[Tlhingan-hol] Klingon Bible nonsense

[ghunchu'wI' 'utlh]

On Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 7:36 PM, Qov <robyn at flyingstart.ca> wrote:
> 2. I can actually see that the word-for-word program could be marginally
> useful for someone who knew how Klingon worked, but did not have vocabulary
> memorized.

That would only be the case if the word-for-word translation were
actually correct. Unfortunately, the "Universal Translator Assistant"
relexification has silly English-to-Klingon substitutions such as "of"
-> {vo'} and "meditates" -> {ja''eghqa'taH}.

> 3. How did sake get mapped to chIch. Can anyone see a route?

Mr. Klingon apparently decided that "sake" means "purpose".

> 4. Why would anyone object to anyone trying to translate anything?

Religious convictions, perhaps compounded by ignorance.

A strict Muslim precept holds that the Qur'an is genuine only in
Arabic, the language in which it was revealed directly by God to the
Prophet Muhammad. It therefore cannot be translated, only interpreted.
I myself have been personally accused of blasphemy by someone who
sincerely believed that the Bible could only be understood properly in
the "original King James" English, and any translations would be
corruptions of the truth.

> 5. Is translation somehow considered a more noble, valid or deserving
> pursuit than original work?

It seems to me that some people think that translation is an *easier*
task than composing something of their own.

> I understand that for publication the general
> marketability of the product is enhanced by tying it to something with an
> existing audience, but what about when it's just for fun or skills.

For fun? I've seen many people who want to share a story or song or
phrase they really like, and they choose to do it by attempting to
translate it into Klingon "because it's such a Klingon thing to say."
It takes a long time for such people to realize that what they need to
express is the ideas, not the words, but once that hurdle is overcome
the result is usually worthwhile.

For skills? The idea that translating from English (or whatever) into
Klingon will help one learn Klingon is a common one (with which I
disagree strongly, but convincing someone of that is hard).

> But my fun is in original work.

I'm of mixed feelings. For composing something intended for a wide
audience, I am usually a lot more comfortable dealing with reality
than with fiction. I do enjoy the constraints of rhyme and meter, so
songs are something I tend to focus on. Translation is similarly
constraining, so unless the vocabulary is really out of bounds I often
enjoy it as well.

Translating songs is a triple challenge, and I've had a lot of fun
with it. http://qonos.alcaco.net/bommey has a collection of things
I've done over the years, both translated and original. And now that
I've remembered the existence of that web site, I should start putting
my {vavwI' lut} bits there too.

-- ghunchu'wI'