[tlhIngan Hol] can we say {vay' QaQ} ?

SuStel sustel at trimboli.name
Mon Apr 6 06:34:47 PDT 2020


On 4/6/2020 9:04 AM, mayqel qunen'oS wrote:
> In English we can say: "something good has happened", and in case
> someone wonders we can say *exactly* the same in Greek too.
>
> And now suppose we want to say this in Klingon..
>
> Option A: {qaSpu' QaQbogh vay'}.
> Option B: (qaSpu' vay' QaQ).
>
> As far as option A goes, all's good. But there's something weird with
> option B; if I read {vay' QaQ} without translating it in english I
> "feel" it ok. But if I translate it as "good something", it "feels"
> weird.
>
> So, I'd like to ask:
>
> Meaning-wise, is the {qaSpu' vay' QaQ} a "normal" construction, or is
> this klingon phrase as weird as saying "(a) good something has
> happened" ?

I see nothing weird about *qaSpu' vay' QaQ.* Would you have any problem 
with *Haghpu' loD Sagh*/The serious man has laughed?/ They have exactly 
the same grammar. If you have a problem with one and not the other, your 
problem is with your choice of translations, not the Klingon sentence. 
Always translate the /meaning /of a sentence, not the individual words. 
If the best translation doesn't match the original word for word, so be it.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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