Lizard seeks Translation Help

[soup_borg]

I'm looking for help with the following:

"Writing is life!"

"Speak what you feel, not what you ought to say."

The first is a take on the Jem'Hadar motto "Victory is Life!" while the second is a quote supposedly made by William Shakesphere(?).  I think "yIn ghItlhtaH" is the closest I've gotten to the first one, but I can't even wrap my brain how to start the second one.

yIn = life (?)

ghItlh = write (?)

taH = continuous (?)

{sorry, I wrote this 2 years ago and can't remember how I goes}

[Qunchuy]

Pithy English phrases like "writing is life" often fail to translate into pithy Klingon phrases. In Klingon, a noun like "writing" ends up being either a) well-translated but very long, or b) short but very odd-sounding. There's also the relatively weak (in Klingon) "to be" phrasing.

yIn 'oH ghItlhtaHghach'e' is a direct translation. I don't expect you to like that last word much. Instead, you might try rephrasing it as something like yInqu' qonwI' an author lives!

As for the second quote, here's what I came up with.

'IwlIjvo' yIjatlh. SoQ'e' neH pIHbogh nugh yIjatlhQo'. Speak from your blood. Do not speak merely that which society expects.

[Jon]

Doesn't qonwI' mean songwriter? ghItlhwI' means writer, which might include author.

Writing is life! could be rendered I live to write so perhaps jIghItlh 'e' vIyIn, maybe with a suffix such as -qu' for emphasis. Or perhaps, My writing is my life - yInwIj 'oH ghItlhwIj'e'. Both of these avoid the contentious -ghach.

[Qunchuy]

qonwI' is literally recorder. It can apply to a songwriter, an author of stories...or a device which records. The verb ghItlh write refers to the process of making marks, not to composing ideas.

I live to write would be jIqonmeH jIyIn. If you like making it first-personal, maybe jIqonmo' jIyIn I live because I write might appeal to you.

ghItlhwIj does mean my writing, but "writing" in this case is a manuscript rather than an action.

[Jon]

qonwI' is literally recorder. It can apply to a songwriter, an author of stories...or a device which records. The verb ghItlh write refers to the process of making marks, not to composing ideas.

I live to write would be jIqonmeH jIyIn. If you like making it first-personal, maybe jIqonmo' jIyIn I live because I write might appeal to you.

ghItlhwIj does mean my writing, but "writing" in this case is a manuscript rather than an action.

bIqarbej (Of course, you are right.)

[soup_borg]

qatlho'qu' (thank you), Qunchuy and Jon for the help.  All I have to work with is the dictionary and, as I've learned since joining the forum, that's not enough. 

[soup_borg]

Just for the heck of it, I have a few more translations I'm looking for.  I like to give Klingon names to some of my files and folders but since I can't translate worth  , then any suggestions are welcomed.

ghItlhtaH QonoSwIj = My Writing Journal

Writer's Journal =  ghItlhwI' QonoS
ghItlh = write (v)
-wI' = "one who builds."
QonoS = log, journal

Finance = (I won't even bother giving my terrible interpretation)

[Jon]

We have Huch for money?

[Qunchuy]

ghItlhtaH QonoSwIj = My Writing Journal

That's more like My journal is writing. ghItlhtaH can only be a verb. If you wish to talk of the act of writing as a noun, perhaps ghItlhtaHghach would work.

ghItlh write, mark, engrave
-taH (ongoing, continuous)
-ghach -ness, -tion, -ing (nominalizer)

Finance = (I won't even bother giving my terrible interpretation)

Huch money

[soup_borg]

On second thought, here's my horrible interpretation:

Money-Record keeper

Huchta polwI'

Huch = money (n)

ta = record (n)

pol = keep, save (v)

-wI' = "do er"


Huch comes from The Klingon Dictionary.

[Kesvirit]

I am glad you did not stop at {Huch} = money, because finance isn’t the same as money. Finance is what you do with money, how you manipulate it,  and how you use it to manipulate others.

{Huchta polwI’} is a financier, which is not quite the same as finance. Might I suggest {Huchvu’} as an alternative? (Huch = money, vu’ = manage.) This will also give you a verb form to go with the nouns “finance” and “financier”.

-=- Kesvirit

[Klythe]

    A money record keeper would be more of an accountant than a financier (I most oven hear this in place of a "money lender"), which I think is also different from a Financial Advisor(Someone who advises on how to allocate your finances).   The problem is Finance means to many things.   It's a verb that means to figure out how to pay for something, it's a field of study, a career, and in the plural it can even mean the money itself.  This is a good example of Klingon and English not having a good one-to one relationship.   If you provide a context or a full sentance, we should be able to work out a good translation for that specific meaning of the word. 

    It s a good thing when Klingon and English don't have a direct equivallent translation.  It means Klingon is it's own alien language and isn't a kooky overly complicated cypher code for English.

[soup_borg]

"If you provide a context or a full sentance, we should be able to work out a good translation for that specific meaning of the word."


Finance, as in keeping financial records.  How much money I spent on that slice of blood pie, etc.

[Qunchuy]

DIlwI' QonoS payer's journal

DIl pay for
-wI' one who does
QonoS log, journal

Huch ta gher compile a money record

Huch money
ta record (noun)
gher compile, pull together, formulate