tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Mar 06 14:15:55 1998

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Re: English - thlIngan - german

: SKI: Qov wants everyone who can read any version of the Klingon 
: Dictionary to be able to post here, and will find a way to mark 
: German KLBCs.  In one generation of learners we will have native 
: German and Portuguese Klingon speakers to do it.
: 
: - Qov

Time for me to declare, I guess.

I agree with Qov that people should be encouraged to post in whatever
language they are able if they can't (yet) post in Klingon.  After all, this
is a *language* list, not a general Klingon fan list.  The total number of
world Klingonists with access to e-mail is rather small, so I can't imagine
there would be much of a demand - at least at the present time - for several
tlhIngan Hol lists segregated by language.  People who post (including
eventually those who post in English) will have to bear in mind that some on
this list might not be able to read their post, including just that person
who has the answer to their question.  Others will have to resign themselves
to not being able to contribute their {cha' DarSeq} to every single topic on
the list.  

But then, who really has the time to read EVERY post on every mailing list
and newsgroup they subscribe to anyway?  I certainly don't.  I look at the
subject headings, pick those that look interesting, and skip the rest.  Some
threads will remain entirely in one language and won't be read by everyone.
This already happens to some degree today, since many people routinely
ignore threads written entirely in Hol.

Like anyone who has done postgraduate work in the humanities, I can more or
less read English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, etc. (the basic
conference languages), as well as Russian, Hebrew, Yiddish and Esperanto.
And, after several years cataloging books from all over the world at a major
research library, I can get the gist of a few others.  However, I certainly
can't write all these languages, nor would I even want to inflict my
attempts on those who can.  So, if I read an interesting comment or question
in German, for example, I will probably answer it in English.  If the poster
doesn't understand my answer, we can deal with it off list.  Because of the
nature of this listserv, I suspect there are many linguists and language
buffs on this list who are lurking.  Opening the list up may encourage some
of them to post when they feel they can contribute, if only as an
interpreter.  In fact, welcoming speakers of all languages will encourage
everyone to use more Klingon, just so we can understand each other.

Ultimately, we all win.


Voragh

 
_____________________________________________________________________________
 Steven Boozer    The University of Chicago Library    [email protected]

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