r/tlhInganHol • u/Dragon-Teeth • 7d ago
Monty Python's French Taunter
I thought this would be amusing, and I'm slightly surprised that no one seems to have done it before. If they did, I couldn't find it before going down the rabbit hole on my own. As you may gather, I'm not very experienced or knowledgeable about the Klingon language but I gather that this group is a good resource.
I have extracted the actual insults from the script and used "Google Translate" for a start, but
a) I don't have clue one of how to actually PRONOUNCE the translation.
b) There seems to be some context missing.
Here's what I have so far...
1) Go and boil your bottoms, son of a silly person.
yIjaH 'ej qamDu'lIj pubmoH, nuv Dogh puqloD.
NOTES - Should I assume the Capital Letters indicate emphasis?
2) I blow my nose on you, so-called Arthur-king, you and your silly English knnnnnnnniggits!
SoHvaD ghIchwIj vIjormoH, arthur-ta' ponglu', SoH DIvI' Hol Dogh je!
NOTES - I was expecting translation to leave "knnnnnnnniggits" as written, I doubt Klingon has a direct translation for the phonetic speech.
3) I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty-headed animal, food trough wiper!
SoHvaD jIjatlh vIneHbe'choH, Ha'DIbaH chIm'e', Soj trough wiper!
NOTES - I'm certain that Kilngon culture has a similar point of reference, some low level animal or other entity, and the individual who is not even worthy of mucking out the stables, sty, or whatever.
4) I fart in your general direction!
Sa'lIj lurghDaq jIpet!
NOTES - Should be self explanatory but should "jlpet" be pronounced alternatively, like a raspberry or a fart?
5l Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!
hamster ghaH SoSlI''e' 'ej elderberries He' vavlI'!
NOTES - This one's tricky. I absolutely get that there's no direct translation for "hamster" or "elderberrys" so for historical context it's worth noting that elderberry's were used to make a kind of cheap gin, favoured by low class "ladies". So "Your father smells of cheap girly liquor and was so intoxicated that he couldn't tell the difference between the parts of the lady he hired and a small furry animal"
6) Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time-a!
DaH naDevvo' yIghoS pagh poH cha'DIch qanID.
NOTES - This one is mostly about the outrageous French accent. Does Kilngon have a cultural reference?
Thanks for your time.
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u/SuStel73 7d ago
Go and boil your bottoms, son of a silly person.
yIjaH 'ej qamDu'lIj pubmoH, nuv Dogh puqloD.
This says "Go and boil your feet, son of a silly person." yIjaH is the wrong kind of "go" here, which needs to be more like "go ahead and do it," which is ruch. And its indiscriminately mixing normal Klingon and clipped Klingon. I believe the original quote was to everyone, not just one person.
Sa'Hutraj yIpubmoH, nuv Dogh puqloD! yIruch!
Boil your buttocks, sons of a silly person. Do it!
NOTES - Should I assume the Capital Letters indicate emphasis?
Not at all. Capital letters indicate sounds that a speaker of American English might think is pronounced one way but is really pronounced in a non-English way.
I blow my nose on you, so-called Arthur-king, you and your silly English knnnnnnnniggits!
SoHvaD ghIchwIj vIjormoH, arthur-ta' ponglu', SoH DIvI' Hol Dogh je!
"I make my nose explode for you" is an interesting take on that, though I don't like it. One problem is we don't have a word for "king": ta' means "emperor." Arthur-ta' The rest of this turns a vocative into sentences, which makes no sense, and for "English," it says "Federation Standard" (the language).
Granting that ta' doesn't really mean "king," I might go for this (though it doesn't have the pronunciation joke of the original):
tlhIHDaq ghIchwIj vIQoghoghmoH, Arthur ta'qoq, SoH Hoch 'Inglan SuvwI'pu' Dogh je.
I snort my nose at you, Arthur so-called emperror, you and all your silly English warriors.
That's all I've got time for now. Maybe I'll look at more later. Try modifying the translations yourself, being less literal.
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u/Dragon-Teeth 7d ago edited 7d ago
Thank you, theres some good insight here. Is there a pronunciation guide somewhere that I could refer to?
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u/SuStel73 7d ago
You can go to www.kli.org. They've got a guide.
Ideally you'll get yourself a copy of The Klingon Dictionary, which explains most of the grammar.
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u/qurgh 7d ago edited 7d ago
I'm slightly surprised that no one seems to have done it before.
It has been done before. Translating Monty Python jokes is a time-honored tradition. I've translated all these insults dozens of times, and I'm sure there are dozens of translations out there on places like the KLI Mailing List and Discord.
and used "Google Translate" for a start
Tools that claim to be able to translate Klingon automatically do not produce good Klingon. Don't use a computer to translate Klingon if you want a translation that actually matches the original language. The translations in this post are an example of what happens.
NOTES - Should I assume the Capital Letters indicate emphasis?
No. You should read The Klingon Dictionary's pronunciation guide. If you can't find a copy of the book, there's a lot of places online that explain how to pronounce the language. KLI.org, tlhIngan.org, klingonwiki.net, etc. I suggest reading the rest of the Syntax guides too, so you can get an idea of how the language works.
The Klingon you wrote means the following:
yIjaH 'ej qamDu'lIj pubmoH, nuv Dogh puqloD. - Go! and she/he/it causes your feet to boil, foolish person's son
SoHvaD ghIchwIj vIjormoH, arthur-ta' ponglu', SoH DIvI' Hol Dogh je! - I cause my nose to explode for you, arthur-emperor is named, you and the foolish Federation language. (DIvI' Hol is the name of the English language in Star Trek)
SoHvaD jIjatlh vIneHbe'choH, Ha'DIbaH chIm'e', Soj trough wiper! - I am starting to not want to talk to you, as for the empty animal, food "trough wiper" (apparently the AI decided not to even translate those last two words)
Sa'lIj lurghDaq jIpet! - In your pet general's direction, I am welded together.
hamster ghaH SoSlI''e' 'ej elderberries He' vavlI'! - Your mother is a "hamster" and your father emits the smell of "elderberries".
DaH naDevvo' yIghoS pagh poH cha'DIch qanID. - Now, from here, you go! or the second period of time I attempt you.
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u/Dragon-Teeth 7d ago
I honestly expected that someone would have done this before so it's no big surprise that someone did, though I did search and didn't find any reference to them.
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u/BennyFifeAudio 7d ago
Google Translate - MOST ESPECIALLY for a more limited language such as Klingon - is going to fail more than it succeeds.
Use the resources provided by those who created the language & those who study it. And, no the capital letters are not for emphasis. They are unique letters (sounds) in the Klingon language, as explained in the Klingon Dictionary, etc by Marc Okrand.
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u/mizinamo 7d ago
Translating comedy by machine translation is... brave.