tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Oct 18 08:51:41 2004

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Re: KLBC - TV appearance

Steven Boozer ([email protected]) [KLI Member] 

Thorwald:
>She will probably ask me something along the lines of {tlhIngan Hol 
>Dajatlh'a'}.
>I have thought of a basic but witty reply, and would like to make sure it is
>{Holna'}.  What I thought up was (and this is an inside running joke)
>
>   I don't speak Klingon very well, but I'm willing to speak it for 
> chocolate!?
>
>Now I'll attempt to put that in Hol...
>
>   {tlhIngan HolwI' pupbe'qu' 'ach yuchvaD 'e' vIjatlh}
>
>How did I fare?

   "My not very perfect Klingon, but for chocolate I'll speak that."

Some suggestions...

1) {tlhIngan HolwI' pupbe'qu'} = "my not very perfect Klingon, my very 
imperfect Klingon"

You need to move the quality before the noun.  E.g.:

   tlhIngan HolwI' pup
   "my perfect Klingon" [phrase]

   pup tlhIngan HolwI'
   "My Klingon is perfect." [sentence]

A more "authentic" way is to use the V6 suffix {-chu'} "clearly, perfectly, 
(absolutely) properly, well" instead:

   tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhchu'be'
   I don't speak Klingon well.

or

   wej tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhchu'
   I don't speak Klingon well yet.

2) This isn't a sentence-as-object, since {tlhIngan HolwI' pupbe'qu'} isn't 
a sentence, just a phrase.  Instead of {'e'} "that (previous topic)" use 
the pronoun {'oH} "it" i.e. {tlhIngan HolwI'}:

   yuchvaD 'oH vIjatlh.
   I'll speak it for chocolate.

3) Note that {yuchvaD} implies something done *for the benefit* of 
chocolate.  As Okrand says in TKD (p.28):

   This suffix [-vaD] indicates that the noun to which it is attached is
   in some way the beneficiary of the action, the person or thing for whom
   or for which the activity occurs.

E.g. {SoHvaD tlhIngan Hol vIjatlh} "I'll speak Klingon for you".  You mean 
"in exchange for", so rephrase this to:

   yuch chonobchugh 'oH vIjatlh.
   "If you give me chocolate, I'll speak it."

4) Now you need to add the idea of willingness by using the V2 suffix 
{-qang} "is willing to"

   yuch chonobchugh tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhqang.
   "If you give me chocolate, I'm willing to speak Klingon."

Putting this all back together:

   tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhchu'be' 'ach yuch chonobchugh 'oH vIjatlhqang.
   I don't speak Klingon well, but if you give me chocolate I'm willing to 
speak *it*."

You can drop the redundant/emphatic pronoun {'oH}:

   tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhchu'be' 'ach yuch chonobchugh vIjatlhqang.
   I don't speak Klingon well, but if you give me chocolate I'm willing to 
speak it."

You could also substitute {nID} "attempt, try":

   tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhchu'be' 'ach yuch chonobchugh jInIDqang.
   I don't speak Klingon well, but if you give me chocolate I'm willing to 
try."

This is a little long for a sound bite, so why not shorten it a bit to:

   yuch chonobchugh tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhqang.
   If you give me chocolate I'm willing to speak Klingon.

Now, if you still want to be witty, how about:

   yuch chonobchugh tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhqangchu'be'.
   If you give me chocolate I'm willing to speak Klingon imperfectly.

or using the rover suffix {-Ha'} "do wrongly":

   yuch chonobchugh tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhHa'qang.
   If you give me chocolate I'm willing to mis-speak Klingon.



-- 
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons

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