tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Nov 16 14:07:02 1997

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Re: DOW (was Re: KLBC introducing myself)

ghItlh ghunchu'wI' Qov je:

>}I found enough apparent vocabulary problems and recognizable
>typographical
>}errors, minor and major, to make me distrust it completely. :-(
>I don't even speak German and I could see after only a quick look that
we're
>going to have some seriously frustrated beginners, and possibly some
>indignant arguments, when peopel who are learning out of the German edition
>start to join us.

I find it terrible that the KLI, which boasts the most fluent Klingon
speakers in the universe and has played such an important role in
popularizing the language, is never asked to provide advice on these
publications. If I spoke German I would have 'beta-tested' the book for
free. I know that some others here would have as well. The same thing
applies to the offer the KLI made to do translation for episode scripts. (A
thought - Do they fear that if they acknowledge that there are experts on a
language they claim to own, that might weaken the claim that tlhIngan Hol is
just a 'property'?)

The folks at Paramount seem to lack a true grasp of what they actually
'own'. There must be some way to help them to understand that this language
is more real than the rest of the Star Trek mythos - that this is not a d'k
tahg they can make a plastic knockoff of and expect the fans to buy. Poor
translations of TKD will only HURT their precious language's marketability.
This language WILL NOT WORK if the rules change from one translated edition
to another. By allowing such poor translations to enter the corpus of
tlhIngan Hol canon, they are shooting themselves in the foot!

BTW Here is an important question - Must we accept the Klingon as given,
say, in DOW as canon? Or are non-English texts considered merely
translations of canon? IOW, if a word is 'mis-defined' in a foreign edition,
is that 'mistake' now a new definition of the term?

Ultimately, Paramount must acknowledge that this is not one of their toy
spaceships or mythical accounts of an alien race. We are not pretending to
speak Klingon or role-playing as Klingon speakers - tlhIngan Hol wIjatlh!
And I am frankly insulted by the recurring examples of how Paramount treats
this alleged property of theirs no differently than a little plastic
Picard - something fun to look at or play with, but with no real use aside
from entertainment value.

If it were legal, I'd suggest we create our OWN international editions of
TKD - of course, it is at worst illegal to do so, and at best questionable
enough to tempt an expensive lawsuit. But are there legal grounds for the
KLI to produce  "recommended" translated editions of KLI for submission to
Paramount for their publication? Perhaps in exchange for a mention of our
efforts in Klingon texts we were to participate in, or at least the printing
of 11 characters (www.kli.org)? (To be fair, I should mention that I am only
fluent in one language (guess which one), and  have just basic knowledge of
others. I would be a poor choice to do the job I described. But perhaps
others might be interested by this idea.)

I am just tired of seeing this language treated like it was the image of
James T. Kirk or the blueprints of the Enterprise. I would like to see the
KLI take a proactive stand on this issue. We can't afford to fight
Paramount's claim of ownership, but we can lobby for them to assume better
responsibility for that which they 'own'.

Does anyone agree with me?

I apologize for ranting so long on a topic which might be a little off-topic
here, but Oh boy, do I feel better...

Qermaq

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