tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Nov 27 01:09:49 1997
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Re: north, south, east, west and distances
- From: Qov <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: north, south, east, west and distances
- Date: Thu, 27 Nov 1997 01:09:46 -0800
This bounced, and I think it's been largely answered eleswhere, but I'll
send it anyway.
Philippe Lavoie wrote:
> jISov jIlIHegh should in tlhIngan 'ach jIlaHbe'
>
> (I know I should introduce myself in Klingon but I can't)
Full marks for trying. Problem is you not only have to write the
words in Klingon but organize the thoughts in Klingon, too.
jIlIH'egh - the suffix {'egh} starts with a {'} -- there is a typo in
the book.
"should" is expressed through the suffix {-nIS}
jIlIH'eghnIS - I should introduce myself
To make one verb the object of another verb, use the
"sentence-as-object" (SAO) construction with {'e'}. Read about it in
section 6.3, and remember to use the correct verb prefix for a third
person object.
jIIH'eghnIS 'e' vISov ... - "I know I should introduce myself..."
... 'ach vIta'laHbe' - "... but I can't accomplish it."
The verb suffix {-laH} has to be attached to some verb, and again the
prefix has to indicate its object.
> Well I've decided to use the Klingon language as the old tongue in
> an AD&D campaign I'm doing. However, I quickly got into a problems
> when I wanted to translate the following
>
> The dogs are hidding about 2 kilometers to the south of here.
>
> Here, dogs is used as an insult describing the ennemy. I also want
> to portray that the ennemy is a coward.
>
> My problem is that I don't know how to translate the cardinal
> points (north, south, east and west)
Neither do we. We don't even know if Klingons have names for the
points of the compass, how many points they recognize, or even
if they have a relative directional system at all. You'll have to
say 'in the direction of the mountains' 'in the direction of the
dawn' 'at the side of the lake' or some such.
> and I don't know how to
> translate distance into klingons. I suppose I could use 2,000 foot
> but I prefer kilometer or mile to indicate big distances.
There is a Klingon unit of measurement called the kelicam {qelI'qam}
that is of the same order of magnitude as the kilometre.
> So far I have
>
> qam cha'SanID <south>Daq Ha'DibaHDu' So'vIp
>
> which I think is
>
> foot 2000 south-location animals hiding-afraid
That IS more or less what you have said. I hope you understand
that although the word order of Klingon is different than English,
proper Klingon isn't a string of vague words from which syntax is
derived by free association. Thinking in Klingon is as logically
organized as thinking in English, it just is a different logic.
> As you can see, I need help with the translation :)
{-Du'} is the plural for body parts. Intelligent beings take {-pu'}
and things and animals have plurals in {-mey}. The only canon example
I know of a word from one class being used in plural to describe a
something of another class, is {DeSqIvDu'} describing pot handles, in
KGT. This takes the plural normal for the word, even though pot
handles aren't really body parts. Therefore I will assume that
{Ha'DIbaH} referring to people is the same. {Ha'DIbaHmey}.
{So'vIp} is "they are afraid to hide" not "hiding afraid"
There is no reason to assume that the body part "foot" is a unit of
measurement in Klingon.
In a Klingon sentence the subject always goes after the verb, so
salvaging what's left of the sentence, we get:
<somewhere>Daq So' Ha'DIbaHmey.
"The animals hide somewhere."
> P.S. In Klingon, do you use a comma between phrases ?
We don't use the native Klingon writing system, so we use any
punctuation from our own languages that makes the Klingon easier to
read.
Qov [email protected]
Beginners' Grammarian