tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Oct 11 14:37:01 1994
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Re: ANOTHER TRY
Figuring that this may help other beginners, since (sorry for
the repetition, but some newbies may not know this) I act as the
Beginners' Grammarian, (my assigned role here), here is my
translation:
According to [email protected]:
>
> matlh chut (joq vIt'a'):
> lujlaHchugh lujbej.
> rut lujlaHbe'chugh luj.
The law (and/or major truth) is loyal:
If it can fail, it definitely fails.
Sometimes, if it cannot fail, it fails.
> tlhIngan vIjatlh nIDgacHwIj cha'DIch.
Ummm. Almost. "My second attempt I speak to a Klingon."
Note that if you meant that you speak Klingon, you need to say
{tlhIngan Hol}. In English, we can leave off the language
because we use Klingon as an adjective and we can imply from
context that there is a dropped noun. In the term {tlhIngan
Hol}, however, the word {tlhIngan} is a noun meaning a person
of the Klingon race. Leave off {Hol} and you are talking to
such a person, rather than necessarily speaking that person's
language.
The second point is that {nIDghachwIj cha'DIch} has no
grammatical reason to be in the sentence. I might say what you
tried to say as:
DaH tlhIngan Hol lo'bogh jabbI'IDwIj'e' cha'DIch vIta'.
Hmm. This is actually not easy to say in Klingon. I was seeking
to say, "Now, I accomplish my second transmission which uses
Klingon language." The sticking point is that {cha'DIch} is
chuvmey in a position and with a function similar to an
adjectival verb, which would take the {-'e'} suffix instead of
{jabbI'IDwij}, but then that rule is for adjectival verbs and
not chuvmey, but then when pronouns (chuvmey) behave as verbs,
they get verb suffixes. So, where does the {-'e'} go?
How about a word from the REAL grammarians?
I also thought of:
tlhIngan Hol jabbI'IDwIj cha'DIch chen wanI'vam.
"This event forms my second transmission of the language of a
Klingon."
Perhaps that is less grammatically strange?
> chay' vIjatlhlI'?
"How am I speaking?"
Not bad at all. My suggested recasting is not the only
possibility. It's just my personal style, trying to solve the
problem of your original thought stated through the available
tools of the Klingon language which which I have familiarity.
> Robert Altenburg
charghwI'
DaH jISopmeH vIjaHnIS.