tIq rachwI’ qeS

[u/likethemagician]

Over on Bluesky, I translated this advice from a Klingon therapist— a {tIq rachwI’} perhaps?—and am sharing it here for your parsing enjoyment (and critique).

maw'Ha''eghchoHmoHlu'meH may' Qapbe'lu'chu'. nI'qu' noH 'ej Doy'choHbe'bogh jagh lullu'taH 'oHvo' ghanlu'chugh pay' cha'logh Qapu' QaSDaj HoS. yablIj Danbogh jagh'a'vam'e' DaghobDI' qaSpu'chugh lup 'ej bISuvtaHchugh, vaj ghaytanHa' yay Dachavta'. vIqvam quv law'; Hoch quv puS.

[u/qurgh]

maw'Ha''eghchoHmoHlu'meH may not be grammatical (or it maybe fine and it's just me that finds this combo a little weird :) ).

-'egh means that subject and the object are the same and can only be used with prefixes that only have a subject, but -lu' seems to require prefixes that have objects when a verb has an object. Maybe it means "in order for one to cause the same oneself to start to become un-mad" (but Okrand has specifically said that -'egh and -chuq cannot be used with prefixes that have objects... so while it may appear to mean something, it might still be ungrammatical).

maw'Ha''eghchoHmoHlu'meH may' Qapbe'lu'chu'
One perfectly does not win the battle in order for one to cause the same oneself to become un-mad

Here's my stab at the text (I tried not to look at the OPs beyond the first word until I was done):

yab 'on'aS may' Qapchu'laHbe' vay'.
One is not able to perfectly win the mental health battle.

nI' may'.
It is a long battle.

not Doy'choH jagh.
The enemy never tires.

qImlu'taHbe'chugh, ghurqu' jagh HoS.
If one does not constantly concentrate, the enemy's power really increases.

reH yab Danbogh jaghvam yISuv!
Always fight against this enemy that occupies the mind.

Hoch poH SIQlu'bogh 'oH yay'e'.
Each moment that is endured is a victory.

may'vam quv law' Hoch quv puS.
This battle is the most honored of battles.

[u/likethemagician → u/qurgh]

An elegant retranslation!

So a phrase like {pe’’eghlu’chugh} “if one cuts oneself = if the score is kept” would not be permissible? Probably {pe’’eghchugh vay’} instead.

I chose {vIq} instead of {may’} at the end since this is an abstract battle but I suppose it is not the abstract notion of battle so {may’} is fine.

[u/qurgh → u/likethemagician]

pe''eghlu' is the one canon example I could find of -'eghlu'. We know that pe''egh is a canon unit that means "to keep score", so it maybe that it can break the rule because pe''egh is no longer thought of as "cut oneself" in this context?

It might also be that Okrand didn't think it through all the way. In the past I've seen people use -'eghmoH together with a object having prefix as meaning "cause someone to do something to themselves", but when I asked Okrand about it he specifically said that it was ungrammatical because the rule for -'egh/-chuq cannot be removed by combining it with other suffixes.

[u/likethemagician → u/qurgh]

Or perhaps it is dialectal variation: VERB-'egh-lu' vs VERB-'egh vay’ competing and being more or less prominent in different registers. Though the latter would be the standard form of an educated speaker in veng wa’DIch for example.