tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Nov 16 19:10:56 2000

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Re: nonliteral translation

ja' peHruS:
>I translate {be' luqIpmeH puqpu', naQmey lo' [chaH].} as "The children
>hit the woman WITH sticks

jang lay'tel SIvten:
>the english sentence with "with" can also mean that the children are
>hitting her by THROWING the sticks at her.  or the children are hitting
>the woman who HAS sticks.  and there are probably other meanings that
>elude me at the moment.

be' luqIp puqpu' naQmey je!  Just kidding.  On a more serious (i.e., on-
topic) note, I tend to agree with peHruS when he says that the best
English translation of a Klingon sentence may seem nothing like the
Klingon, and vice versa.  Context will often clarify what "The children
hit the woman with sticks" means.  For example, consider:
    The children picked up some sticks.  The children hit the woman
    with the sticks.
Obviously, the children are the ones with the sticks here, not the
woman.  A different example:
    The children felt like hitting someone.  They saw two women.  One
    was carrying sticks, the other stones.  The children hit the woman
    with sticks.
You see my point.

                                        DujHoD

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