[84004] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: KCD 1
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steven Boozer)
Fri Jan 18 11:16:31 2008
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 10:14:01 -0600
To: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
From: Steven Boozer <sboozer@uchicago.edu>
In-Reply-To: <f5b478ef0801172139p5b0f202se0aa2ceb017a24d9@mail.gmail.com
>
Errors-to: tlhingan-hol-bounce@kli.org
Reply-to: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
At 11:39 PM Thursday 1/17/2008, qa'vaj wrote:
>I was playing around with KCD, and hit a spot where one of the Klingons said
>something like "our houses have always stood door-to-door". I couldn't help
>wondering, how would a Klingon say that? It seems quite idiomatic. Rather
>than worry about that particular phrase, I decided to use the whole KCD
>story for {tlhIngan Hol} practice. I've decided to start from the beginning
>and transcribe bit-by-bit as I'm motivated, then translate into Klingon. No
>idea how far I'll make it, or at what pace.
This is a VERY good project! The cultural notes alone will be
valuable. (That bit about "door-to-door" for instance.)
>I'll place my translation (restoration? hehe) first, then the transcript,
>then any notes. Comments welcome, as always.
>
>[if I understood the Klingon word while transcribing, I put it in braces
>{}, If I wasn't sure or didn't know, I marked the word with * and spelled
>phonetically for later lookup.]
I'll need to go over this later in more detail, but for the moment here are
a few quick thoughts. I've also appended Quvar's transcription below for
comparison, as well as miscellaneous notes from the game. lI' 'e' Datu'.
>This first piece is Gowron's (English) speech at the start of the game:
I've never seen the game. (It wouldn't work on my PC.) Does Gowron say
this speech twice: once in English, then in Klingon? Have we had a
translation for this problematic speech all along?
>qaHoH 'e' DaHar'a', loDHom?
>Did you think I would kill you {loDHom}?
>tlhInganpu' bopbogh qechvam'e' Daghojpu'. nubotbogh Hoch wIHoH. chunwI'
>wIreghmoH 'e' wItIv.
>
>You've heard this about Klingons. We kill anything that stands in our way.
>We enjoy the taste of innocent blood.
>teHbe' qechmeyvam. maHvaD potlh 'oH batlh'e'.
>Lies. Honor is what we treasure.
I would omit {qechmeyvam}; it's stronger without it: {teHbe'!}
Nice use of {potlh} "consequential thing, something important". FYI:
tlhIngan qorDu' potlh
Klingon Family Values. S13 (title)
>batlh potlh law' Hoch potlh puS.
>Honor above all things.
For comparison:
batlh potlh law' yIn potlh puS
Honor is more important than life. TKW
>'ej nuq SoH? bIpuj 'ej DaghIjlu', Qa'Hom Darur.
>And you? You are as weak and frightened as a *kwahome.
>'ej Qa'Hom HoHlu'chugh quvbe'lu'.
>And there is no honor in killing a *kwahome.
{Qa'Hom} a little animal (e.g. Ligonian titmouse) "The translation
`titmouse' is really only an approximation of what this word means. A
{Qa'Hom} is a small animal considered rather insignificant. The word
literally means 'little {Qa'}.' A {Qa'} is a larger, more dangerous animal.
A {Qa'Hom} is not a young {Qa'}, but it does bear a vague resemblance to
its namesake."
>'a nov SoH. aqu' 'ej maSuv 'e' botu' neH tlhIH, novpu'.
>tIqmaj'e' botu'be' 'a reH nuDev tIqmaj'e'.
>
>But you, {nov}. You outsiders, you see only our fierceness, our love of
>battle. You do not see the *tihh (tIq?} that shades our every act.
>
>*tihh could either be {tIq} or {tIgh}. I chose to use {tIq}.
Nope. It's {tIgh} "custom". This very line by Gowron, including the
Klingon word in italics, is in the KCD novelization):
"You outsiders see only our fierceness, our love of battle. You do
not see the {tIgh}, the honor, that shapes our every act." [p. 10]
Okrand has used {tIgh} elsewhere:
tlhIngan tIgh
"The Klingon Way" (title) TKW
tlhIngan tIgh DaHaDrup'a'?
