The language sounds as foreign as if it came from another planet: rough, coarse and full of throat sounds. Developed 40 years ago, Klingon has become an earthly hobby for many “Trekkies”.
In the beginning there were only a handful of sounds made by fantasy aliens from alien galaxies. 40 years ago – in 1984 – words, sentences, entire dialogues and real grammar were created.
Today the artificial language Klingon comprises around 5,000 words, which has long since reached many earthly beings. “There are an estimated 100 people worldwide who speak this language fluently,” says Lieven L. Litaer, who has been teaching the language of the “Trekkies” for more than 20 years. There are also thousands who learned Klingon and could do it very well.
Invented for the cult series “Star Trek”
“I never thought that so many people would learn Klingon,” said its developer, the American linguist Marc Okrand, recently at a language meeting in Saarbrücken. The 75-year-old designed the Klingon language for the cult series “Star Trek” on behalf of Paramount Pictures. And with a clear system. Sentence structure is object, verb, subject. No tenses, verbs are not inflected. But there are plenty of pronouns and suffixes.
“Klingon was intentionally designed as an alien language and therefore bears almost no resemblance to any terrestrial language,” says Litaer. The pronunciation not only sounds strange, but is also difficult. “Because there are a lot of guttural sounds and a lot of hissing sounds. And when you have to combine them, it’s tiring.” So “tlhIngan Hol vI-ghoj” means: “I’m learning Klingon”.
Always new words
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the premiere of the film “Star Trek III: The Search for Mr. Spock.” The Klingon language developed by Okrand was used for the first time, says expert Litaer. In the first “Star Trek” movie in 1979 there were a few words in Klingon that the actor James Doohan invented. But these would have had neither meaning nor grammar. “It was just eleven syllables,” says the 44-year-old.
In the first Klingon dictionary by Okrand (1985) there were initially 1800 words. They mainly related to science fiction and space situations. What was missing were everyday words like bread, frying pan or table, said Litaer. These were then added little by little, also at the request of the Klingonists, i.e. those who wanted to speak the language. Okrand, who is the only one to create words for the Klingon Language Institute, recently brought new vocabulary to students in Saarbrücken: for bikini, sandals, bra, bee and turtleneck sweater. And the Klingon spelling for Ukraine: ‘uqrayI’na.
Why alien is fun
The high school teacher Oliver Fechtig from Stuttgart has been learning the Klingon language since 2019. “I find it exciting because it is completely different than what you know,” says the 44-year-old Star Trek fan. Grammar in particular is a challenge for him. “It’s really fun,” says the math and physics teacher. “For me it’s an expansion of the spectrum. I wanted to do something completely different.”
Raik Lorenz has been active since 2002. “The community is great. I like the open environment of the Klingon Club,” he says. The language is structured logically and the grammar is relatively easy to learn. The student, who studies European Minority Languages at the University of Leipzig, thinks the pronunciation is “practice and a bit of effort,” but it’s fun. In the meantime, dialects have also developed in the speaker community. In the USA, Klingon sounds sometimes different than in Germany.
“Many people learn it simply because it is something special,” says Litaer, who is releasing two new books to mark the anniversary: a textbook “Klingon at Conventions” in the spring and a work on the history of the origins of Klingon at the end of the year. The Star Trek fan has written many books about Klingon. He also translated The Little Prince and Alice in Wonderland into Klingon.
Does the language also say something about the Klingon culture? Yes, absolutely, says Litaer. The people are “not rude, but very direct”. The words “please” and “thank you” do not exist. Therefore let them say: “Give me the bread!” And when you meet someone, you don’t say hello, but say “nuqneH” – which means something like: “What do you want?”
Of course – as a Klingon learner you will also be surprised. “But don’t worry! We don’t walk around in aluminum hats all day, worshiping some alien deities and waiting to be picked up by them,” says Litaer. One should be aware that “Star Trek” is just a show and there are no Klingons. Learning Klingon is just fun. Just like other hobbies. “You can also ask yourself whether it makes sense to collect stamps or take a pottery course.”