tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat May 25 19:07:17 1996
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Re: KLBC
- From: "Dr. Lawrence M. Schoen" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: KLBC
- Date: Sat, 25 May 1996 19:07:17 -0700
> Laurel Beckley writes:
> >jISopqang 'ach jISopnIsbe' I am willing to eat but I don't need to eat.
>
And the grammarian replied with:
> That's one way to translate the Klingon, but I think it ought to be
> translated with the "continuous" meaning made a bit more explicit:
> "Do you continuously eat?" If you are trying to ask if someone is
> eating at the present time, remember that tense is unspecified. The
> "are you" interpretation can just as easily be taken as "will you be"
> or "were you". If you really mean "Are you eating now" you should
> probably ask {DaH bISop'a'?}
This strikes me as too wordy (even if it is only "two wordy"). And, arguably,
it stress the immediacy of the action rather than what I'm guessing would be the
more typical intent (though don't beat me too much if I'm wrong) in such a
situation. The gerund in the English rendering is a good clue that you might
more easily render this as {bISoplI''a'}.
Ah, the economy of Klingon!
Lawrence
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