Help needed: Klingon characters for my tattoo

[mphilipp]

A couple of years ago, I let a tattoo-artist put a Klingon Empire logo on my arm. He didn't do a very good job. It looks a bit sloppy from close by.
I decided I'd let another guy take a shot at it en have it re-styled. I have more faith in this guy, as I saw some of his work, and he did a very nice scorpion on my leg.

At this moment the logo is just that, without anything around it. My idea is to have a circle around it, filled with some kind of colour or pattern (to straighten the logo up, make it tidy). In the circle, I'd like a Klingon saying of proverb in Klingon characters. But...I don't know how to do that. The text should be this:

Honor is more important than life
What would be: 'batlh potlh law' yIn potlh puS' in Klingon.

How does this looks like in the Klingon characters? I found some Klingon character sets, and I wonder if it is as simple as translate it character by character? Or is it more complicated than that?

[edit]
When it's done, I'll post some pics of it ofcourse!

[SoplaHtaHwI']

I'd like a Klingon saying of proverb in Klingon characters. But...I don't know how to do that. The text should be this:

Honor is more important than life
What would be: 'batlh potlh law' yIn potlh puS' in Klingon.

How does this looks like in the Klingon characters? I found some Klingon character sets, and I wonder if it is as simple as translate it character by character? Or is it more complicated than that?

If you have the KLI characters, then it mostly is as simple as that. Please bear in mind that there are some letters in tlhIngan Hol (the Klingon language) that consist of more characters (tlh, ch, gh and ng) and that the glottal stop (') is also a letter.
Please look at this useful page for further info about pIqaD (the klingon glyph system)
 

[mphilipp]

Ok, thanks a lot! I was wondering if it was that simple to write something in Klingon. Next task is to try and actually say it in Klingon...
I'll show it to the designer at the studio and see what they can come up with. I'll wear it with pride!

[Qunchuy]

There are only two tricky bits to rendering batlh potlh law' yIn potlh puS in the Klingon script called pIqaD. First, tlh is a single letter. Second, ' is a letter.

Okay, maybe three tricky bits, depending on typeface: l (at the beginning of law') is not the same letter as I (in the middle of yIn). Make sure you recognize the consonant "ell" in law', and the vowel "eye" in yIn.

Fortunately, you won't have to worry about the difference between q and Q for this phrase, or about the potential for confusing -ngh- with -ngH-.

[mphilipp]

There are only two tricky bits to rendering batlh potlh law' yIn potlh puS in the Klingon script called pIqaD. First, tlh is a single letter. Second, ' is a letter.
Okay, maybe three tricky bits, depending on typeface: l (at the beginning of law') is not the same letter as I (in the middle of yIn). Make sure you recognize the consonant "ell" in law', and the vowel "eye" in yIn.

Fortunately, I got them right... I copied the letters into a document that I'll give to the artist. See what he can do with it. Maybe the font will have to be a bit thinner than the examples, but that's not a problem. I doubt there will be many people on this planet who'll be able to read it and understand it But there you go...that just adds to the uniqueness of the tattoo I guess.

[melmaqngan]

I had thought of getting a Klingon henna tatoo (weenie ). Under the Klingon crest would be the characters for Qo'noS.

Re the glottal stop, IMO it resembles the 'Terran' symbol too much, so I have lengthened it to be as high as the other characters.

You do know, of course, that the pIqaD we're familiar with is unofficial . . .   

[tesseraktik]

Personally, I'm rather fond of creating monograms of Klingon words.  For instance, here's my rendition of bIQapqu'meH tar DaSop 'e' DatIvnIS . { "In order to truly succeed, you must enjoy eating poison." }



I find that they sort of resemble those "tribal" symbols that everybody's so crazy about, and also some words, when monogrammed, resemble Klingon weapons (DaSop, for instance, sort of looks like a bat'leth); I wonder if the characters are not in fact meant to looks weapon-like.

[madcat]

Fraek, I think your monogram approach is very cool and fits nicely into the description of the Klingon arts in KGT.  I could easily picture this engraved on weapons (or tattooed on a warrior:).

I do think melmaqngan's point that pIqaD is technically not official is important when considering a tattoo.  I do not think that this should change any decision, but going into it understanding what is and isn't officially accepted is important.  In fact, my question on another thread on responsibility was for a translation that I will change into pIqaD for a tattoo myself (if it wasn't balancing an earlier tattoo I might have asked Fraek to help me with the design:).

[tesseraktik]

Glad you like it; I'm thinking about cleaning it up a bit and using it as a logo, somewhere.

Indeed, understanding what something is is important if one's going to print it permanently (well, it's true one can always burn it off...  ...which does seem like something a Klingon might do just for the heck of it) on one's body.  Now, I can't claim to be the most experienced Klingonists, myself, but all I know tells me that pIqaD is the most widely recognized tlhIngan Hol writing system (for instance, it is used by the Klingon Language Institute), and therefore in a sense the best option if one want to show off your tattoo to another member of the Klingon community.  That being said, the most important thing is really whether or not one would be comfortable wearing these characters, and while Klingon society is supposedly very traditional in much of what it does I'm sure most Klingon fans wold not mind if you or your tattoo artist took some artistic freedoms with the characters (just check out Nick Nicholas' alterations at the bottom of this page).

Anybody who's interested in pIqaD may want to check out the pIqaD Playground, where you can enter any text in romanized tlhIngan Hol and have it rendered in pIqaD.  Also, here is a document on Klingon writing systems given out by the Klingon Language Institute.

By the way:  Just saw the scorpion pic; very nice!

[bekk Kretorg Leskit]

Sounds like the one I got . Smoke behind the logo and Qapla' written in Klingon symbols with a bat'leth above. Looks Great . my tattooist is great and can do miracles, good luck Qapla'

A couple of years ago, I let a tattoo-artist put a Klingon Empire logo on my arm. He didn't do a very good job. It looks a bit sloppy from close by.
I decided I'd let another guy take a shot at it en have it re-styled. I have more faith in this guy, as I saw some of his work, and he did a very nice scorpion on my leg.

At this moment the logo is just that, without anything around it. My idea is to have a circle around it, filled with some kind of colour or pattern (to straighten the logo up, make it tidy). In the circle, I'd like a Klingon saying of proverb in Klingon characters. But...I don't know how to do that. The text should be this:

Honor is more important than life
What would be: 'batlh potlh law' yIn potlh puS' in Klingon.

How does this looks like in the Klingon characters? I found some Klingon character sets, and I wonder if it is as simple as translate it character by character? Or is it more complicated than that?

When it's done, I'll post some pics of it ofcourse!

[edit-  Fixed BBCode  -Klythe]

[Qunchuy]

Honor is more important than life
What would be: 'batlh potlh law' yIn potlh puS' in Klingon.

How does this looks like in the Klingon characters? I found some Klingon character sets, and I wonder if it is as simple as translate it character by character? Or is it more complicated than that?

It's only slightly more complicated. For your purposes, you need to keep in mind that tlh is a single character in Klingon. Other than that, every Roman letter in your phrase has a one-to-one correspondence with a "pIqaD" symbol.

[bekk Kretorg Leskit]

A couple of years ago, I let a tattoo-artist put a Klingon Empire logo on my arm. He didn't do a very good job. It looks a bit sloppy from close by.
I decided I'd let another guy take a shot at it en have it re-styled.

I recomend you go to the site " The pIqaD playground" there you will be able to transcribe from romanised klingon to pIqaD. It is quick and easy and you don't have to guess using an alphabet. Qapla'

[Edit: reduced quote and fixed BBTag...  You really don't need to requote the full first post with every reply ya know!  -Klythe]