[Tlhingan-hol] [tlhIngan-Hol] Hoghvam qaSpu' (2011-09-17)

[Brent Kesler]

On Sat, Sep 17, 2011 at 5:03 PM, Qov <robyn at flyingstart.ca> wrote:
>
>> == qabul botlhDaq DoSmey HIv talIban SuvwI'pu' ==
>> qabul 'avghanIStanDaq wej DoSmey HIvta' talIban SuvwI'pu': 'amerIqa
>> rIvSo', waw'­'e'
>
> bong "-" Dachel'a'? qar <waw''e'>.

I keep my translations in a wiki, and it treats a double apostrophe as
the beginning or end of italic text, so I use a "soft hyphen" to break
them up. You usually shouldn't be able to see it, though -- I wonder
why you can...


>> 'ej toy'taHmeH 'e' nup.
>
> Probably an editing slip: this sentence as object construction lacks a
> sentence before the 'e'. Is it <toy'taH 'e' nup> or <toy'taHmeH poH nup>?

I think I left the -meH from an earlier version of the sentence. In
fact, I never really liked that section. Perhaps this works better:

rewbe'pu' ruptaH qum 'e' ghur Huchnabvam 'ej toy'taHmeH Huch nup.


>> merI'tIrenyen bIQDaq
>
> I'm curious: does your personal English pronunciation of Mediterranean
> substitute an r for the D sound, or is this transliteration modelled on the
> pronunciation in another language?

I'm trying to imagine how a Klingon translator compiling intelligence
about Earth would handle these strange Terran words. Since most
information about Earth probably comes to the Empire in English, I
transliterate the English version of place names (so I would probably
go with japan instead of nIHon). If the translator used a written news
report, he might have used meDI'tIrenyen. But if he listened to a
radio report and wrote down what he heard, it might come out
merI'tIrenyen, since the flapped /d/ is closer to the trilled /r/ than
to the retroflex /d/. At the time that I wrote my first report about
the Mediterranean, I was also recording my pronunciation, so I went
with the spoken version rather than the written version. And now I
have to be consistent, so that transliteration has stuck.


>> puSwen
>
> I haven't seen that form before. I probably would have said wen puS.

jIQochbe'. qaq {wen puS}.


>> ghu'vam par tIrqIy, 'ach DaH lo' 'e' nID,
>> HoSDaj DubmeH.
>
> The -meH clause is supposed to precede the clause it modifies.

Good note. I thought -meH clauses could come after, but usually preceded.


>> 'ISlamwI'
>
> 'ISlam is a verb now? The counterpart of yID? :-)

I thought someone would ask that! I know we don't have rules for
adding -wI' to nouns, even though it happens sometimes. I thought I'd
just run with it. If you don't like it, I could easily change it to
'ISlam pabwI'.


> Keep it up. I really appreciate these. I think this one read more smoothly
> than its predecessors, or perhaps I'm just getting more adept with the
> diplomatic vocabulary. Definitely a weak spot for me.

Thanks. I think I'm honing my sense of what works in a good Klingon
sentence. It's good to know these reports make sense to people besides
me. I'm looking for stories that don't get much air time in American
news, so I hope I'm finding stories you might not hear about
otherwise. And trying to report these events in Klingon strips helps
me understand them better, if only because I have to break the habits
that come with foreign policy in English.

Funny thing: I speak decent French, but I learned some highly
specialized vocabulary in grad school. I have difficulty ordering a
meal, but I can discuss international treaties and money laundering
pretty well.

bI'reng