tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Oct 15 12:24:11 1997

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RE: A song translation...



ghItlh Qov:
> At 18:06 97-10-14 -0700, pagh wrote:
> }qo'vamDaq maHagh 'ej maSaQ je
>
> The stress is really funny in this line.  I'm not
> musical at all, but I'm pretty sure the original
> stress is weak strong weak strong ending the
> line on a strong stress.

I'm even less musical, so I'll have a hard time explaining, but I'll try.   
In the English ("It's a world of laughter, a world of tears"), the stress   
(as I remember) is on the first "of" and the second "world", which   
corresponds to the ma- in <maHagh> and the first note in <SaQ>, which   
gets two notes. It's important to start the <qo'vamDaq> like "It's a   
world": repeat the same note three times, with no stress. If you do this,   
the rest falls into place. If not, the whole thing is off.

> }matultaH 'ej wIghIjlu' je
>
> Here the stress ends up on the conjunctions
> but at least it hits both verb stems.

I'm not sure what you mean about the conjunctions, but it does hit both   
verb stems. The 'ej is not stressed at all when I sing it, and the je   
gets less stress than the verbs. The first note in <tul> (which gets 2)   
and <ghIj> each correspond to a "world" in the English, and these are the   
primary stresses in the line.

> }marurchuqchu'mo'
> }vaj tIqDu'majvo'
> }machbej qo'vam 'e' wItu'
>
> *This* works well.

Thanks. In both the first two lines, the first syllable (the ma- and the   
vaj) get two notes. A literal translation of the English was impossible   
within the song, and probably just plain impossible. This works better.

> }
> }machbej qo'vam 'e' wItu'
> }machbej qo'vam 'e' wItu'
> }machbej qo'vam 'e' wItu'
> }machqu'bej qo'vam
> }
> }wa' maS neH tu'lu' 'ej wa' Hov SuD
> }'ej reH HochvaD juppu' 'oS monDu'
>
> The noun {mon} means capital (of a place).
> You're confused ith the verb {mon}.

You're right, but I can't think of anything better. Also (as I posted   
earlier), <juHHov> is better than just <Hov>.

> }vaj nuwav HuD'a'mey
> }'ej tInqu' bIQ'a'mey
> }'a machbej qo'vam 'e' wItu'
>
> I'll probably be singing the chorus in the shower tomorrow. :P

I found myself singing it in my head quite a while last night while   
trying to sleep. It's just as infectious in Klingon as it is in English.

pagh


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