tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Nov 21 20:31:19 1996

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Re: KLBC:2 items

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>Date: Thu, 21 Nov 1996 18:50:50 -0800
>From: DloraH <[email protected]>
>
>>
>>>  tlhaQ nuq  'e' wISov tlhInganpu' jay'
>>>  lutmaj luyajbe' tera'nganpu' jay'
>>>  
>>>  We Klingons have a sense of humor.  Just because you Terrans don't
>>>  understand our jokes doesn't mean we're not funny.
>>
>>Was this supposed to be a translation?  I think you missed a lot of detail!
>
>No.  This was not intended to be a translation, just another expression of
>my thoughts.

Which is good!  When I write both Klingon and English, I compose them both
separately.  It's good that folks noticed this... but don't feel held to
writing the exact same thing in English and Klingon. (Then again, there's
something to be said for being a little faithful when it comes to the very
earliest beginners, so we can help tease out what the were trying to
assemble in the grammar).

>>First off, you tried to say "we Klingons" by using the "we" verb prefix, and a 
>>third-person subject.  I don't quite understand why people try to do this, but 
>>I suspect it's from a desire to emulate English.  I don't like it.  Besides, 
>>this is the perfect opportunity to say "probably the most frequently heard 
>>Klingon phrase": {tlhIngan maH}.
>>
>>Also, you have used a question word as part of a sentence-as-object statement. 
>> Again, some people like to do this, and I honestly cannot fathom the logic 
>>behind it, except that it copies English.  
>
>I think I was thinking something like:
>"what is funny?", we know it.
>But I understand what you are saying.  This is what happens when someone
>writes in a hurry.  (It ends up being 'street slang' klingon)

I tend to use the question-word in SAO constructions, though I readily
admit it is not canon nor attested.  And I use it for the reason above, NOT
because of any mirroring of English (in fact, I try to punctuate it as a
question before the 'e' to make that clearer).  "nughoS 'Iv? 'e' vISovbe'":
who's approaching us?  I don't know that.  It sometimes works better than
others, but I tentatively like it.  That's me, though, not Okrand.  (Note
one break from English that it yields, though: "I don't know if she's died"
gets translated not with -chugh but with -'a': "Heghpu''a'?  'e' vISovbe'")
Note also that charghwI' will likely make good points about casting things
more actively.

>---------------------------------------
>>Here's how I'd say the whole first bit in Klingon:
>>
>>tlhIngan maH!  tlhaQbogh lut law' DISovbej jay'!
>>We are Klingons!  Of course we know lots of funny stories!  [explitive not 
>>translated :) ]
>
>Certainly better (That's why you're the BG); but I'm not sure if it's quite
>what I was expressing.  Maybe something like:
>tlhaQchugh lut  'e' wISovbej jay'
>we certainly know if a story is funny!

Heh.  And here I'd use -'a' again. :)  Or maybe no 'e': if a story's funny,
we know it.

~mark

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