tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Feb 26 15:57:05 2007
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Re: Topic (was: Re: Dilbert Comic in Klingon for February 9, 2007)
ja' Doq:
>> wa'ben qatoy'choH 'ej qaStaHvIS wa' DIS qatoy'taH.
>>
>> 'ISqu'
>
> That's the kind of awkward work-around I was trying to avoid. If it
> really is the best that any expert here can manage, I guess it's what
> we are stuck with. Someone should point this out to Okrand. I doubt
> he'd be satisfied with it once it came to his notice.
Awkward?
Work-around?
On the contrary, it seems quite natural and straightforward to me.
It's exactly how I would say it if I needed to get across the entire
idea at once, and indeed I was going to suggest it myself until I saw
that 'ISqu' had already done so.
You've selected an English phrase that uses present perfective, and
we all know that Klingon does not express tense. That a simple
context-free translation of the phrase loses the "present" idea is
not news. If you want to complain about it, fine, but I'm sure you
realize that the same complaint applies to English phrases like "I am
hungry" and "A bird has attacked me."
Maybe you'd be satisfied with this:
DaHjaj qaStaHvIS wa' DIS qatoy'pu'
While I believe it carries the meaning you want, it sounds strained
and unnatural to me. I can't really explain why I think that.
-- ghunchu'wI'