tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Mar 26 09:12:23 2004

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Re: tetlhvamDaq Hoch nuvpu' /everyone on this list

Shamammd ([email protected]) 

In a message dated 3/26/2004 9:34:41 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
[email protected] writes:
I can understand what you mean when you say you want
to speak tlhingan-hol accurately.  After all, we
really don't want someone who speaks it to not
understand what we say to him or her.  However, since
none of us are "native" speakers, we are bound to have
a "non-Klingon" accent, lol.  Look at it this way: 
QonoS is an entire planet, a world populated with
different cultural groups, all with their own accents.
I just assume that if one person's accent is quite
different from another's, then his instructor may or
may not have learned tlhingan-hol from a speaker with
a different accent.  
For instance, take three non-English speakers.  Place
each one in an English-speaking country, say, the US,
England, and Austrailia.  Each non-English speaker
would learn English in a different accent, with
different stresses and ways of putting things.  Does
any of this make sense?

qon  q'ala HoD

------------------------------------------------------------------------
 <However, since
none of us are "native" speakers, we are bound to have
a "non-Klingon" accent, lol.>
 Not necessarily. you limit yourself! I speak several languages and although, 
obviously not  all of them, but a few I speak with NO american accent! to 
prove this in the past, I have spoken with native speakers without telling them 
where I was from and they believed that I was a native. I guess being somewhat 
of a perfectionist causes me to push myself more than most people do or would 
do. Of course with this language, we don't have NATIVE speakers, right? Wrong! 
We have Mark (malts, in a sense). Part of what drew me to this language was 
the sound of it spoken....by Mark. (BTW, I thought Qo'noS was just the name of 
the major  city. I was unaware that it was the name of the planet too. Thanks 
for the info. I have been wondering about this for some time now. :) ) Against 
my subconscious' better judgement, I am going to share something with the 
people on this list. If ya' all think I am nuts after this, well then, so be it. 
Won't be the first time and probably not the last and frankly 
speaking...jISaHbe'bej. lol I was never interested in Star Trek. I came accross this language 
purely by mistake. While looking for another website, I discovered the KLI. 
The first thing that came accross my mind was "What the hell? Klingon language?? 
That is nuts!" Then I started reading the stuff on the home page and my 
curiosity got the best of me. This was also my first introduction to a conlang. I 
had never even heard of conlangs before. I was very impressed that one person 
could make up an entire language with complete syntax and grammar.  ( Since 
then I have learned of other conlangs. There are literally thousands of them and 
I have no interest in any of them.)  I clicked on the page with the different 
sounds of klingon and I was totally mesmerized by it. At this point I knew I 
was hooked! It was like all of the sounds of our  languages mixed together, yet 
it ( the language) was totally different than any of them. Although there 
were only a few phrases spoken on the page, somehow, in my mind, I knew  what it 
would sound like or should I say ..I knew what it was supposed to sound like 
when spoken. ( mind you I had never seen the movie in which this language was 
spoken nor was I aware that such a movie existed. I had never heard of Mark 
Okrand or any of this before I came accross the KLI website). . I immediately 
ordered the tapes and couldn't wait to get them, I wanted so much to hear this 
language spoken by someone. Anyone...or so I thought. While waiting for the 
tapes to arrive, I began to gather as much information as possible about the 
klingons, their language and their culture, to gain a better understanding of the 
language itself. I came accross a website that had the pojwI' on it and I 
downloaded it. I subscribed to this list and  began the process of  learning  
tlhIngan Hol. Intensely! Hours and hours a day every day, taking breaks only to 
sleep and eat. Obesssed??? Probably. More like possessed! At one point I even 
tried to walk away from it all, but was unable to. I was and still am totally 
hooked on it.  In the meantime, I spoke with a few people on this list and heard 
them speak it. It was as if I could hear in my mind the way it was supposed to 
sound and when I heard them speak, it was not right. It didn't sound like I 
had expected it to. I became slightly disillusioned until I got my hands on 
some of the conversational klingon and power klingon audio files. I won't say 
how, since the kli was having problems with orders and I was unable to get the 
tapes from them. Then I heard Mark and that was it! That was exactly the way I 
had imagined it would sound like! The way I heard it in my mind. It was like 
deja' vu'. (sp)? 
How did I know what it would sound like?  Just a few phrases off of the kli 
site would not be 
nearly enough info for me to know what it should or would sound like when  
spoken in conversation (the intonnation/ accent, of course along with the proper 
pronunciaton), yet I swear it was identical to what I heard in my mind. Who 
knows??? Maybe in an OBE experience I heard him speak at a QepHom. lol Ya never 
know. I don't know why or how, I just know that I heard it in my mind, then I 
heard him and it was identical and I want to sound like that when I speak it. 
Am I obsessed? Possesssed? Who cares what label someone wants to apply to it. 
My life has been full of strange experiences and this is just one in a milion 
of them. All I know for sure is that I am completely hooked on it and I will 
not stop until I achieve my goal and that is to be completely fluent in 
tlhIngan Hol and able to speak it the way I know it should be spoken. I listen to 
the audio files every day and I practice and practice. I am getting closer to 
Mark's intonnation, although I need to work on the pronunciation of some of the 
individual letters. It is quite a challenge. One I look forward to conquering! 
Qapla'!

reH taHjaj tlhIngan Hol!


weQqul 
bIjatlhnISchugh, tlhIngan Hol yIjatlh!
If you must speak, speak Klingon!
HovpoH 701336.1
Stardate 4234.6

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