tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Sep 16 00:26:12 1997
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Re: help
- From: Qov <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: help
- Date: Tue, 16 Sep 1997 00:26:00 -0700 (PDT)
At 06:36 PM 9/15/97 -0700, SIqchS Qar'ter wrote:
>It's times like these when you realize how "over your head" you can get
>sometimes.(good thing I can swim.)...Anyone have any ideas how a dislexic
>like myself can catch on quicker?
I don't have personal experience with dyslexia, beyond seeing people succeed
at things that are hard for them by being creative in learning techniques,
and working really hard. You appear to be able to type English better than,
say, the average IRCer, so you obviously have some strategies that helped
you learn that. It worked for English. It will work for Klingon.
>Hints? Tips? Suggestions?
>Shortcuts? Feedback on how to get the basics down?
Okay, here goes a long posting on Qov's Klingon Learning Tips. I'd better
save this for the next time someone asks.
When you learn a language, there are three stages: the sounds, the grammar
and the vocabulary. You learn the sounds fairly quickly, although you can
go on improving your accent. You learn the grammar in a finite amount of
time. You go on learning vocabulary forever, in most languages.
Learning Sounds:
Read Marc's description of the Klingon sounds carefully and see that your
tongue and lips and throat do what is described.
Listen to the tapes over and over again, so the sounds become very familiar.
Put a ghetto blaster with a blank tape in it on your lap while the PK/CK
tape is in the stereo (or any other combination of borrowed or hacked
together equipment that allows you to listen and record). Play some of the
tape. Speak into the recorder. Rewind and listen to both. Endure the pain
of what you sound like. Try again. Blather. Wince. Repeat.
Get a linguistics textbook out of the library and read in more detail about
how the sounds are formed. (Ask a list member for the recognized names of
the sounds.)
Learning Grammar:
The number one step *is* to read the grammar and try to ram it into your head.
You do need to learn everything in that book. Just not all at once.
Concentrate on one grammar section at a time. Read section 3.3 and 3.3.1.
Read them again. Shut the book and explain to yourself what it means. Make
up some examples of words that use the type 1 noun suffix {-'a'}. Post them
to the list with what you feel they mean. Spend a day walking around
looking for instances of things that you could describe using {-'a'}. (e.g.
look at a colleague's coffee mug and think: "That's not a HIvje'. That's a
HIvje''a'!" Look at a limo or a Great Bernard and think: *car*'a',
*dog*'a'. When you've embedded that concept in your head, move on to the
next suffix type. Make sure you post any questions to the list, so you
don't get off on a wrong course.
Study concepts in different ways. Try learning the type 6 verb suffixes
while standing on top of the table, or reciting the type 5 noun suffixes
while running around acting out what they mean. (People already think
you're crazy for learning Klingon, so who cares if anyone sees you.) I was
once having trouble remembering the Russian word for quickly: byistro. I
ran up and down the hall yelling "byistro" and thinking of a small mobile
French restaurant (yes, like the one in the Hitchhiker's novels). I learned
the word and it wasn't until years later that I learned that bistro and
byistro *are* etymologically related.
Try to read things posted to the list. Even if you have to look up every
single syllable. Work at it.
Learning Vocabulary:
There isn't really a great secret here. The answer is: want to learn it,
and work at it hard. Learn n words a day, for some n that is slightly
harder than you think you can handle.
Whenever you make up a practice example, spend a moment to find a useful
word you don't know yet, and use it, instead of the standard {muHoH
tlhIngan} sort of vocabulary.
Read through the entire vocabulary list. Not all at once, maybe a page at a
time, with a bookmark. Don't think about memorizing it, yet. Just look at
them. You'll laugh to find that we have words for deodorant and pajamas,
and you'll get a bit of a feel for what kind of words we have.
As you're going through the list, every time you find a word for something
that you actually have in your home, write the word on a small label and
stick it to that item. My husband knows Klingon words from this technique,
against his will!
Put an elastic band around your dictionary. Every time you go to look up a
word, stop, zing yourself with the elastic if necessary, and ask yourself
what the word is. Even if it is a COMPLETE guess, you must guess something
before you are allowed to open the dictionary. You may notice that you
remember that the word is about five from the bottom on the left facing
page. (For goodness sakes! You're using up space in your memory to remember
*where* a three letter word is located?) Then look up your guess, not the
original word. If you're right, well then you know the word, and why did
you go to look it up? If you're wrong, now you're allowed to look up the
word. Basically, you are lazy. You can't be bothered to pull the word out
of your memory, so you look it up. If you make looking up the word just as
much effort for yourself as remembering it, you'll start to remember.
Running around the room before you're allowed to use the dictionary, or
keeping the dictionary in the refrigerator are good, too.
Take advantage of situations to learn words. Learn the words for sorts of
transport and the verbs for travelling and moving while you are on public
transit. Play with your kids or your SO by naming their body parts in
Klingon. Cook in Klingon.
Have a goal. Be determined to learn all the b-words by the end of the
month, or through to the tlh-words by next qep'a'. Doesn't matter what it is.
Memorize proverbs. This will help with grammar *and* vocabulary. Once you
have a few proverbs memorized, you can apply that structure to other things.
So {bIje'be'chugh vaj bIHegh} can be turned into {bIqeqbe'chugh vaj bIluj}.
Just make sure you're not looking at one of the proverbs with unusual
grammar, like {pung ghap HoS} or {QamvIS Hegh qaq law' torvIS yIn qaq puS}.
Yes, Qov says: learn the grammar by reading the dictionary over and over
again. Learn the vocabulary by NOT reading the dictionary over and over again.
>I own TKD and TKW,but its not working.
You are the one who needs to work. The book *will* just sit there.
>I want the audio tapes,but am afraid that it won't help me be able to
>comprehend the written language any better.
It might. In fact, you might find it worthwhile to ready TKD onto tape and
listen to it. Dunno if that makes sense, but it certainly couldn't hurt.
And a note about the transcription of your name:
SIqchS Qar'ter
You are perfectly welcome to call yourself anything you like on this list,
but you should know that the above name doesn't conform to what we
understand about Klingon phoenetics.
The consonant cluster{qchS} doesn't exist at the end of any known Klingon
syllable, nor does {r't} ever appear anywhere. {'} is not a decoration:
it's a real letter and should only be used where you want people to actually
make the sound it represents.
Sixx Carter, if Sixx is pronounced like the number, I would transliterate:
{SIqIS qarter} or perhaps {SIQ} or {SIS}.
Good one Qov: send your longest message yet in response to a person who is
asking about a reading dysfunction. Ah well. I try.
Qov ([email protected])
Beginners' Grammarian