tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jan 07 17:58:39 1997

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RE: KLBC: Translation Practice



January 06, 1997 11:26 PM, jatlh [email protected]:

> If I were to translate "I will remember you with
> honor" should the outcome be {batlh qaqawtaH}?

HIja'.

> I have attempted to translate the Vulcan salute "Live Long and Prosper" into
> {tlhIngan Hol}.

Somewhere along the line, Okrand himself translated this, I believe.  Can 
someone dig it up?  O Voragh, Canon-Master?  {{:-)

> I realize that this may not be a typical Klingon expression,
> but I would liken a Klingon saying this to an honorable Vulcan who saluted
> the Klingon in {tlhIngan Hol} to the time when Worf said "Goodbye" to Picard
> when {janluq pIqarD HoD} honored Worf with {Qapla'}.

Quite right.  And though we know that the Klingons gods were slain by great 
warriors long ago, Worf is perfectly comfortable with the Bajorans' faith.  
But then, Worf isn't exactly your typical Klingon . . .

> My attempts at
> translating this turned out as: 1. {nI' bIyInjaj 'ej yIchepjaj} "may you 
live
> long -and- may you be prosperous"

The problem here is that {nI'} isn't an adverbial, it's a verb.  You cannot 
use it to modify {bIyInjaj} like this.  You have to add in a clause of some 
kind:

qaStaHvIS poH nI' bIyInjaj 'ej bIchepjaj.

Also note that you cannot have both an imperative prefix and {-jaj} on a verb.

> and 2. {nI'jaj yInwIj  'ej  yIchepjaj} "may
> your life be lengthy -and- may you be prosperous."

Much better!  Using {nI'} directly makes much more sense.  Careful, though, 
you need to write {bIchepjaj} again.  And it's not {yInwIj}, it's {yInlIj}.

nI'jaj yInwIj 'ej bIchepjaj.

> "Where is the lunchroom?"
> naDev meghpa' ?

This says "Here lunchroom?"  You need a complete sentence.

nuqDaq 'oH meghpa''e'?

Think of the well-known phrase {nuqDaq 'oH puchpa''e'?}

> "Where is my coat?"
> naDev wepwIj ?

nuqDaq 'oH wepwIj'e'?

> "I am going to my room."
> pa'wIjDaq ghoStaH jIH.

Your verb prefix must match the subject and object.  In this sentence, you 
only have a subject, but it's "I," so you need {jI-}.

Is {-taH} the suffix you really want here?  It's possible, but it's much more 
likely that you mean {-lI'}.  With this suffix, you are indicating that there 
is a known stopping point to your journey (in this case, your room).  With 
{-taH}, you have no indication of a goal.  Using {-taH} would suggest to me 
that you're ambling on, in the general direction of your room, but that you 
have no particular destination in mind, at least not one that's relative to 
the sentence.

Also note that using {-Daq} with {ghoS} is a little redundant, although not 
wrong.  You can say {pa'wIj vIghoSlI'} and {pa'wIjDaq jIghoSlI'}, and still 
mean exactly the same thing, without the redundancy.

> "Let's go to the lunchroom."
> meghpa'Daq Ha'.

{Ha'} is not a noun or a verb; it's called an exclamation.  It's not meant to 
be used in conjunction with other words.  You can use other words you already 
know to do this:

meghpa' wIghoS.  Ha'!
We're going to the lunchroom.  Come on!

> "Eat that now!"
> DaH Sojvatlh yISop!

The correct noun suffix is {-vetlh}, but this is otherwise right.

> "Don't disobey me!"
> cholobHa'Qo'!

This is a command, and so must use the imperative prefixes.  Subject "you" and 
object "me" imperative prefix is {HI-}.

HIlobHa'Qo'!

> "What are you waiting for?"
> nuq bIloStaH?

Since {nuq} is the object of the verb, the verb prefix must indicate a third 
person, singular object.  Use {Da-}.  (Perhaps you should reread the section 
on verb prefixes?)

nuq DaloStaH?

> "You give me your chocolate now!"
> DaH yuchlIj chonob

This is a statement, "You give me your chocolate now."  It is what seems to be 
a form of shorthand in Klingon, with the full sentence being {DaH jIHvaD 
yuchlIj Danob}.

But what you want, again, is a command.  Use the imperative prefixes.

DaH jIHvaD yuchlIj yInob!

or

DaH yuchlIj HInob!

> "You give me all your chocolate now or I will kill you!"
> DaH yuchlIj Hoch chonob pagh qaHoH!

First, we now know that if you want to say "all of your chocolate," you must 
say {Hoch yuchlIj} (actually, it sounds to me rather like "Each of your 
chocolates")

Once again, you need to use imperative prefixes.

DaH jIHvaD Hoch yuchlIj yInob pagh qaHoH!

Klingon has a better way to say a "choose between this or that," which is used 
often by Okrand:

DaH jIHvaD Hoch yuchlIj Danobbe'chugh, vaj qaHoH!
If you do not give me all of your chocolate, I will kill you!

Consider one of the examples:

Buy or die!
bIje'be'chugh vaj bIHegh!

> "If you don't give me all your chocolate now, then I will kill you!"
> DaH yuchlIj Hoch chonobQo'chugh vaj qaHoH!

Oh!  You did it yourself!  majQa'!

This is actually a very good time to use {-Qo'}.  "If you *refuse* to give me 
. . ."

> This last one was intended as a joke, a reversing of words to illustrate an
> ill-affected mental state.  We realize that this is violating the rules, but
> we tried follow the rules while breaking the rules (similiar to one saying
> "dain bramage").

And you want me to correct it?!?  {{:-)

> "I hope I didn't brain my damage."
> QIHwIj vIyabpu'be' jItul

I saw the commercial for this Simpsons episode, but I didn't see it.

"I hope that . . ." would be done as a sentence-as-object sentence (TKD 
section 6.2.5).  {'e' vItul}.

-- 
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 97021.2


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