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<p>> Suppose we say: {tlhIngan SoH net jalchugh..}</p>
<div dir="auto">> The literal translation of this phrase is, "if someone imagines that you're a klingon..".<br>
> However, for reasons I never understood, its' "final" translation is "if you were a klingon..".</div>
<div dir="auto">> Why is this mismatch happening ? Is it a "because maltz said so" thing or something ?</div>
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<p>When translating from one language to another, you normally wish to communicate the idea that the speaker wishes to convey, not the words they use to do it.</p>
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When a Klingon says {[sentence] net jalchugh, [...]}, the idea they wish to express is normally roughly analogous to an irrealis conditional in English ("were it the case that [setence], [...]").</p>
<p>You could imagine cases where somebody uses the expression in a more literal sense (qIt ghu' qaq net jalchugh, chaq qaS Daw'.), and in that case it will be up to the translator to distinguish between the two senses.</p>
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<p>It's not that different from English:<br>
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"Assuming pigs could fly, they would be far superior to carrier pigeons."<br>
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<p>"Assuming pigs could fly, I threw one off the balcony. I shouldn't have done that."<br>
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<p>//loghaD<br>
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<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font style="font-size:11pt" face="Calibri, sans-serif" color="#000000"><b>From:</b> tlhIngan-Hol <tlhingan-hol-bounces@lists.kli.org> on behalf of mayqel qunen'oS <mihkoun@gmail.com><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, February 25, 2020 14:01<br>
<b>To:</b> tlhIngan Hol mailing list<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [tlhIngan Hol] irrealis {net jal} and the {net jalchugh}</font>
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<div dir="auto">Suppose we say: {tlhIngan SoH net jalchugh..}</div>
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<div dir="auto">The literal translation of this phrase is, "if someone imagines that you're a klingon..". However, for reasons I never understood, its' "final" translation is "if you were a klingon..".</div>
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<div dir="auto">Why is this mismatch happening ? Is it a "because maltz said so" thing or something ?</div>
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<div dir="auto">Anyways, moving on..</div>
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<div dir="auto">Assume that there are two klingons speaking, with regard to a recent romulan incursion. So, one of them asks: "how did it go ?" And the second wants to reply by saying "it could have been bad, but luckily..".</div>
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<div dir="auto">I'm wondering.. Could we express this by saying something like the following ?</div>
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<div dir="auto">{qablaHpu' ghu' net jal..}</div>
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<div dir="auto">The literal translation would be "the situation has been able to be bad"; but why couldn't we translate this klingon sentence as in the {net jalchugh} case, thus producing the meaning: "the situation could be bad" ?</div>
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<div dir="auto">Could we use the {net jal} on its own, producing a similar irrealis, (or however the @!#@ it's called), with the {net jalchugh} ?</div>
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<div dir="auto">mayqel qunen'oS</div>
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