tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Dec 18 21:44:22 1997
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Re: KLBC: Basic Toasts
- From: Qov <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: KLBC: Basic Toasts
- Date: Thu, 18 Dec 1997 21:44:01 -0800
At 18:00 97-12-15 -0800, edy wrote:
} Greetings!
}
} I was studing klingon from my first english lessons and there are
}some very useful toasts. I tried to translate some of them, but there are
}expressions that I couldn't.
Translating the basic expressions of one language into another language
isn't always effective if the cultures are extremely different.
}Alan: Give me your knife - tajlIj yInob
That's "give your knife." You can say {tajlIj HInob}, using the prefix to
specify what in English is an indirect object.
}Peter: Here you are - ?
Perhaps {yItlhap} or simply the sound of the knife hitting the table.
}What a mess!!!
ghIHqu'!
}If you have time, come with me - poH Daghojchugh vaj HItlhej
}What is it like? - 'oH 'ar
You are translating words not concepts here, edy. One of the biggest
problems with trying to translate these basic exercises is the very reason
they are there in the first place: they introduce the basic idioms of the
language, not phrases that can be deduced from simple knowledge of grammar
and vocabulary. We know that Klingons do not discuss pleasantries and
consider preliminaries to be rude or underhanded, so you can skip all the
lessons that involve greeting rituals like people saying hello and askling
how each other and their families are. You can skip all the discussions of
weather and other small talk. A Klingon "everyday situations" primer would
probably start with "Korax joins the army."
}I like chocolate, don't you? yuch vImuSHa' ..
For English sentences that use auxiliary verbs to repeat part of the
meaning, the whole verb must be repeated in Klingon. {yuch vIparHa'.
DaparHa''a'?}
"I will go and you won't" {jIjaH 'ej bIjaHbe'}
"We are eating lunch but they have finished" {megh wISop 'ach luSopta' chaH}
}It's my favourite food - Sojvam vIparHa' law' Hoch vIparHa' puS
}These clothes are too big for me - jIHvaD tInqu' 'oH Sutmeyvam'e'
You're mixing the pronoun as to-be, and the to-be that is part of the
translation of the verb {tIn}. {tIn} means "be big." {tInqu' Sutvam} "this
clothing is very big"
}We are a large family - qorDu' tIn maH'e'
}There are 6 of us in the family - qorDu'Daq jav maH'e'
Why did you put the {-'e'} suffix on {maH}? I don't see that the emphasis
adds anything.
}or qorDu'Daq maHvo' jav tu'lu'
This sounds more like six of our number went to the family, or something. I
don't like the {-vo'} here at all.
I'm not 100% happy with {-Daq} for "in the family." I probably would say
{qorDu'majDaq jav nuv lutu'lu'}, and people would snicker at me for the
pedantic and never-used-in-canon {lu-} on {tu'lu'}, if not for the {-Daq}.
Qov [email protected]
Beginners' Grammarian