[Marc Okrand's frequent inscription on books/photos]
>ngoDvammo' nughmaj So'bogh peghtaHgach'e' vIbIv 'e' vIwuq jIH, ghawron,
>tlhIngan yejquv DevwI' 'ej SoHvaD, DIvI' yoq, tlhIngan tIqna' vI'agh.
>
>This is why, I, Gowron, leader of the Klingon high counsel have decided to
>break the secrecy that shrouds our culture, and show you, *divvyok, that
>which truly makes us Klingon.
>DaghIjlu''a', Human Qup? HIja'? DaghIjnISlu'.
>You are frightened young human? Yes. You should be.
>tlhIngan loDHom HoS, laH je QaQ puS HoSlIj laHlIj je QaQ rap.
>Your strength, your skills are no better than that of a Klingon boy,
>'a ... choH ngoDvetlh.
>but... that will change.
>nItebHa' ghetmeH choQ Qu''a'vam wIRuch 'ej qaDvam Data'DI' tlhIngan nugh
>Daghojbe' neH, tlhIngan Damoj.
>
>When you have finished this holodeck adventure with me, this test, you will
>have learned more than how to LIVE as a Klingon, you will learn how to BE
>Klingon.
>nov SoHtaHbe', bIpujtaHbe', Qa'Hom DarurtaHbe', 'a SuvwI' SoH.
>You will no longer be {nov}, weak as a *kwahom, but you will be a warrior.
>ngugh qaHoHchugh jIquv. Hahahaha.
>Then, it will be an honor to kill you. Hahahaha.
>tajlIj yItlhap.
>Take your knife.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For reference, here's what I have about KCD in my files, both from the CD
and the novel:
"My understanding is that Marc Okrand wasn't able to coach Robert O'Reilly
[Gowron] in person, but gave him detailed instructions on how to pronounce
everything. O'Reilly tried really hard to get it right, but he's an actor,
not a linguist. He knew what he was saying, in that he had both the English
and Klingon texts to work from, but he doesn't actually know
Klingon. O'Reilly should be given credit: he's always done his best to be
authentic." (SuStel, 4/18/03)
"The only other person you could trust being canon and having correct
pronunciation is Gowron speaking on the Klingon Language Lab:
<http://www.kli.org/wiki/index.php?Klingon%20CD>http://www.kli.org/wiki/index.php?Klingon%20CD
Of course he speaks "different" than Marc Okrand, but he is a different
person. Since he was trained by MO for this project, and he is really doing
a good job on this, I would say this (i.e. KCD including Gowron) really is
a canon source." (Quvar, 2/04/06)
Gowron's KCD Introductory speech (by Robert O'Reilly)
AFAIK no one has ever been able to decipher this speech. "This has
frustrated me for years. Considering how closely Okrand was involved in
producing this game, I keep feeling that Gowron's speech must actually mean
something, but whatever it is, it has eluded me. I can't go back to the
original anymore, since the game appears not to work on XP, but maybe
Quvar's transcript will be a good start." (ter'eS, 5/12,2003)
"I remember hearing that Marc Okrand wrote it and it was sent to Robert
O'Reilly, who learned it by heart and was really proud of his effort,
unaware that he completely butchered it. I THOUGHT there was a copy of
Okrand's original text floating about..." (SuStel, 12/20/07)
"I found a bit of information about this: an interview with Robert O'Reilly
(<http://tinyurl.com/393lpx>http://tinyurl.com/393lpx):
Q: Mr. O'Reilly--You said you did not learn Klingon--but how did you
do the introduction sequence on Star Trek Klingon? I_am_Klingon
ROR: Believe it or not, they flew Marc Okrand in to be about 2 feet
from me, not ONLY to hold my hand, but to mouth the words so that I
would say it correctly. Some were more difficult than others and I
had to do quite a few takes on some of them.
O'Reilly is quite the STAR TREK fan... and really, really bad at Klingon,
if Okrand had several takes and couldn't get anything better than that out
of him." (SuStel, 12/21/07)
FYI here's Quvar's transcription:
ro ba qa DevwI' So na jaj
wIv la ta laH chaH
'oH quv 'oH puS
SoH Da'oS
logh'e' lujlu'
luchatlhpu' wo' SaS SuvwI'pu''e'
neSlu', luSaS lujbej
laS puqleS lo
bIratlh, lutoy'meH
puSlaH qa', Ha'DIbaH je, Daqa'vam!
buS chap qevaDaq 'a ghen toq
chaq luwISpu' chaH
mIv ya meS'e' DIHoHlaH chaH!
mIv yImeS
Ha ha ha ha haaa! .... ouargh!
