing in Klingon.  Using a language is the
only way to actually learn it.

> It is one year from the date that I began to learn this language.

vaj qatlh Holvam DajatlhtaHQo'? How come you're not speaking it yet?

> i want to learn...I just want to learn, as do others, without being
> insulted or disrespected. is that too much to ask for?

Hol DavuvHa'chugh, nIvuvHa' Hol lo'wI'pu' 'e' DapIHnIS.
It helps if you refrain from insulting or disrespecting people when you
complain about them doing it to you.

> where were you people at six months into the language?

ngugh DaqqoqwIj vIDel: latlhpu' vIlughmoHmeH chaHvaD tlhIngan Hol mu'ghom
vIlaD. Human ghaH charghwI''e' vImaqpu'bogh, ghaHvaD jItlhIj. puSqu'mo'
lutmey jIbep 'ej jIqonnISchoH jIH 'e' vIqel. lengmeywIj vIDel. tlhIngan Hol
lulo'boghtaH labwI'pu' ghurnIS chaH 'e' vIqap.

'ej jIQaghtaHqu'mo' loQ jItuH; pIj tlha'Ha'chuqtaH mu'meywIj 'ej pIj mujtaH
moHaqwIj. 'ach mulughmoHtaHmo' latlhpu', nom jIghoj 'ej tugh qubchoH
QaghmeywIj.

ngugh Huch vIbajmeH jIvumchu'. juHwIj jIleH. jav ben boghpu'bogh puqloDwI'
wIQorgh jIH be'nalwI' je.

Just prior to six months after receiving a copy of The Klingon Dictionary as
a gift, and not quite five months after discovering the tlhIngan-Hol list
and the KLI, I was:

- quoting TKD at other list members to try to correct mistaken ideas
- apologizing (in Klingon) for assuming that other members were all human
after I pointed out (in Klingon) that someone's photograph showed no
forehead ridges
- lamenting (in Klingon) the dearth of stories written in Klingon and
considering (in Klingon) writing some myself once I made the time
- describing (in Klingon) my travels, both near and far
- exhorting (in Klingon) others to write more in Klingon

I was also making embarrassingly consistent errors with word order and
prefix choice, but the reinforcement of having them corrected repeatedly
helped me to get them right eventually.

My life then included a full-time job, household chores, and raising (with
my wife) a six-year-old son.  (And I didn't have an email address that I
could use at home. I brought list messages home from work on a floppy disk
to read and translate and answer, and I brought the answers back to work on
the same disk to send them.)

> yeah i make mistakes. so do people who have
> been into it for 20 damn years.

This is in response to my {bIQaghQo'chugh, pIghojmoHlaHbe'}, qar'a'? That
means "if you refuse to make mistakes, we cannot teach you."

[By the way, The Klingon Dictionary was published only 19 years ago. The
only "people who have been into it" literally for 20 years are Marc Okrand
and some of the cast and crew of Star Trek III. :-)]

> but i have 3 things to say that keep me going:
> don't give up, don't give in and don't let go. Qo! nuch jIHbe'bej.
> jISuvnISDI', lu'! DaH poH 'oHbe'. tugh. HIloS!

toH!  bIjatlhlaHqu'!  maj.

(Watch out not to lose the apostrophe at the end of {Qo'}. I don't think
{poH} works for the kind of "time" you seem to want to say here; it's closer
to "duration" than "specific moment". Perhaps {jaj} would be better.)

-- ghunchu'wI'

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