tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Mar 27 17:46:55 1996

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Re: nuqneH (Perry)



Hi, Perry.  I hope you stop "playing" with tlhIngan Hol and start "working"
with it.  Languages should be tools first, toys second!  Here's my standard
spiel:

I'm called ghunchu'wI', and I'm the list's current Beginners' Grammarian.
My job is specifically to help people who are beginning to learn to write
and/or speak tlhIngan Hol.

If you want feedback on what you have written, put KLBC (Klingon Language
Beginners' Conference) in the subject line of the message.  That tells me
that I should look at the message quickly.  I will be ready to assist you
with any questions you have, or to check your grammar, or simply to offer
my opinion on your writing.  The KLBC marker also indicates that the rest
of the people on the list ought not to jump in with their comments before
I have had a chance to give my response.

Perry writes:
>Perry pongwIj (pongwI'?)

{-wIj} is correct; while your name represents you and you obviously can use
language, names themselves can't speak.  But where's the verb?  Look at TKD
section 6.3 for an explanation of how pronouns can be used to mean "to be".
In order to translate "Perry is my name" you can say {pongwIj 'oH Perry'e'}.

>tlhIngan jIjatlhchu'be'.

We speak {tlhIngan Hol} here; {tlhIngan} is a race or a culture, not a
language.  I'm being a little nit-picky here, but I think it's important
to emphasize precision to make sure beginners learn as well as they can.
Among fluent speakers, the rules can be a teeny bit more relaxed, but I
reserve the right to point out beginners' small flaws.  For instance, the
verb prefix in your sentence should be {vI'-}; the verb has an object.
But {-chu'be'} is a *great* way to express "imperfectly" -- majQa'.

>Well, I guess it's a start.  I have been 'playing' with tlhIngan for a =
>few years now in my spare time.  I haven't ever written or done anything =
>serious in it, but maybe now I will.

It's amazing how serious one can get with a language that started out as
a few lines of dialogue in a movie.  Have you visited the Klingon Language
Institute's World Wide Web site <http://www.kli.org/>?  Do you know of the
Klingon Shakespeare Restoration Project and its publication of Hamlet?  Or
the Klingon Writing Project's {jatmey} -- "an anthology of original poetry
and fiction"?

>It's actually rather interesting that there are others out there who =
>take this language (at least a little) seriously.

tlhIngan Hol vIqeltaHvIS jISaghchu'.

>SuHeghchu'  (Die well)

Not quite.  This says "You all die well" as a statement.  If you want to
make it a command, you would say {peHeghchu'}.  A more Klingon sentiment
would be {batlh peHegh} "Die with honor."  I'd prefer it as a "wish" or a
"toast", though:  {batlh SuHeghjaj} "May you all die with honor."

-- ghunchu'wI'               batlh Suvchugh vaj batlh SovchoH vaj




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