tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Nov 25 12:48:24 1998
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Re: klingon opera
Quvar muHwI':
: >He wants me to translate a hole verse that is in future tense:
: >(it's about the end of the world, kind of)
: >
: >--- time will collapse, klingons will get lost, they will forget about
: >time; the air will disappear, everything will disappear; the klingon
: >homeworld will cease exiisting, and so on ---
: >
: >I have no problems with the words, so don't bother with that, but how can I
: > make this future thing?? "...will.."
charghwI':
: The only way to do this is as you've already indicated. Use a
: time stamp to indicate the future you wish to describe. It
If your friend doesn't like this solution, tell him to write a stage direction
for the singer to strike a suitably prophetic -- {leSSov} "foresight"? -- pose
when uttering the words. Gazing into the barely discernable mists of the
future with an awe-struck look of disbelief on his face, for example.
People get tired of hearing it, but context is crucial, particularly with
tense
issues. Klingon just doesn't have grammatical tense (or grammatical gender
either, for that matter), and you can't invent a kludge just because
English or
German speakers are used to it. Consider it another of the challenges when
struggling with the warrior's tongue.
_________________________________________________________________________
Voragh "Grammatici certant et adhuc sub judice
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons lis est." Horace (Ars Poetica)