tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Oct 07 14:13:10 1994

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Re: KLBC: Another Dutch introduction



Welcome, Ruud.

According to [email protected]:
> 
> Hello,
> 
> I'd like to introduce myself again (I've sent this mail before,
> but only 5 lines seem to have gotten through.)

That's why as Beginners' Grammarian, I didn't answer. You
didn't say anything in Klingon in your first 5 lines...

> My name is Ruud Rietvink. I'm from The Netherlands 
> (or Holland if you'd prefer).
> My job is developing software for AT&T Network Systems NL.
> Some weeks ago I subscribed to the Klingon Language BBS and have come to
> find the language and the discussions about it, uh, most interesting.
> 
> To plunge into the depth I've tried to make a translation of a famous
> (earth) song. Perhaps somebody else already done it, but the intention here
> is only to get remarks on my grammar from the guys with the experience.

I did translate this one once. I'll try to dig it up for
comparison. I did it quite a while ago...

> Here goes:
> 
> 
> wa'Hu' Hoplaw SengmeywIj Hoch

Good so far.

> DaH naDev ghoSbe'choHtaH

{ghoS} has a somewhat slippery definition. Here, it could mean
"approach" as easily as "go away from". To make your intended
meaning better, you can use {naDevvo'} since the {-vo'} suffix
makes it clear that your troubles continue to not follow the
path AWAY from here.

> Dun wa'Hu' vIHarbej
> 
> loD'a' jIHpu' 'ach pay' loDHom jIhchoH

Careful here. The suffix {-pu'} does not indicate past tense.
It indicates completion of the action of the verb. Since
{loD'a' jIHpu'} indicates that you already have finished the
act of "be"ing an important man and implies that you "are" no
longer an important man, you have already disarmed the effect
of {'ach} and {-choH}. You also have one of those "shifto"s in
{jIhchoH}.

I would recommend either dropping the {-pu'} or replacing
{'ach} with {'ej}. That means either, "I am an important man,
but suddenly I change to be an unimportant man," or "I had been
an important man and suddently I became an unimportant man."
This does not sound right in a literal English translation, but
the point is that {-pu'} implies that the act of the verb is
complete and does not continue. Also, realize that {-'a'} and
{-Hom} do not exactly map to "important" and "unimportant, but
the words suit this example.

> DungDaqwIj HuStaH QIb
> pay' mughoSbejpu' wa'Hu'

I enjoy your twist on this translation.

> qatlh jIHvo'mughoSnIS 'e' vISovbe'

Sometimes {jaH} offers a better translation than {ghoS}. The
problem is that given {jIHvo'}, you do not need to redundantly
use the prefix {mu-} with {ghoS}. If you used {jaH}, you would
not need an object at all. {qatlh jIHvo' jaHnIS 'e' vISovbe'}.

> muja'qangpu'be'

maj.

> vIjatlhHa' 'ej qaSqa' wa'Hu' 'e' vIneH

majQa'! Maybe toss in {DaH} after {'ej} or {'e'}...

> 
> I hope I didn't make any typos and Shiftos.

Just one of each: jIhchoH and jIHvo'mughoSnIS.

> Why didn't they get another letter for the Q sound (like K) so not
> capatilizing it wouldn't be such a big error?

Case was chosen in a rough approximation of a notation used by
linguists to indicate specific sounds. While it does not
exactly map to the linguistic standard, it comes close.
Linguists, for example refer to two different vowel sounds "i"
and "I". Klingon doesn't use the "i" sound, so it doesn't use
the "i" notation.

> I have other questions about this notation, but I'll do this in
> a next mail.
> 
> Greetings,
> 
> Ruud Rietvink
> 
> "If everybody would listen all the time, it would be very quiet."

qarqu' mu'meyvam.

charghwI'



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