tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jun 18 06:51:39 2002
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RE: I think, therefore I am.
Lets see if I can work it out :-) please comment.
{jIH} - I am
{TaH} - verb suffix meaning continuous aspect
{jIHTaH} I am (and continue to be)
does :therefore: in the sentence "I think, therefore I am", mean
obviously,
If so could we say {jIHba'TaH}?
Or does {jIQubmo'} :because I think: take that into account in the
klingon thinking?
>-----Original Message-----
>From: christoph.pichlmann [mailto:[email protected]]
>Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2002 9:00 PM
>To: [email protected]
>Subject: I think, therefore I am.
>
>I m sure this has been asked a few hundred times already, yet I have to
>ask again.
>
>After I read an article yesterday, in which the autor stated that the
>line "I think, therefore I am" does not make sense in every language
>because the part "I am" often requires an attribute, I thought about
>translating it into klingon - the meaning of the sentence.
>Since I didn t find a word for "exist", I used "taH" in the meaning of
>"continue" to build the sentence. Hopefully I used it correct.
>
>When I got home, I instantly searched for the phrase on the internet -
>surely someone will have translated it before me. Interestingly, I only
>found one site with that phrase(I must have searched for the wrong
>words).
>Since their translation is a bit different from mine, I d like to know
>why.
>
>Here s what I found on
>"http://www.khemorex-klinzhai.de/Hol/itabashi/mumey.html":
>
>jIQubmo' jIHtaH.
>......COGITO ERGO SUM. [I think, therefore I am.] (Descartes)
>
>Now my translation:
>
>jIQubmo' jItaHbej.
>
>It s almost the same, I know, but what makes me wonder is that they
>used "jIH" instead of giving "taH" a prefix. Also, why not separate the
>two words?
>Additionally, I added "bej" because I think that the part "I am" means
>that one obviously is(exists), or otherwise there would be no thought.
>(I at first wanted to use "ba' " - "obviously", but AFAIK it means
>"obvious to the listener", which is not what I wanted.
>
>Much writing for such a tiny phrase...
>
>I d be glad for some enlightenment.
>
>Christoph
>
>P.S: Just curious - does the word "Qub" - "think" mean "thinking about
>a decision" as it does in english/german? Because I d like to translate
>a joke into klingon - but I m not sure if "Qub" is the fitting word.
>The joke:
>
>Descartes walks into a bar, the bartender asks him: "Care for a beer?"
>Descartes answers: "I think not" - and vanishes.
>