tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon May 07 15:40:04 2001
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Re: translation
sa' yemej asks:
: It was asked of me by a friend to translate his song into {tlhIngan Hol}.
: I was doing fine until I tried translating the word[dollars] to the tlhIngan
: equivalent. I have exhausted my resorces and would appreciate assistance.
Of course, there is no Klingon word for "dollar", but we do know of two Klingon
monetary units:
{DeQ} credit (n.) - "credits" are also used by the Federation
{DarSeq} *darsek*, a Klingon unit of currency (n.) This is a coin in TNG
"First Born". (Worf gave a street vendor a couple of coins for a bag of dried
gagh; later, Alexander said a man who offered to show him Molor's head in a box
for five darseks.)
"Since there are any number of phrases involving money that could be
taken the wrong way if {Huch} [money] is pronounced {Quch}, [forehead]
many tourists follow the Klingon practice of using the term {DarSeqmey}
... to refer to money in general." (KGT p.194)
Does it have to be "dollars"? If not, you could use the general word {Huch}
"money"; if so, use *{Dal'ar} - or whatever spelling you prefer - or just say
/dollar/ and consider it an exotic foreign word.
BTW: Remember that plural suffixes are always optional, especially with
numbers. "Five dollars" can be either {vagh Dal'armey} or just {vagh Dal'ar}.
This is a useful little rule if you need to add or lose a syllable when
translating poetry.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons