[Tlhingan-hol] Eurotalk - New Words - First Words

[David Trimboli]

On 11/4/2011 4:21 PM, Josh Badgley wrote:
>
> I agree. Presenting nuqneH as "hello" is going to cause problems for
> anyone who learns Klingon using this CD. It's worth remembering that not
> /every/culture has an all-purpose word for salutation. I've studied a
> little Pali for religious reasons. Although it's /mainly/a literary
> language, it's interesting to note that the language does not have a
> word for "hello". One could use various other greetings depending on the
> situation (/bho!/Friend! /Svagatam! /Welcome! Hail!) It would be
> unfortunate for new Klingon speakers to start using nuqneH in this way.
> Personally, I like "qajatlh" from KPC...I can see a Klingon answering a
> phone with such a phrase.

Back in the day when I was the Beginners' Grammarian, I was advised not 
to correct beginners when they used {nuqneH} for "hello," which most do. 
The reasoning was that you didn't want to discourage new blood by 
criticizing this one thing that they had learned for themselves.

Like it or not, most people start out thinking that {nuqneH} is used 
wherever we would say "hello." I don't think TalkNow! using it this way 
has really hurt anything.

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