tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Sep 27 19:31:27 1997
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Re: Learning Klingon
- From: Qov <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Learning Klingon
- Date: Sat, 27 Sep 1997 19:31:15 -0700
At 07:24 97-09-27 -0700, GhItlh wrote:
}My name is Nicholas James Bridgewater. My Klingon name is GhItlh (based on
}the Klingon word ghItlh `meaning write'.)
Welcome to the list, GhItlh. I am Qov, the current Beginners' Grammarian
and I'll try to answer your questions.
}I believe I am bringing up an important issue. There are no real Klingons!!!
It is a situation we are all familiar with, and fairly frequently someone
finds it necessary to remind us, ususally prefixing the announcement with
"get a life." I can tell you aren't doing that, though, so I'll answer you
seriously.
}What is a Klingon? A Klingon is either of the following, 1. someone born on
}Kronos, 2. someone born in the Klingon Empire, 3. someone with a Klingon
father }and mother. No one follows any of these traits, save the actors on TV.
And the actors on TV merely *represent* such persons. All true.
}One way to learn a language is to live with the natives, but for learning
}Klingon, THERE ARE NO NATIVES.
And it's very frustrating. I know that I will never be able to travel to
the native country, will never be able to eavesdrop on real Klingons in the
grocery store, and that no matter how much I fiddle with my shortwave radio
I won't bring in the Voice of Qo'noS.
But that's actually one of the advantages to learning Klingon. Have you
ever studied a language for years and then been totally humiliated by the
superior ability of a native-speaking child? Come to the realization that
no matter how hard you study, there will always be people of moron IQ who
nevertheless have learned the language fluently and think nothing of it?
This doesn't happen with Klingon. With the very few exceptions-in-progress
of children being raised by tlhIngan Hol speakers, every single speaker of
the language has learned it the same way. Level playing field.
}The only other way is probably years of hard work memorizing every word and
}grammatical rule in a language.
Whether you learn a language among native speakers or not, you still need to
learn the vocabulary and the rules. It took you years of doing virtually
nothing else to learn your native language, but I admit, the process is simpler
if you can absorb them rather than reading out of a book. It doesn't,
however, need to take years to reach a conversational ability in Klingon.
}Sure, some people can say they know tlhIngan Hol. But can they speak it
}fluently.
Some people say that I speak tlhIngan Hol fluently. I disagree, but I can
say pretty much anything I need to, when I need to, and other Klingon
speakers can understand me, even if there are a few false starts and
mispronounced words. I currently speak Klingon better than I speak Russian,
and last year I travelled alone for three weeks conversing, shopping and
getting in and out of minor emergencies in Russian. I think that means I
can speak the language.
}This is troubling to me. I have been studying Klingon for some time now and I
}fear I'll never really know it. MO has written three books and made three
}tapes, but they are still not sufficient for learning the language.
They have been sufficient for many of us, but there definitely different
learning styles. I posted a list of learning suggestions a few weeks ago,
now at http://www.kli.org/tlhIngan-Hol/current/0476.html then moving in a
few days to http://www.kli.org/tlhIngan-Hol/Sep97/0476.html. You can turn
the written materials into verbal learning materials for yourself.
I highly recommend you attend the qep'a'. There you will find the closest
you are ever going to get to a Klingon-speaking environment. There are
people there who argue, tell stories, discuss the grammar, teach, brag, and
gripe, all in Klingon. It's a high.
}I have heard that you can remember something after hearing 12 times better
}than seeing something 50.
Me, I need to see something written down.
}If only MO expanded his audio series. I have heard that Marc Okrand was
}interviewed for HolQeD, but how can the average Klingon shmoe contact him?
MSN, the Microsoft Network, has a Q & A forum with MO. It's not free.
Access to MSN is around US $5 per month. Marc himself understands spoken
Klingon, but I haven't heard him speaking it spontaneously, without a script.
}Another thing that puzzles me, is that Klingon has no word for WIZARD,
}WITCH, or WARLOCK. Yet they must have used some word in the Klingon
}translation of Hamlet.
I don't remember any of those words in Hamlet, and I happen to know that in
MacBeth, the play with the witches, they only occur in speech prefixes and
stage directions, not in the actual dialogue. It's always "weird sisters"
or the like.
For now, practice your written Klingon by sending us some sentences of your own.
Start your subject line ith the letters KLBC and then I will know it is a
beginner's contribution and I'll help you out with the grammar.
Qov [email protected]
Beginners' Grammarian