tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Jun 30 07:14:47 2011

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RE: Some things are best left untranslated.

David Trimboli ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

From: Voragh:

> lojmIt tI'wI' nuv:
>>> During my pedestrian commute, I pass a boxcar that someone has spray
>>> painted, "Tonight, the streets are ours!" It's got deixis written all
over
>>> it. While I enjoy a translation challenge, this one quickly got too
ugly.
>> 
>> QeS 'utlh:
>> For my part I'd say {veng} "city" as a replacement for "streets" (I've 
>> never been quite happy with using {He} as a replacement for "street"). 
>> I'd simply say the whole as {DaHjaj ram vengmaj 'oH vengvam'e'} 
>> "tonight, this town is our town".
> 
> Another option is to use the verb {DoQ} "claim (territory)":
> 
> DaHjaj ram vengvam wIDoQ
> Tonight we claim this city.

I was preparing a similar reply using {chargh}, but I like {DoQ} better.

However, I wonder if the sentiment was meant to be perfective or not.
That is, did the writer mean "tonight the streets are ours now that we
have done such-and-such" or "tonight the streets will be ours"? If the
former, the sentence would be better as {DaHjaj ram veng wIDoQta'}
"tonight we have claimed the city." (I feel the {-vam} is unnecessary.
Just as the original writer didn't need to specify "these streets,"
since the streets he meant were obvious, the Klingon version doesn't
need to specify which city we're talking about, since that should be
obvious when reading the message.)

The only think lacking in this translation is the sense of urban
uprising expressed in the original. The translation could just as easily
be said by a warlord. Used in this context, "the streets" has a
connotation that can't be matched by any Klingon term or phrase I can
think of.

-- 
SuStel
http://www.trimboli.name/

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