tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Dec 13 15:35:44 1996

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RE: Translation



December 13, 1996 4:04 PM, jatlh Travis R Rolph:

> My friend sent me this the other day when he found out I was beginning to 
study
> Klingon:
> 
> > juSpu'DI' wa'vatlh DIS,

As far as I know, {juS} refers to overtaking in a spacial sense.  {qetwI' 
vIjuS} "I passed the runner."  For "One hunderd years have occurred," use 
{qaS}  {qaSpu'DI' wa'vatlh DIS}.

> > ghoSbogh veS Suvlu'pu'DI',

"As soon as the war which came had been fought."  First of all, I think {ghoS} 
must be used in a spacial sense.  "War came" is not spacial.  Secondly, the 
way the verb {Suv} works, I don't think you fight a *war*, you fight 
*somebody*.  You can fight *for* a war, of course.

I'd change this whole thing to {ghoblu'pu'DI'} "As soon as making war was 
finished."  (This use of {ghob} was introduced in TKW.)

> > yay wIghajDI' tlhIngan
> > wo',

Yes, I think he was trying to say "when we of the Klingon Empire have 
victory."  I don't think you can do this to indicate "we of the Klingon 
Empire."  I also don't think you should "have" victory.

yay chavDI' tlhIngan wo'
When the Klingon Empire achieved victory.

If you *really* need to say that we are of the Klingon Empire (as if that 
weren't obvious), just throw in a {tlhIngan maH!} somewhere.

> > tlhIngan Hol bojatlhbej Humanpu' Hoch jay'!

Again, he's trying to say "All of you humans" by confusing prefix and subject.

tlhIngan Hol jatlhbej Hoch Human jay'!
Every #&$^#@ human will certainly speak Klingon!

If it isn't clear that the speaker is talking to humans, just say so.

> > Heghbej DIvI' Hol! Heghbej
> > Human Hol latlhmey Hoch je!

He's trying to say "All other human languages."  We know that to say "All 
<something>," one says {Hoch <something>}.  We don't know if we can use 
{latlh} as we do {Hoch}.

Heghbej DIvI' Hol!  Heghbej je Hoch latlh.
Federation Standard will die!  All others will die, too!

> che'bejqu' tlhIngan Hol!

The emphasis is not on ruling, it's on the {-bej}.  "Klingon will DEFINITELY 
rule!"> I couldn't find <jay'> or <latlhmey> in my dictionary or on the web 
page.

> I think that <jay'> is an adverb of duration, like forever.  <latlhmey> is
> the plural of the objective noun <latlh>, but what does <latlh> mean?

Both {jay'} and {latlh} are in the Addendum to TKD.

-- 
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 96952.7


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