tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jun 01 07:51:07 2001
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Re: KLBC - Napolean quote
- From: "Dr. Lawrence M. Schoen" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: KLBC - Napolean quote
- Date: Fri, 01 Jun 2001 07:49:36 -0400
Melody Jeffcoat <[email protected]> wrote:
>My roommate wanted this quote (which she attributed to Napolean)
>translated into Klingon:
>
>Never interrupt your enemy while he is making a mistake.
>
>this is what I came up with:
>
>jaghlI' yIqaghQo' QaghvIS
To me, this reads a bit differently than the intented translation.
You've split the object from its subordinate clause, which makes me want
to read it more as "Don't interupt your enemy, he's making a mistake" or
something like that. Also, -vIS is an annoying suffix which requires
-taH to preceed it (unless the grammarians have come up with an
exception that I don't know about). Finally, while the use of -Qo' is
always nice to see, the quotation isn't just saying what not to do, it's
stipulating that you *never* do it.
Personally, I'd be more inclined to render it as:
QaghtaHvIS jaghlI' not yIqagh
Of course, now someone else will come along and correct *my* grammar. ;)
Lawrence