bookmark_borderFrère Jacques in Klingon



Klingon
Originally uploaded by Infidelic

Years ago I translated Frère Jacques into Klingon for a linguistic party.

My translation seems to have got lost (unless one of my readers would happen to have kept a copy), so I thought I’d better redo it:

yIvem yaq yaS! yIvem yaq yaS!

bIQong’a’? bIQong’a’?

pengmey DaQoybe”a’? pengmey DaQoybe”a’?

bum! bum! bum! bum! bum! bum!

Literally, this means: Wake up, officer Yaq! Are you sleeping? Don’t you hear the torpedoes all over the place? Boom! Boom! Boom!

I think most of it should be correct Klingon, but I’m only guessing that ‘boom’ would be bum. If anybody reading this speaks Klingon more fluently than me, I’d be happy to correct any errors.

Update: Here’s the lyrics in IPA for those who are not aware of the conventions of the Klingon transliteration scheme: /jɪvɛm jɑqʰ jɑʃ – mbɪqʰoʊŋʔɑʔ – pʰɛŋmɛj ɳɖɑqχojmbɛʔːɑʔ – mbuːm mbuːm mbuːm/.