tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jun 18 08:40:27 2002

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Re: I think, therefore I am.



> 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.
 
You did good.  We do have the canon phrase  taH pagh taHbe', "to be or not to 
be", from ST6.


> 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?

(later you wrote:)
> I mis-interpreted the "taH" - because I was using the verb, I thought
> they d use it too - they used the suffix of course. That explains the
> "jIHtaH".

Most translations have more than one correct way.  
*I* would write this as  jIQub, vaj jIH.
I'm sure some people will think jIH all by itself is a little weird, but I 
think it works for this philosophical meaning.
And the two you presented here work also.


> 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.

-bej certainly works.
All the variations are just fine tuning of the thoughts in each mind.

You did good.


> 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.

We have  buS  "think only about, focus on"


> The joke:
> 
> Descartes walks into a bar, the bartender asks him: "Care for a beer?"
> Descartes answers: "I think not" - and vanishes.

tlhaQ.
It's funny, but unfortunately I think it wouldn't carry through the same way; 
not only because of the different "think" words, but also because a klingon 
response wouldn't use either "think" word; just simply  ghobe'.


DloraH, BG


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