Translations requested for common communications terms

[Abbot Nej vIt]

Greetings,

As a brief background statement please note: I am not trying to find Klingon statements which are culturally correct. instead, I am looking for loose translations whose context makes sense in the "Human" real world.

Onward...

In my experience with the real world US Army, I was taught some fundemental radio etiquettte and I often use them in various communications. I have noticed that others with a military background or familiarity, as well as those who have experience with other occupations (or hobbies) which use some form of radio etiquette sometimes use terms or phrases in their Role-play, forum chat, and E-mail that rely on these "Rules" as well.

In common usage, these are sometimes thrown into SIMM Role-play, are used during Cell phone calls, are sometimes used during Table-top wargames, and so on, and, most usefully, are employed during voice chats for online games where proper radio etiquette has a legitimate function.

Some quick examples of terms used in this context are: (These are rough idealized meanings are not necessarily exact)

- COPY THAT = I agree/ I understood your meaning.

- ROGER THAT = I understand what you are saying/ I will comply.

- OVER = I have finished my thought but the conversation is not over, I am waiting for your response.

- BREAK = I am not done with my thought yet, and will continue in a moment/ do not reply yet.
{This is used when a transmission is more than a few words in length but the sender does not want to keep the mic keyed. In other words to avoid triangulation of your location you avoid transmitting for too long}

- OUT = The conversation is over/ I do not expect a reply.

Now, it occurs to me that it wouldn't hurt to have some Klingon translations for some of these terms. I will likely incorporate them into KSG related uses as well as for online gaming. The problem is, I am simply not well versed in the grammar of tlhIngan Hol {the Klingon language}.

Thus, in my efforts to come up with reasonable translations I could be making some significant errors. Realizing this, I have sort of stopped in defference to getting some expert suggestions. Remember, these are meant to be short statments which can be learned quickly.

What I have so far:

- BREAK = jIHlen {I am taking a break/ I am breaking} jIH "I'm" + len "Recess/Break"

- COPY THAT/ROGER THAT = jIyaj {I understand} jI "I" + yaj "Understand"

- OUT = Qav {be last/ be final}

- OVER = bItaH {You continue/ You go on} bI "You" + taH "Continue, Go on"

I would very much like some input here. And again, I am not asking for the more philsophical debates about whether or not Klingons WOULD use similar radio etiquette. I am however, very interested in knowing if the terms I am working on would at least make sense grammatically.

maj! {Good}...

[tesseraktik]

Well, I'm no expert myself, but I'd suggest:

Copy that / Roger that (as in "I understand") : In The Klingon Dictionary, Marc Okrand actually gives us a clipped Klingon* phrase for this:  In proper Klingon, I understand clearly is jIyajchu', but in clipped Klingon it's simply yajchu'

Roger that (as in "I will comply") : lu' and luq both mean something along the lines of "Okay, I'll do it!"

Copy that (as in "I agree") : Qoch means "to disagree", and Qochbe' "to agree".  Now, I don't actually know what the object is when it comes to this word, although I'm guessing it works both with a statement or with a person uttering it, thus:  qaQochbe' = "I agree with you" ; net vIQochbe' = "I agree about that." ;
However, I suppose it could also be maQochbe' = "We agree" or maQochbe'chuq = "We agree with eachother!"
Anyhow, if you want to abbreviate it, I think just Qochbe' should be fine.

Break : I would recommend mayev (we pause) or simply yev (to pause).  Perhaps then one could resume say mayevHa' (we unpause) or simply yevHa' (to unpause).

Over : I think maybe HIjang, which means "Reply to me!" whether you are addressing one or multiple persons.  However, jang (to reply) should suffice, I think.

Out : maja'chuqta' = "We are done conferring, having done so deliberately."  Again, I'm not quite sure what the subject and object are with the verb ja'chuq ("to discuss, confer"), but I'm guessing that maja'chuq means "We discuss something with each other".**  Anyhow, ja'chuqta' should suffice, or perhaps jatlhta' (to be done speaking deliberately).
Also, maQumta' (we are done communicating deliberately) or just Qumta' (to be done communicating deliberately) could perhaps work.



*An abbreviated form of Klingon which "is heard quite frequently in military contexts where quick - rather than eloquent - communication is deemed  a virtue." [TKD]

**I actually think that ja'chuq comes from jatlhchuq (to speak each other), much as nga'chuq (to have sex) probably comes from ngaghchuq (to mate with each other).  The word nga'chuq is translated as "sex (i.e. perform sex; always subject) (v)", and I believe the common consensus is that what is meant by "always subject" is that "all involved parties collectively make the subject of this verb" [as suggested in The Klingon Hamlet], so that manga'chuq means "we have sex with each other", and that one is making a grammatical error by stating something like qanga'chuq (I-have-sex-you) because the -chuq (= "each other, one another") requires that there is no object (and if it is correct, it means something like "I somehow affect you by having sex with myself.").  Similarly, I believe that maja'chuq should mean "We talk to each other".
That being said, I wonder if one can not in fact write wIja'chuq = We discuss it, as -chuq is part of the word and not a suffix, so that the prerequisite for using the suffix can be circumvented.  Indeed, one could perhaps even say maja'chuqchuq = We discuss each other with each other.

[Qunchuy]

Fraek did a good job with the vocabulary, but I think a couple of his suggestions carry a bit too much grammatical baggage. Context here suggests extreme brevity. Having some experience in actual Klingon language communication, here's what I'd say:

- COPY THAT = I agree/ I understood your meaning.
   yaj understood, I understand (clipped)

- ROGER THAT = I understand what you are saying/ I will comply.
   lu' or luq yes, okay, I will

- OVER = I have finished my thought but the conversation is not over, I am waiting for your response.
   rIn finished (this was used in Star Trek V by the crewman at the Morskan outpost)

- BREAK = I am not done with my thought yet, and will continue in a moment/ do not reply yet.
   yev pause, I pause (clipped)
   loS wait (clipped) (this would be my preference)

- OUT = The conversation is over/ I do not expect a reply.
   rIntaH it continues to be finished

The problem is, I am simply not well versed in the grammar of tlhIngan Hol {the Klingon language}.

The grammar required for this sort of thing is extremely minimal. From the examples we've seen, clipped Klingon tends toward bare verbs, with no prefixes and only the occasional aspect or qualification suffix.