You might think that only those who do not know how to become professional in the language of William Shakespeare waste their time learning Klingon in the basements of their parents and look like real geeks. However, have you ever wondered how the first lines of the first Star Trek movie sounded? In fact, it dates back to 1979. The answer to this question is: “wIy cha’! HaSta! chayIghuS!” It was translated like “Tactical… Visual… Tactical, stand by on torpedoes!” Frankly speaking, the translation wasn’t really accurate.
Although the Klingons were not present in the last movie, now they are back and even more formidable. Of course, you can read the subtitles during our speaking, but the best decision would be to learn Klingon and admire the movie with more pleasure.
Pronunciation, Part 1
To begin with, the word “ghobe’” stands for “no.” You should try to pronounce it in a right way. The sound should come from the back of the throat like the word “gargle.” Do you see the mark at the last syllable? It means this word ends abruptly. It should sound really short.
Pronunciation, Part 2
Since people often prefer to be rather positive and optimistic, we’d better make an attempt to learn another word “HIja” that stands for “yes.” Again, you should use your throat. Don’t use too much air with the sound “h.” Pronounce it in a noisy way like the ending of “yechhh!” Another important step is to utter “I” like in the word “big.”
What about Greetings?
Now you might get surprised, because there are no words that are used as greetings in Klingon. If you feel eager to say hello to someone, use nuqne, meaning “What do you want?”
Vocabulary
The most frequently used words are to be aggressive=vaO; battle array=may’morgh; honor=batlh; ‘uH=to have a hangover. If you learn them, you will be able to understand almost everything. In order to find more, you might use the following website http://www.bing.com/translator.
The Structure of the Sentence
Hab SoSII’ Quch is a very bad insult that means “your mother has a smooth forehead.” Be cautious while using it. In order to show possessive case, a suffix lI’ should be used. What is more, the subject follows the verb in Klingon.
The Structure of the Word
Maybe you want to go over each affix alone. Frankly speaking, it isn’t a good idea, because it would take much time. Having what it takes, you could learn almost all grammatical affixes through a single sentence. Some time ago, the Klingon Language Institute announced a contest to see who would be able to construct the longest sentence in Klingon including only three words. The winner was: “nobwI a’pu’qoqvam’e’ nuHegh’eghrupqa’moHlaHbe’law’ll’neS she’eahtaHghach’a’na’chajmo’”
The root words are nob, Heagh, SeH, meaning give, kill and control. Everything that is left are prefixes and suffixes that add extra information.
