tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Apr 20 12:27:20 2003
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Re: qatlh vay' vInuQ :)
ja' ...Paul:
>The other reason I translate my own stuff into "more elegant English" is
>because I know that sometimes what seems to be the right way to translate
>something on the surface is not always correct.
Whether or not you intend to, you're displaying a consistent bias in the
way you treat the Klingon messages presented here. You keep talking about
them as "translations". Recognize that in many cases, the messages are
composed in Klingon, not translated from another language. The Klingon is
the original.
>The original statement
>was a perfect example -- a sentence that was pretty much legal, but had
>a greatly different translation when DloraH read it than what you intended
>-- however, DloraH would not have thought there was a problem with the
>sentence, because there was no way for him to know what you really meant.
That's not really an example of someone translating the Klingon
incorrectly. It's an example of uncear context. It could have happened
almost as easily if the entire exchange had been in English.
"Angry mobs are destroying things."
"Mobs are stupid."
"If mobs could think, it would be a rare occurrence."
Is "it" referring to the thinking, or to the destroying?
The literal translation of the Klingon is actually more helpful:
"If mobs can think, it is a rare occurrence."
There's no clear subjunctive in Klingon grammar.
>...laHwIj vIDubmeH Hol'e' Saja'chuqmoH..
>
>...(Okay, I'm really stretching thin on /Saja'chuqmoH/ -- how
>would you say "I discuss the language"?)
Hol maqelmeH maja'chuq
One person does not a discussion make. For that, {Hol qel SoQwIj}.
-- ghunchu'wI'