tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Sep 27 21:49:01 1997
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Re: Learning Klingon
GhItlh wrote:
>Sure, some people can say they know tlhIngan Hol. But can they speak it
>fluently.
Qov answers:
>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.
If anyone is fluent, Qov is. :-)
This is a matter of what one means by "fluency", I think. There are many
people who know the grammar without having to look up any rules. The big
difference is in how much vocabulary we have at our command. Qov carries
more words in her head than anyone else I've spoken with, but several of
us can carry on extended conversations with only rare reference to the
dictionary.
Some people mistake the ability to translate English phrases into Klingon
quickly as fluency. When someone I'm talking to finds out that I profess
to speak Klingon well, I'm almost invariably asked to "say something in
Klingon" -- at which point I either say {tlhIngan Hol Daghojrup'a' SoH?}
or jokingly answer {vay'} before explaining that it means "something" in
Klingon. But then I'm usually asked to translate a phrase, and because I
normally can't do it without considering it for a while, my claim of being
fluent is considered an exaggeration.
Ghitlh continues:
>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.
That's a big reason for this mailing list. A language cannot be learned
properly in isolation; one needs practice with appropriate feedback. And
the MUSH <telnet://keve.kli.org:2218> is a great place to get *immediate*
feedback, if you can find someone else there to talk to.
Qov again:
>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.
Yes, what she said! I'm hoping that next year there will be enough of us
attending that I can spend the entire week doing nothing but talking to my
friends in Klingon. I don't want to alienate my non-Klingon-speaking wife
and son who will likely be there with me, of course, 'a qaSbej qaSbogh wanI'.
tlhHygh (tlhIngan Hol yajwI'pu'vaD ghItlhHom):
po'bej Qov.
pab luSovchu' law'wI'. mupImmoH mu'tay' neH.
Qov mu'tay' tIn law' Hoch vIqIHta'bogh tIn puS.
roD juppu'wI'vaD QIt jImughlaw'mo' tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhchu'qu' net Harbe'.
lI'qu'bej jabbI'IDghomvam MUSH je.
Dun qep'a'.
-- ghunchu'wI'