tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jul 18 22:52:04 1994
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Re: Thinking in Klingon
- From: Mark Reed <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Thinking in Klingon
- Date: Tue, 19 Jul 1994 10:47:35 -0400 (EDT)
- In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> from "Heidi Wessman" at Jul 18, 94 05:37:21 pm
\ba'!
\
\Usually, when I'm hungry, I'm craving something. So, I always have
\something in mind, when vISopnIS.
Usually, thinking of English isn't a good way to learn, but in
this case it is helpful. "vISopnIS" means "I want to eat it." The "it" is
there in the sentence, and you can't escape it. You need to have more than
something "in mind" - you need to have a definite target for your hunger that
the listener knows about. And even in that case, you're far more likely
to use a more specific object. How often, in your daily life, do you say
"I want to eat it"? You're much more likely to say "I want to eat *that*",
or "I want to eat", or "I want to eat a pizza", or whatever. And if you
want to say "I want to eat", then you would say "jISopnIS", not "vISopnIS".
(Although I would probably just say "jIghung").
Ditto for the classroom situation. Think of an English instructor.
The phrase "Do you understand it?" ("boyaj'a'?") is not going to crop up very
often, certainly not as much as "Do you understand?" ("Suyaj'a'?") or "Do you
understand that?" ("Dochvetlh boyaj'a'?").
IMHO, Dr. Okrand makes the point very clearly in the mu'ghom.
-marqoS