[Tlhingan-hol] 'arDIch

[Robyn Stewart]

At 04:57 '?????' 1/30/2013, you wrote:
> > > > >{puH DujlIj 'arDIch 'oH Dochvam'e'?}
> > > >
> > > > How many cars have you had?
> > > > Is this your first car?
> > >
> > >Is this your first?  No.
> > >Is this your second?  No.
> > >Is this your third?  No.
> > >Is this your fourth? ....
> > >
> > >Hopefully they didn't have too many or this could take a while.
> >
> > Either because we know English lacks the necessary construction, or
> > because of the cooperative property of conversation, people answer
> > this question by enumerating their past cars, unless they are being
> > obstructionist.
>
>Habit from military and security clearance.  Answer the question 
>that was asked.
>Being direct is also a Klingon trait.

Yes, which is why Klingon doesn't use those constructions. Perhaps 
you didn't notice that the sentences you were criticizing were in 
English. I was explaining strategies for translating tlhIngan Hol 
<'arDIch> into a language that lacks the construction.

> > Wait, you're a native English speaker. Why are you asking this? I was
> > just answering for the Japanese speaker.
>
>English?  Japanese?  I thought we were discussing tlhIngan Hol.

No, the mail you originally replied to was principally in Klingon, 
answering a native Japanese speaker's question about how DIvI' Hol 
did this, since we didn't have a word for 'arDIch.  I replied with 
examples of how we work around it. I left it on list because I 
thougth it was a good demonstration for people who sometimes complain 
that "there must be a way to say this in Klingon" when we tell them 
to use a workaround. They would see that a very experienced natural 
language like English has to do that sometimes too.

> > >If 'arDIch doesn't work, how about nuqDIch?
> >
> > Someone had an insurmountable problem with 'arDIch? I missed that one.
>
>Without canon support, I saw others expressing uncertainty and 
>offering alternative ways to ask the
>question.  I was offering another option, an alternative that 
>changes only one word instead of the
>whole sentence.

I'd understand nuqDIch, I guess. It wouldn't change the problem of 
translation into English.

- Qov