tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Feb 08 11:42:36 2001

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re: chay' cha' qech lumughlu'?

I'm always a sucker for requests to translate stuff.

> From: [email protected]
> Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2001 15:41:12 -0700
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> jar law' qaStaHvIS qorDu'wIj wanI'meymo' jIlI'be'pu'.
>
> In attempting to translate these 2 non-related ideas:
> 1. "Since death  is the only certainty, and the time of death unknown,
> what should I do?"

wa' leSSov neH vIghajbej: pIq jIHeghba'. HeghwIj wanI' vISovlaHbe'. vaj 
chay' jIvangnIS?

I must say this is decidedly the least Klingon thing I've translated in a 
very long time. Wittering, vague, indecisive and downright philosophically 
whiny. Any warrior to utter this would be quickly cleansed from the gene 
pool. The mystery surrounding his death would be quickly solved by removing 
all sense of abstract from his death, which would be swiftly made real.

The obvious reply would be:

DaH, chay' bIvanglI'? WHACK!

> 2. "Can the knower know the knowing?"

This is so incredibly vague and abstract. Can the knower know WHAT knowing? 
What is this knowing that the knower might or might not know?.

The obvious reply would be:

jISaHbe'. poH 'Iq Daghajba'. chaq latlh Qu' qanoblaH. nom yIQub! WHACK!

Please note that genetics alone do not explain why Klingon philosophers are 
known to have even lumpier foreheads than most other Klingons.

> I came up with:
> 1. {DIch mobchu' oHtaHvIS Hegh 'ej Hegh poH vISovlaHbe'chu'vIS vaj chay'
> jIvangnISneS?}

You cannot use the verb suffix {-chu'} on a verb while it is being used 
adjectivally. For that, you are limited to {-qu'}, {-be'} and {-Ha'}, so 
{DIch mobchu'} does not work. It looks like you are trying to literally 
translate word for word instead of going back to the thought behind the 
words and building a new statement based upon those thoughts. Folks here 
call this process "recasting".

You don't really mean "WHILE Death is the only certainty" the same way one 
means, "The doorbell rang WHILE I was brushing my teeth." The latter is 
what {-DI'} is for. It doesn't work here. The original "Since" really means 
"Because" in this sentence. Meanwhile, this English sentence is so 
overloaded, if you translate it into a single Klingon sentence, it is going 
to be stupidly monsterous. Break it up into separate sentences.

You then forgot {-taH} in {vISovlaHbe'chu'vIS}, just as a reminder.

pIq jIHeghbejmo' 'ach HeghwIj wanI' vISovbe'chu'mo' jImIS. chay' jIvangnIS?

> 2. {SovtaHghach SovlaH'a' SovwI'?}

"Can the knower know the continuation of knowing?"

Okay, here's my spin:

ngoD vISovlaH. wa' wanI' 'oH. ngoDvam vISov 'e' vISovlaH. latlh wanI' 'oH. 
quqlaH'a' cha' wanI'vam?

Isn't that really what the philosophical question is asking?

> Qar'a'?

ghaytanHa'.

> nejwI'

SarrIS

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