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What a Klingon translation could look like

Personally, I would like to see more languages with some amount of native speakers added as translations (and Klingon only barely counts with 1 native speaker). However, I don't speak those languages and so here I am. (This is more of an outline what it would look like.)

To be fair, I also don't really speak Klingon. But maybe I just want to challenge myself. And I don't think I could do more than this one episode... For Klingon, there are two immediate technical problems I see. (I'll just ignore pIqaD like everyone else.) There's the ISO language code, which has three letters (tlh) and all the good ones are taken. And there might be a copyright issue with Klingon: right now, its status seems to be in limbo, with CBS and Axanar settling off-court. Yay... A proprietary language??? That wouldn't be in spirit with this project. So maybe it's not even worth the effort. If this were to continue, I'd have to read up on the finer points of grammar before I open a branch. But if anyone wants to explore this further, maybe this can be a starting point.

Here's my translation for the title:

lut 'ay' 1: puvghach Qenvob

  • lut 'ay' literally translates to "story part" - this is used in the Klingon Hamlet for "act" (and then "lut 'ay'Hom" for scene, -Hom being a suffix for "smaller than without the suffix")
  • puv is the verb "fly" and -ghach makes it a noun, so together, it translates to "flight"
  • Qenvob is a mixture (with plant parts and/or animal parts) to make tea. There is no word for the noun "drink" (only for alcohlic drinks, and no word for non-alcoholic drinks). Alternately, chatlh could be used, which means soup. There's also Dargh, which is the finished tea to drink (and Klingon tea might be stronger than is good for a human).

First panel:

... natlIS 'ej

[SSS SSS]

  • natlIS is the last item on a list or the end of the list
  • "'ej" is "and"
  • The letter S is pronounced similarly to "sh" in Klingon

Second panel:

... mmm

ghaytanHa' HoS yap

  • "ghaytanHa'" is "unlikely"
  • "HoS" is "(being) strong", and because this is a verb and the pronoun prefix for he/she/it is none, it can stand alone
  • "yap" is "enough"

Thrid panel:

Maybe "qang" ("pour") could be used for the SFX, but "plop" could stay as well

Fourth panel:

toH

maj

  • "toH" is the only exclamation I could find that fits
  • "pup" would be "perfect", but can also mean "exact" or "high resolution". Would probably be fine, but maj is pretty close and one of the more common expressions, from what I can see

Fifth panel:

Qo' DaQubQo'

  • "Qo'", in this context "Don't". Please note that "ghobe'" is only a no as an answer
  • "Qup" means "think", the "Da-" prefix means "you->it", "Qo'" as a suffix is the negation as an imperative

Sixth panel:

ploS

  • I checked, this shouldn't be a word an /s/ sound doesn't really exist in Klingon, plus the Russian version also transcribes to "plosh"

Seventh panel:

bIQuch'a'

  • "Quch" is "(being) happy", the prefix "bI-" is "you" and the "-'a'" suffix indicates a question

Uh... this concludes my running myself into something that can probably safely be ignored.

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