Translation for "They didn't understand life" poem

[nooij]

Hello!  :-)

I was hoping someone here would be willing to help me by translating a certain piece of text from English to Klingon.

As a amateur linguist, I use translations of said text for personal comparance and study of different language( group)s. I am quite interested in the phonology and grammar of the Klingon language - and I am amazed by the fact that the language has become so popular and wide-spoken on the world.

The text is: "When I was five years old, my mom always told me that happiness was the key of life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down "happy". They told me I didn't understand the assignment and I told them they didn't understand life."

I'd really appreciate it if someone'd translate this quote for me. If people aren't willing to do it, I definitely understand. I don't want to waste anybody's time with my request.

Whether the quote is translated or not, I'll surely check these forums out frequently, as the posts here amuse me and it's very educative to read conversations in a constructed language as successful as Klingon. :-)

Thanks in advance!

-Nooij.

[tesseraktik]

One possibility:

qaStaHvIS yInwIj DIS javDIch muja' SoSwI', QuchtaHghach 'oH yIn qolqoS'e'.
While my life's sixth year happens my mother tells me, life's essence is happiness.

DuSaQ vIjeStaHvIS jIHvaD ghellu', jatlhlu', bInentaHvIS nuq SoH DaneH.
While I participate in school one asked to me, one said, you want that you're what while you're grown up.
This translation is a bit problematic because it relies on a pun: The fact that in the English phrase "what do you want to be", the "what" can refer both to a position and to a state. This doesn't work quite as well in Klingon; a position is a matter of nuq ("What?"), whereas a state is a matter of chay' ("How?"). Compare, for instance, to how the phrase "What are your orders?" is translated to chay' jura'. ("How do you order us?"). Likewise, the English word become is used both of states ("he became happy") and nouns ("he became a captain"), whereas in Klingon you use a verb suffix for the former (QuchchoH) and the verb moj ("to become") for the latter (HoD moj). One cannot say Quch 'e'  moj ("he becomes that he's happy").
One could possibly sidestep this by replacing the Quch below with QuchwI' ("a happy one"), or by replacing nuq SoH above with nuq Dachav ("what do you wish to achieve") and the Quch below with QuchtaHghach, but it doesn't carry quite the same punch as the English pun.
Perhaps one could also rephrase by changing the the above to a matter of chay'.
HoD Damojchugh chay' beqlIj Dara'. {If you become a captain, how will you command your crew?}
wa' mu'tlhegh vIghItlh, jIQuch. {I write one sentence, I'm happy.}
...or maybe something with gheS ("assume the duties of"):
bInentaHvIS nuq DagheS DaneH. ("When you're grown up what role will you assume.")
jIjang, jIghItlh, jIQuch. ("I answers, I write, I'm happy.")

wa' mu' vIghItlh, Quch.
I wrote one word, to be happy.

vIja'lu', Qu'vam DayajHa'ba'. jIjang, chaH vIja', yIn boyajHa'ba'.
They told me, you obviously misunderstand this assignment. I answered, I told them, you obviously misunderstand life.
If you replace the -Ha' with -be', it'll be "you obviously don't understand", rather than "you obviously misunderstand".

[nooij]

Thank you, Tesseraktik! I appreciate your efforts. Your explanation of the translation is really interesting, and the different possibilities are very amusing and entertaining. 

Again, thank you!

-Nooij.