tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Dec 11 19:00:06 1997
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Re: [KLBC] wo' mung
- From: Qov <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: [KLBC] wo' mung
- Date: Thu, 11 Dec 1997 18:59:56 -0800
At 14:13 97-12-09 -0800, Phil wrote:
}
}It think I forgot everything Qov told me :(
ghuy'cha'!
}That or translating is very hard.
Translating IS very hard. If you want to write a text in Klingon and in
English, write the Klingon first and then translate to English. That's what
I aways do. MUCH harder the other way. You start writing Klinglish.
}Maybe I should give a bit of background first. The character is the
}main bad guy of my campaign. I'm trying to write the story of how he
}created an empire through his eyes. 1000 years ago something happened
}(the Big Sneeze, don't ask...) which caused a mix of different worlds
}to come together: a world were dinosaurs are not extinct, a world were
}Gods walk on the earth, etc.
}
}
}I am 5000 years old.
}vagh'SaD ben vIboghpu'.
vaghSaD ben jIboghpu'.
The time is not the object of the verb, just a marker for the sentence, so
the no object prefix is correct.
} I'm not happy with the above sentence but couldn't find an
} example for such an ordinary sentence.
Other than the extraneous {'} and the prefix error it's exactly how we've
been told Klingons do it.
}I was brought here 1000 years ago.
}naDev jIghoS; wa'SaD ben jIghoS.
} Almost quit when trying to translate this one. Is it any good ?
wa'SaD ben naDev vIghoS
"I came here a thousand years ago."
The place is the direct object of the verb {ghoS}. If you want to say "was
brought here" though you need to say ...
{wa'SaD ben naDev vIqemlu'} "A thousand years ago one brought me here."
}Since coming here, I have tried to make the world better for me and
}all living creatures.
}naDev jIghoSDI', Hochpu' yIn jIDubmeH.
} Oversimplified the whole sentence... the for and the since are
} beyond my grasp :(
{ghoS} emphasizes the approach, the route taken, the travel. I suggest
{paw} "arrive" instead. {Hoch} doesn't become plural in anything we have
observed. It's like English "all" in that respect, never "alls." I'm not
sure if you intended {*Hochpu' yIn jIDubmeH} to mean "I improve everyone's
life" "I improve life for all" or I improve for all life." When a Klingon
sentence contains a noun that is not part of the subject or the object, if
it is not a time word, setting the time of the sentence, it must have a
suffix on it, indicating its role in the sentence. The noun representing
the beneficiary or recipient of an action is marked with {-vaD}. I'm not
sure why you put {-meH} on {Dub}. If it was a typo for {-moH} that was a
reasonable idea, but canon shows us that {Dub} means "improve [something]"
so the {-moH} isn't needed.
Try:
naDev jIpawDI' Hoch yInwI'meyvaD jIHvaD je qo' vIDubtaH 'e' vInIDchoH
"As soon as I arrived here I took up trying to improve the world for myself
and for all living things."
English doesn't smoothly capture the feeling of {-choH} here.
{yInwI'mey} would refer to plants and animals, not just creatures, but it
means "living things."
}My first 4000 years of living taught me how this should be done.
}loS'SaD ben wa'DIch jIyInpu'mo' Dub 'e' jISov.
} Couldn't fit the 'taught me' part.
The phrase "my first 4000 years of living" makes a subject out of a passage
of time. English can do this fine. In Klingon I'd say {qaStaHvIS loSSaD
DIS jIyIn 'ej DubmeH pat vIghoj.} "I lived for 4000 years and learned the
way to improve [things]." Note {DubmeH pat}: a verb in {-meH} can modify a
noun. It's right in TKD 6.2.4 but I overlooked it until I was hammered on
the head with it.
}To understand why I'm doing this, listen to my story.
}yajmeH cho'iJ.
} Couldn't fit the "why I'm doing this". I hope I got the -meH
} right.
meH is used correctly, but you neglected a verb prefix.
Do you understand this?:
meqwIj boyajmeH HIQoy
(I used {Qoy} and not {'Ij} because {'Ij} is "listen" not "listen to" so
some argue that it can't take the thing listed to as an object.
Qov [email protected]
Beginners' Grammarian