[Tlhingan-hol] maj po

[Josh Badgley]

I was about to say the same thing.  The template is the same for all languages.  In languages that do not have words for "yes" or "no", they are still forced to put something in there.  If I remember correctly, Thai has different "yes/no" phrases for different situations, but the Eurotalk version sticks to two only.  Also in Thai, there are gender differences based on the speaker's sex...so a man and a woman will use slightly different phrases for "Excuse me" and such.  Once again, Eurotalk only gives one version. Thus for Klingon, Marc had to come up with some phrases that aren't the best parts of the software. It's all found in the "First Words" section, which also include unfortunate Klingon versions of "please" and "I'm sorry" :(...although I have to say, I like the Klingon version of "Good bye", pretty straightforward.  The whole fact that Eurotalk crams every language into the same template was bound to cause problems.  For example I have realized as I have been working on the color section why the words for "yellow" and "green" are pronounced differently.  It's because there had to be some way to distinguish them, so we get "Suj" for green and "SuD" for yellow.  It gets pretty irritating, I just played the "Hard Game" for colors and I should have gotten all fifty points.  I kept muttering "QI'yaH" every time I picked "Doq" and it wanted "Doke" or "Dahhhk".  Overall, it's not such a bad program.  It's impossible to force every language into a convenient "phrasebook" and not make some mistakes.  The "First Words" section is definitely the weakest, but you can probably skip it and go straight for the gems in the "Countries" and "Foods" sections :).  


-- jhb


> Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2011 17:00:00 -0700
> To: tlhIngan-Hol at kli.org
> From: robyn at flyingstart.ca
> Subject: Re: [Tlhingan-hol] maj po
> 
> They have a standard list of phrases that they translate for every 
> language.  I don't know how it works in languages where the words for 
> "good morning" vary with the relative social status of the 
> participants in the conversation, but Marc was forced to put 
> something in that box. I hoped fervently as I hovered my mouse over 
> that phrase that the result of clicking would be stony silence from 
> the little models and an explanation that such phrases do not exist 
> in Klingon, but the model forces all languages to that mold.
> 
> Think of it as in line with <'IH jaj, qar'a'?> or "Prithee good 
> gentle husbands": something that it is possible to say in the 
> language but that no sane native speaker would use except in jest.
> 
> I promise you there are some better finds.
> 
> At 10:52 03/10/2011, you wrote:
> >maj po?
> >
> >The new app lists {maj po} for "good morning"?
> >
> >wejpuH.
> >
> >pItlh
> >lojmIt tI'wI'nuv
> >
> >
> >
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> 
> 
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