[Tlhingan-hol] Klingon Word of the Day: vem

[Lieven]

Am 14.04.2016 um 19:01 schrieb mayql qunenoS:
>> tera' vatlh DIS poH cha'maH loS bong QongmeH qItI'nga' Duj tI'ang
>> ghompu' DIvI' 'ejDo' 'entepray'.
>
> Sentences like this drive me crazy. Can someone explain what the jay'
> {tI'ang} is doing in this sentence ?

It's name of the ship:
{qItI'nga' Duj tI'ang}
"k'tinga-ship T'ong"

> Furthermore, why the english translation lacks the word accidentally ?
> And why does it say "A sleeper ship of this [K'Tinga] class" ? Where
> in the original klingon sentence is the "this" expressed ?

Your confusion of the missing translated "this" comes from the card. The 
title of the card is "Klingon Battlecruiser, K’Tinga-Class" and the 
english text talks about "this" class. The klingon translation (which 
mostly is only a rough translation of most cards) does not usw this, and 
instead repeats the name of the class.

> Last but not least.. The english translation goes "24th century".
> According to TKD, we have {wa'DIch} "first" {cha'DIch} "second"
> {HutDIch} "ninth" ; So for "24th" we should have {cha'maH loSDIch}. If
> we indeed had this, I would be ok with {vatlh DIS poH cha'maH
> loSDIch}. But now we have {vatlh DIS poH cha'maH loS} which according
> to TKD translates to "century number 24".

Well, yeah - why not? It's the same, and again, it'S just a rough 
translation. Maybe we should compare with other examples if klingons 
prefer to say "century x" instead of "Xth century" in general, or if 
this is just identical.

> Either there is grammar here I'm missing, or this sentence and
> subsequent translation were written with total disregard to those who
> would actually want to learn this language.

Oh, yes, you should get used to it! This happens with most languages, 
and those cards were not made for learners anyway ;-)

> tlhIngan Hol vIHaDchoHtaHDI', *canon* mu'tlhegh vIHaDqangQo' ;
> meqvammo', DaH *canon* mu'tlhegh vIHaDqangbe'taH. nIQaHnIS *canon*
> mu'tlhegh. nImISmoHnISbe' *canon* mu'tlhegh.

The more you see, the more you'll be confused. And then, after some 
undefined time, you will discover a pattern. But that takes time :-)


-- 
Lieven L. Litaer
aka Quvar valer 'utlh
Grammarian of the KLI
http://www.facebook.com/Klingonteacher
http://www.klingonwiki.net