tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Oct 25 07:53:59 2006
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Re: Dilbert Comic in Klingon for 2006/10/21
pm5 wrote:
>DIlbot: {Doch vIpuvmoHlaH murIHmo' qa'vIn.} (1)
>Dilbert: "Thanks to the coffee, I can levitate objects with my mind."
Doch vIpuvmoHlaH
"I am able to make object(s) fly".
Not bad. Also consider the verbs {pep} "raise" and {Sal} "ascend".
murIHmo' qa'vIn
"because coffee energizes me"
That's nice, but there's no need to alter the original. {-mo'} "due to,
because of, for, since" is also a noun suffix:
SuSmo' joqtaH
It is fluttering in the breeze. TKD
The noun {SuSmo'} means "due to the breeze", so the whole
sentence is literally "Due to the breeze, it [a flag] is
fluttering". [TKD 28]
So all together we have:
qa'vInmo' Dochmey vIpuvmoHlaH.
>DIlbot: {naDev <mouse> yIqem. naDev <mouse> yIqemqu'.} (2)
>Dilbert: "Bring ... the mouse ... bring the ... mouse."
"Here" is not in the original. Did you add it for the meter?
Translating literally, you can either omit {naDev}:
MOUSE ... yIqem.
Bring ... the mouse.
or you can use the "prefix trick":
MOUSE ... HIqem.
Bring me ... the mouse.
As for "mouse" - this refers to Ratbert I assume? - consider {Qa'Hom},
described in the KCD game as:
The translation "titmouse" is really only an approximation of what
this word means. A {Qa'Hom} is a small animal considered rather
insignificant. The word literally means "little {Qa'}." A {Qa'} is
a larger, more dangerous animal. A {Qa'Hom} is not a young {Qa'},
but it does bear a vague resemblance to its namesake.
According to the image in the Language Lab, this bears no resemblance
whatever to the small Terran bird called a "titmouse" but looks more like a
small, four-footed rodent with a lot of hair, like a hedgehog. (Someone at
the game company may not have realized that a titmouse is a bird!) If we
go by the picture, this is not a bad equivalent for mouse/rat.
>DIlbot: {Qapchu'ta'be'.} (3)
>Dilbert: "It's not perfect yet."
"it has not functioned perfectly"
Too complicated. Just use {wej} "not yet" without {-be'} or {-ta'}:
wej Qapchu'.
It is not yet functioning perfectly.
Even better, consider the verb {pup} "be perfect":
wej pup.
It's not perfect yet.
If you use {pup}, I would use {pep} "raise" in the first sentence for a
little word play.
> : {qay'be'. muqImlu' 'e' vItlho'.} (4)
>(mouse?): "No problem. I appreciate the attention."
"I am paid attention to. I thank that."
The object of {tlho'} "thank" is people (i.e. you, me) in our
examples. I'm not sure about {muqImlu'}, but you can say this more simply
using {-mo'}:
choqImmo' qatlho'.
Thanks for paying attention to me.
("Because you pay attention to me, I thank you.")
For a more Klingon feel, invoke honor:
choqImmo' jIquv.
I'm honored that you pay attention to me.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons