tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Oct 30 03:33:13 1997

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Re: KBLC: How do you say?



I am not allowed to answer to this, but since I asked exactly the same
question some time ago I'll answer anyway.  }}:-)

>  In every foreign language I've studied, there was always an expression
for:
>  "How do you say ..."
>  
>  What would this be in Klingon?
>  
>  chay' jatlh ?
>  jatlh chay'  ?
>  
>  Qapla'
>  QatanI

My question was:
---> How can I say In Klingon "What does xyz mean?" when I want to know the
meaning of xyz? *xyz* 'oH nuq'e'?

the best answer, I got it from ghunchu'wI':
---> If I wanted to know what an xyz is, I would probably turn the question
around the other way: {nuq 'oH *xyz*'e'}
     If you want to find out the translation of xyz, either you can ask
politely {chay' *xyz* vImugh} or you can demand {*xyz* yImugh}.
     If you want someone merely to explain the word xyz without translating
it, {*xyz* yIQIj} is approoriate.
nuq 'oH ghargh'e'? --- 'uS Hutlhbogh Ha'DIbaH lang 'oH.
chay' ghargh vImugh? --- "worm" yIjatlh.
"foot" yImugh. --- <qam>
<quch> yIQIj --- boHDajbo' SuqmeH vay' jonlu'.

charghwI' replied to this:
---> nuqjatlh? <<boHDajbo'>> yIQIj!

ghunchu'wI' explained:
---> qamISmoHta' jItlhIj.  <voHDajbo'> vIghItlhHa'. nuv jon HeSwI'.  nuv
qorDu'vaD Qum. ja' HeSwI':  Huch tunobbe'chugh, vaj Hegh nuvvam. nuv
jonlu'ta'bogh tlhabqa'moHmeH Huch 'oH voHDajbo''e'. tev pop joq rur
voHDajbo', 'ach Hat.

Qeygh wrote:
---> I would translate that as "What is *xyz*?".   Which could be asking for
a description instead of a definition. Perhaps something like "*xyz* vIyaj
chay' 'e' DaHech?" or "*xyz* vIyaj chay' net Hech?" would be better. The
intent here is "How do you intend that I understand *xyz*?" or "How am I
meant to understand *xyz*?" -- I don't claim to be fluent, so I may have
botched this pretty badly.

That looks correct to me, but unnecessarily complicated.  Back in the days
when I had to ask for a definintion of every third word, I said, {chay' *xyz*
vImugh?} - "How do I translate *xyz*".

Qermaq said:
---> [...] Another approach is to use apposition.

tlhIngan HolvaD mu' *xyz* vIjatlh vIneHchugh, nuq vIjatlh?
If I want to say the word xyz in Klingon, what do I say?

Or even more simply -

chay' tlhIngan HolvaD mu' *xyz* vIjatlh?
How do I say the word xyz in Klingon?

Notice that the mu' *xyz* is understood to not be possesion thru context - it
simply would not make sense.

ter'eS answered to this:
--->  >Perhaps something like [...] ...it simply would not make sense.
Another alternative I see used often (and which I use myself) is nuq 'oS *X*
a little wordier:  *X* mughmeH nuq vIlo'nIS

I hope this helps you and I hope Qov leaves her painstick were it is!  }};-)

Qapla' quv je

______________
muHwI'
Stardate 97829.2
Sorry if my mail gets to you so late, but the AOL Mailing system in Germany
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