tlhIngan Hol on Frasier

[tesseraktik]

Greetings, fellow Klingonists,

The recent discussion concerning the use of tlhIngan Hol on the TV-series Chuck reminded me of the fact that it's been used on my favorite TV-series of all time:  Frasier
Now, the main Klingon-speaker on this show was a character known as Noel, and usually what he said was pretty much nonsense (for instance, he once stated that the Klingon word was 'krish-krush', featuring one was not addressing a superior officer), but in one particular episode - Star Mitzvah - he offers to translate a blessing for Frasier's son into Hebrew for young boy's Bar Mitzvah, but after Frasier crosses him (by failing to get Scott Bakula's autograph when he had the chance) he instead translates it into Klingon, and it seems the writers did put some effort into getting it right.  Now you can watch the video here.

Here's Frasier's original speech, in English:

My dearest son, each day you redeem me.
May your journey be filled with the same joy, wisdom, and purpose you have given mine.


Here's what I believe Kelsey Grammer was trying to say:

puqloDwI' le' qaHo' ▲
Hoch jaj choq cho'avmo' 'ach lenglIj lutebjaj lengwIjvaD bel rap ▼ Sov 'e' Danobbej po' 'oH bo'agh ▲

puqloDwI' = my son
le' = to be special, exceptional
qaHo' = I admire you
puqloDwI' le' qaHo' ▲ = I admire you, my gifted son.

Hoch = All, every, everyone, everything
jaj = day
choq = to save
cho'avmo' = because you guard me
'ach = but, nevertheless, even so, however
lenglIj = your voyage
lutebjaj = may they fill him/her/it
lengwIjvaD = intended for my voyage
bel = pleasure or to be pleased
rap = to be the same
Sov = knowledge or to know
'e' = that (previous topic)
Danobbej = you certainly give him/her/it/them
po' = to be expert
'oH = it or it is
bo'agh = you (plural) show, demonstrate, display him/her/it/them

I'm having a hard time decrypting this second sentence.  It seems that something saves every day (in other words, the every day is safe) because his son guards him.  He then wishes that the pleasure that can be described ss being the same and being intended for his journey also fills his son's journey, which seems to match the original speech.  Then, I'm not sure how to make heads or tails of anything...

What do you think of my transliteration?  How would you translate it into English?  How well do you feel that it matches the original, English text?

[Qunchuy]

The writers did what every TV show's writers should do when they want to get Klingon right: they asked for help from someone who speaks it. In this case, they went directly to Marc Okrand, the creator of tlhIngan Hol. Grammer's pronunciation would likely have been spot on had the writers given him the "true" spelling instead of the "phonetic" one: he turned puq "pook" into "poe-oak", for example.

puqloDwI' le'qu': Hoch jaj choquvmoH.  lenglIj lutebjaj lengwIjvaD bel rap, Sov rap, ngoQ rap je Danobpu'bogh.

(The four underlined words were supposed to be there, but somehow got lost before they made it out of Grammer's mouth.)

puqloD son
-wI' my

le' be special
-qu' (emphatic)

Hoch each (all)

jaj day

cho- you (do something to) me
quvmoH honor

leng voyage, trip
-lIj your

lu- they (do something to) it[/b]
teb fill
-jaj may (wish)

leng voyage, trip
-wIj my
-vaD for

bel pleasure

rap be the same

Sov knowledge

rap be the same

ngoQ goal

rap be the same

je and (combining nouns)

Da- you (do something to) it
nob give
-pu' (completed)
-bogh which (relative-clause marker)

[tesseraktik]

Ah, thank you; that makes a lot more sense!  It's great that they got Marc Okrand to write their Klingon; if only the writers on shows like Star Trek: Deep Space 9 had been as kind to us

[torqey]

Lol I love Star Trek and Frasier. I've watched every single Frasier episode and most of them twice. Lol.

torqey out.