[tlhIngan Hol] Dop Hurgh lo'laHghach

[Ed Bailey]

Dochmey mI' sounds like a direct translation of "number of things." Perhaps
Klingons use such a phrase, perhaps not. {'op Dochmey} conveys this idea
without inventing a phrase. mI' is presumably singular, in which case you'd
use luyajHa' with the plural 3rd person subject, though this is apparently
the grammatical rule most often violated by Klingons.

You don't need to translate literally the words, "When you say the words
'Dark Side'." In Klingon, one of the worst crimes is to be verbose. Just
say bIjatlhDI' Dop Hurgh (or put the "reported speech" first; it makes no
difference. Also, even if the words have not been spoken, you can treat
them as reported speech when using endings like -DI').
You also switch from using -lu' to definite 3rd person singular. If you're
going to use -lu' because the subject is unimportant, then stick with it.
Using -lu' eliminates the subject, although there is usually an agent, but
the former is grammatical, while the latter is semantic. It's important to
differentiate between grammar and semantics, because the latter is what
you'd like to say (or understand) and the former is how you need to say it.

I stopped reading because I don't take Star Wars seriously. It's fun when
it's not awful, but talking about Star Wars in Klingon is kind of like
bringing bacon bits to a bar mitzvah.

~mIp'av
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.kli.org/pipermail/tlhingan-hol-kli.org/attachments/20161108/ac0b45fb/attachment-0017.htm>