💾 Archived View for thrig.me › blog › 2023 › 03 › 21 › we-come-in-peace.gmi captured on 2023-05-24 at 18:18:12. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2023-04-19)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
mi klama tezu'e le panpi
we come with-goal peace
There can be an ominous subtext here; many arrivals have resulted in not peaceful results, up to and including genocide. "Star Trekkin'" (the Firm, 1987) extends the line as "we come in peace, shoot to kill" as might be typical for a Western, but in space.
Often it is good to cast about for alternative translations, depending on how much time you have. From the notes, the shorter
mi panpi klama
got itself rejected as being too vague; their coming being peaceful in some way says nothing about their present intents. One could also look around for some other "verb" to use. A vague form might see use if the aliens are here "to serve man". Outside review might help explore alternatives you had missed. Hopefully they are peaceful.
Context-free translations can also be a problem.
KLAATU. We have come to visit you in peace -- and with good will.
-- "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951)
So in America in 1951 certain things were going on that might be difficult to replicate to a present or future audience. We do however have a longer quote than a tropeline, and with even more context could start working with larger forms and word choices.
mi pu klama vi gi'e ca'o vitke do tezu'e le panpi seci'o le ka xendo
we past come here and [we] continue-to visit you with-goal peace emoting kindness
Lojban is aorist, unlike English, so you may need to wrangle the tense differently to account for that. This translation seems a trifle awkward. More involved would be to delve into "who is Klaatu, and what would they say here, if they were a native Lojban speaker" which can take a bit more effort, especially when the character isn't dictating to you and you aren't a native Lojban speaker, and grinding through a full transcript while listening to the movie and juggling Lojban is a bit much for what started with working on an offhand phrase.
An old book said something about names arising and knowing when to stop?
tags #politics #lojban