tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Mar 25 18:50:39 2001
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RE: KLBC: Patience makes perfect
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bradley Ellis [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2001 2:38 AM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: KLBC: Patience makes perfect
>
...
> > If you want to learn to speak Kling well, then just speak it.
> Learn to use
> > the words we have before spending too much time trying to
> translate highly
> > specialized terms and proper names. There is so much that can
> be said with
> > the vocabulary we already have. If only a simple head butting could get
> this
> > idea through to people, I'd do it more often. So far, it hasn't worked.
>
> qeSlIj vIlaj.
>
> There are many things I do, such as drive my car and go to the
> store, that I
> find difficult to express in Klingon since there does not seem to
> be a word
> for "car" nor "store." I can't even figure out how to say "I go to the
> library." [Ich geht zum Bibliotek] a first-year phrase in high
> school German
> (for Americans).
>
> paqmey qachDaq vIghoS.
>
> Is this close enough?
That works. Realize that here, {-Daq} is optional, and stylistically, it may
be slightly better to omit it, but only slightly. I might prefer {paqmey
nojmeH qach vIghoS}, since that makes the relationship between books and the
building more clear, since {paq qach} might refer to a bindary or a
warehouse.
My attitude about the limits of the vocabulary is that the common vocabulary
of the language (common enough for us to know about it) indicates cultural
focus. If it were more interesting for a Klingon to drive a car and go to a
store, then we'd probably know more of that vocabulary. Instead, I try to
find things to say which fit the existing vocabulary because these are ideas
that better fit the Klingon culture.
Instead of "I drove my car to the store to buy groceries," I'd say,
{jIghungchoH 'e' vIjunmeH juHwIjDaq Soj vIpoQ. Sojvam vISuqmeH Soj Suy
vISuch. jIHuq. Soj 'ey vISam 'ej vISuq. DaH buy' juHwIj Soj polmeH pa'.}
> SuyDaq vIghoS. (merchant's location, I go there).
Again, {Suy vIghoS} works. The {-Daq is optional when the location is being
used as the direct object of {ghoS}. The following three statements are
grammatically correct with the following meanings:
Suy vIghoS. "I proceed to the merchant."
SuyDaq vIghoS. "I proceed to the merchant."
SuyDaq jIghoS. "I proceed from one place to another at the merchant. [Likely
the whole trip was within the boundary of a place I'd refer to as {SuyDaq}.]
Note that it is never grammatically correct to say *{Suy jIghoS.}
> It has occured to me in the past couple of days to attempt to describe the
> things I do each day: make coffee...
>
> qavIn vIchenmoH
>
> ... and so forth as best I can. Only when I have a grasp of the 2400 words
> in {thlIngon Hol} and the {pab} that govern their use can I even begin to
> think about expressing more profound concepts.
>
> DaH jIQong.
>
> ~pagh-le'
batlh yIQongchu'.
SarrIS