And finally here's various bits from the CD (direct quotes from the game
and Language Lab as well as second-hand information from those who've
played the game):
{qIm tera'ngan!} "Attention Earther!" (bumper sticker, c1998, included in
game box)
{'Iw 'Ip ghomey} "Blood Oath Circles" (title of a well-known sculpture by
the artist {mIStaq}. Apparently made of metal, the sculpture is a
collection of hoops of different sizes representing all the blood oaths,
complete and unfinished, as well as the circles of vengeance. It was in
Torghn's house along with other pieces of sculpture.)
{bIyem'a'} "Will you sin?"
{botjan yIchu'} "Raise shields!"
{charghbej vIt} "The truth shall conquer." Okrand adds, "In this Klingon
proverb, the suffix {-bej}, following the verb {chargh} 'conquer', means
'certainly' or 'undoubtedly'. Thus, 'there's no doubt that the truth shall
conquer.' The word for 'truth' is {vIt}, and it's also found in the word
{vItHay'}, the 'truth test'."
{Dajatlhbogh vIyajlaHbe'. yIjatlhqa'!} "I find no match for what you just
said. Please say it again." (Disk 3, files \wav\3k.wav and \wav\3e.wav)
{DenIb Qatlh} Denebian Slime Devil
{Duran lung DIr} Durani lizard skins
{ghobchuq loDnI'pu'} "The Brothers Battle One Another" (title of the
well-known Kahless and Morath statuette in Torghn's house)
{ghochwI'} "The Tracker" [title of a sculpture in Torghn's house. It is a
3D representation of the constellation {ghochwI'} which is also the name of
the constellation in the Kahless myth containing the bright star which
Boreth orbits.] KCD
{ghojmeH taj} boy's knife ("knife for learning")
{HuH} slime. "This word literally means `bile.'"
{lIghon DuQwI' pogh} Ligonian spike glove
{luq, ratlh.} "Okay, he remains."
{nuchpu'} cowards
{petaQ} a Klingon insult. "No appropriate translation for this epithet has
yet been found."
{Qa'Hom} a little animal (e.g. Ligonian titmouse) "The translation
`titmouse' is really only an approximation of what this word means. A
{Qa'Hom} is a small animal considered rather insignificant. The word
literally means 'little {Qa'}.' A {Qa'} is a larger, more dangerous animal.
A {Qa'Hom} is not a young {Qa'}, but it does bear a vague resemblance to
its namesake." (Note: the picture is of a small, four-footed rodent with a
lot of hair.)
{qeylIS mInDu'} "Eyes of Kahless" (a game)
{QI'yaH} vulgar Klingon expression. "This is one of the strongest, most
foul expressions in the Klingon language. It defies adequate translation."
{qoH} idiot, fool
{Qoy, qeylIS puqloD!} the Klingon national anthem
{reH nuHmey tu'lu'.} "There are always weapons."
{romuluSngan Sambogh 'ej HoHbogh nejwI'} Romulan hunter-killer probe (long
form); the short form is {HoHwI'}
{tu'HomI'raH} something useless: {HurDaq tu'HomI'raHvetlh yIlan} "Get that
piece of junk out of here!"
{veQ} garbage. One should enunciate this insult clearly. The KCD entry
mentions that the word {veH} "boundary" carries no negative connotations at
all.
{verengan Ha'DIbaH} Ferengi dog. "This phrase literally means 'Ferengi
animal,' but translating it as `Ferengi dog' carries more of the flavor of
the insult."
{wIy yIcha'} [untranslated]
{yIntagh} a Klingon curse. "This is one of a number of Klingon curses that
doesn't have an adequate translation."
{yItamchoH} "Shut up!" (lit. "Become quiet!") When Gowron is talking with
the Pakled commander, he says this to T'Var (pronounced badly &
untranslated in the game).
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons
