tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jun 27 03:03:31 2001

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RE: KLBC: Bible story in Klingon

qonwI' said:

	For practice, I translated this Bible story into Klingon.  There
were a lot of parts I wasn't quite sure how to word, but 	hopefully I
didn't make *too* many mistakes.  :-)


	(John 20:10-18) 
  
	vaj juHmeychaj jaH tlha'wI'pu',

{vaj} means "then" in the sense of "if - then", or "in that case". If the
previous sentence(s) suggest *why* they went home, then {vaj} would be
appropriate to use. For example:

"The disciples were tired. So then they went to their homes."

However, if the "then" is just chronological, the adverb {ghIq} ("then,
right after that") works here. For example:

"The disciples stood up. Then (right after that) they went to their homes."


	'ach molDaq Hur Qam *Mary*, SaQtaH.

According to TKD on page 31, the suffix {-Daq} can go on location words,
such as {Hur}, {Dung}, {bIng}, etc. So "outside the tomb" would be {mol
HurDaq}, literally "at the tomb's outside".

Also note that this is a run-on sentence - "But Mary stood outside the
grave, she was crying."
You could fix this by either just making it two sentences (by changing the
comma to a period), or connecting the two sentences together with {'ej}. Or
you could say "But Mary stood outside the grave, *while* she was crying."


	SaQtaHvIS, SIH 'ej molDaq legh.

In addition to {SIH} ("bend", which may actually refer to bending another
object), you may want to consider the verb {tor} ("kneel").


	Sut chIS tuQ cha' *angel*pu' 'e' legh Mary.

Note that what you've said here actually means "Mary saw *that* 2 angels
wore white clothings."
If you want to say "Mary saw 2 angels *who* wore white clothing" (i.e. she
sees the angels, she doesn't just see the fact that they wear white
clothing), you would want to use the verb suffix {-bogh}.
For example,
{Sut tuQbogh *angel*} "an angel who wears white clothing"


	lutlhob, <<be', qatlh bISaQtaH?>>
	<<joHwI' lunge'pu',>> jatlh *Mary*,

maj.


	<<'ej nuqDaq lulan 'e' vISovbe'.>>

Question words, such as {nuqDaq}, are only used when actually asking
questions. For example:
{nuqDaq lulan?} "Where have they placed him?"

You could also say "I don't know his location", which isn't a question (and
therefore doesn't use a question word):
{DaqDaj vISovbe'}


	vaj tlhe' 'ej pa' Qam *Jesus* 'e' legh *Mary*, 'ach *Jesus* ghaH 'e'
tlhojbe' *Mary*.

maj.

	<<be',>> jatlh ghaH, <<qatlh bISaQtaH? Danej 'Iv?>>

Watch out for word order here. In "Who are you looking for?", the question
word {'Iv} goes where the answer would go. For example:
{'Iv Danej?} "Who do you seek?"
{*Jesus* Danej} "You seek Jesus."


	*gardener* ghaH 'e' Qub *Mary*, 'ej jatlh ghaH, 

maj.


	<<qaH, Dange'pu'chugh, nuqDaq Dalanpu' 'e' HIja', 'ej vISuq.>>

Again, question words such as {nuqDaq} are used only for questions. Using a
command with a question is awkward at best - here, it reads as "Tell me that
where did you put him?"
You could rephrase it as "Tell me his location" or "Identify his location".


	jatlh *Jesus*, <<*Mary*.>>
	tlhe' ghaH 'ej jach (*Aramaic* lo'taH),

The English version "She turns toward him" makes it obvious that Mary is
turning towards Jesus. However, the Klingon version doesn't, since {ghaH}
could refer to either of them. Also, {tlhe'} ("turn") doesn't indicate that
she is facing him. So it might be better to translate this as "Mary focuses
on him" or "She focuses on Jesus".


	 <<*Rabboni*!>> (ghojmoHwI' Hech 'oH).

{Hech} is defined as "intend, mean to" and not as "means". So you wouldn't
use this when one word "means" another word. Instead, you might use {'oS}
("represent") or {Del} ("describe").


	jatlh *Jesus*, <<HIpolbe'. wej vavwIDaq vIcheghpu'

When using commands, rather than the suffix {-be'} ("not"), we have to use
the suffix {-Qo'} ("don't, won't"). So instead of *{HIpolbe'}, it would be
{HIpolQo'} - "Don't keep/save me."


	 loDnI'pu'wI'Daq yIghoS 'ej yIja',

Since Jesus used the command "Tell *them*", then you want to use the command
prefix {tI-} ("you - them") instead of {yI-} here.


	<<vavwI'Daq vIcheghtaH, vavlI' je, *God*wI'Daq, *God*lI'Daq je.>>

I think it probably makes more sense to put all the {-Daq} nouns right after
each other here, and then put the verb at the end. It doesn't follow the
English word order exactly; however, in Klingon these {-Daq} noun phrases go
at the beginning of the sentence.


	tlha'wI'pu'Daq ghoS *Mary Magdalene*. De' qem: <<joH'a' vIleghpu'!>>

maj.


	'ej nuq jatlh ghaH 'e' tlha'wI'pu' ja' *Mary*.

Again, rather than using a question word (nuq) when it isn't really a
question, it's probably better to rephrase this as:
"Mary told them the information which he said".


                     *John* cha'maH: wa'maH-wa'maH chorgh 

majQa'.

- taD

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