tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jun 17 12:18:15 2002
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Re: Translating vs. Thinking
ja' "Sangqar (Sean Healy)" <[email protected]>:
>maj. I think I have a narrower definition of 'thinking in the language'
>than you or Qov. For example, for French, Finnish, and Portuguese, I've
>lived with native speakers, and I find that when I'm speaking one of those
>languages with another fluent speaker, I switch into thinking in that
>language, to the point where my brain will actually translate English into
>the other language. I've actually had experiences where someone will tell a
>joke in English when I'm in that mode, and I won't get it because it's based
>on a pun that doesn't translate, and I'll have to switch back to English
>mode and mentally repeat the joke to myself in order to figure it out.
For a couple of years, I had a bit of trouble at qep'a' because I couldn't
switch back and forth easily between Klingon and English. If I got my
brain into "Klingon language mode" fully enough to carry on extended
conversations, I couldn't comfortably translate things into English for my
wife...and that wasn't good.
The next level of challenge after conversational fluency is the ability to
do real-time translation. After seeing in Las Vegas that it was possible
(thanks, Qov!), several of us have occasionally acted as informal
interpreters during storytelling sessions.
>I'm nowhere near that point in Klingon, although I have reached the point
>where, if I'm reading Klingon, I will formulate responses in Klingon in my
>head, whereas I used to formulate responses internally in English and then
>have to translate them into Klingon.
maj. qaq ghu'vetlh. bIQubmeH Hol Dalo'chu'...bIlaDtaHvIS. tugh laH rap
Dachav bIQoy'qu'DI', qar'a'?
-- ghunchu'wI'