tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Oct 15 12:08:37 1997

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Re: More translation Sentences

ja'pu' Qov:
>...you can't say "must be willing to" in Klingon easily.

ja' SuStel:
>bIHeghqang net poQ
>You must be willing to die.

wejpuH.  Yes, it's easy to express the same idea -- *if* you recognize
that the grammar doesn't let you use the same structure in Klingon as
you can in English.  It looks like Qov was setting a trap for some of 
the beginners, waiting to see if *they* would notice the problem.

You have changed the sentence to say something like "It is required
that you be willing to die."  While it might mean the same thing as 
"You must be willing to die," the fact remains:  you can't easily 
*say* "must be willing to" in Klingon.  Recasting the idea into other 
words is a useful tool, but learning to see when recasting is required
is important.

Along the same lines, you can't say "be willing to be ready to jump" 
or "he seems to be completely dead" or "I have been cooking breakfast"
very easily either.  There are other phrases that can express these 
ideas, but they don't say the same thing.  Like "it is difficult to 
endure the pain", the emphasis needs to be carefully considered when 
making a non-literal translation of the concept.

-- ghunchu'wI'

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