tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Sep 05 18:29:25 2003

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yIchung, yIchung!

...Paul ([email protected]) [KLI Member] 

The guys at work here challenged me to translate this quote:

"Faster, faster, until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death."

My first try, which I think is technically correct:

yIchung! yIchung bIHeghvIptaHvIS Do Qob DatIvpa'

But after thinking about it, I think it could be done better.  I'm having
a little trouble with the idea of "until".  I think -taHvIS is the way to
go, but I think what might be missing is a sense of a known end point.
I'm at work, so maybe I'm just not thinking on all cylinders.  Of
lesser importance, I wasn't really sure how to convey "thrill"...
Although I think /SeymoH/ might be the better way to go...  What do
you all think about these alternatives, and why do you prefer them?
(I'll skip the first yIchung, I'm pretty happy with that ;)

Do Qob DatIvmeH yIchung bIHeghvIptaHvIS.
"Accelerate while you are afraid of dying, so that you will enjoy the
dangerous (or danger of) speed" (Yes, I know velocity != speed, work with
me, people!  ;)

DuSeymoHbogh DovaD yIchung bIHeghvIptaHvIS.
"Accelerate while you are afraid of dying, for the speed that excites
you." (Not sure about the idea of using an indirect object here)

HeghvIpghachmo' DuSeymoHmeH DovaD yIchung.
"Because of the fear of dying, accelerate in order for the speed to excite
you."  (HeghvIpghach seems like a stretch, but maybe it's the most
concise way to translate "fear of death"?)

yIchung bIHeghvIptaHvIS 'ach DamevlaH DuSeyDI' Do.
"Accelerate while you are afraid of death, but you can stop as soon as the
velocity excites you." (Doesn't really get the true meaning across, I
don't think...)

I thought about trying to break it down into multiple sentences, but I
haven't figured out how to keep the associations in that manner.

Another idea I toyed with but wasn't at all sure how to do would be if
there was a way to employ law'/puS with -taHvIS...  I'm pretty sure
there's no canonical way to do that, but it would be great to be able to
say "while X law' Y puS..."  Of course, I'm not even sure what I'd put in
for X and Y there, since I couldn't really find a good verb or noun for
'fear' that could be used as a common factor between the two concepts.

Ideas?

...Paul

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