tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Dec 01 12:07:56 1994
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Re: please pay some respect to lingual minorities
Just one or two things I have to say...
SL: Ever crossed your mind you that TKD could be translated to
other languages? Shouldn't we offer help to non-English
speakers in their native language as much as it is possible
and not discredit them? Do we desire more people learning
Klingon or are we going to keep it within a small circle of
freaks?
Of course it should! But as I said, to the best of my knowledge, it has
not yet been done. Cars also should have autopilots, but until then we
have to use what's available. I'd defeinitely encourage anyone with the
ability to translate TKD into other languages and get other people
interested (preferably after checking the legal issues with Paramount).
But until such time as TKD *is* translated, we know that, for better or
worse, anyone who's read it has read it in English.
? Obviously, we'd prefer a language we can all understand as
who "we" ^^
Why, everyone reading the list of course.
? the language of discussion on this list. The only language
? for which we have proof that people interested in Klingon
? would know is English (as I said above, because that's the
SL: Are you trying to say that because the information about
Klingon is made available only in English it's imposiible
that speakers of other languages could be interested in it?
No, I'm saying that while speakers of other languages could be interested
in it, the only way they could get information on it and get much into the
language (AT THIS POINT, before any translations have been made) is if they
also spoke English. This is not a good thing, but it's the current
situation. It's not a situation which should be maintained, but it's a
situation that is the case now.
? only language you can get the dictionary in). I think that
? at the very least, if you post in a language other than
? Klingon or English, you should be expected to post a
? translation (or *very* detailed abstract) in one of those
? languages.
SL: Of course, that's exactly what I was trying to say...
Whew. I was worried we really disagreed on this point. I'd have *no*
problem whatsoever with posts in whatever language you choose to write in,
so long as there was a reasonably good version of it in a language I could
read attached. And the only language we know everyone on the list can read
is English, so while you could post Esperanto and Welsh translations as
well, it might not be worth your time for the other folks who can't handle
those.
? to make sense of a long post. But given that English is the
? only language we know we all have at least partly in common, and
^^^^ ^^^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ really...? c'mon...
I'm afraid so. By the logic above, we know that to get into the Klingon,
fortunately or unfortunately, you have to have some English. And I know
for a fact that there are people on this list who speak nothing but English
and a little Klingon. Again, it's not really something to be happy about,
but it's the situation we're stuck with.
Anyway, feel free to post in Finnish or whatever (from my perspective,
anyway), so long as you either post a language I can read or else don't
expect me to read it! :) And hey, if you want to make a Finnish Klingon
lesson, that would be really great. I'll work with you on an Esperanto one
if you want (I bet we could find a whole mess of Esperantists here who'd do
the same).
~mark