Duolingo announced that you may now learn theStar TrekKlingon language in a brand-new course. The famous fictional language has been around for decades and the course has been in the making for over three years now. Many people, includingStar Trekfans, are not fluent inKlingon, but that’s all about to change since Duolingo promises you can learn any language with 5 minutes of practice a day. Soon, the whole world will be able to speak in Klingon, making the fictional language a real thing.
The Klingon Duolingo course gained a waitlist of over 170,000 people before its release.Star Trekfans have been waiting a long time to finally be able to learn the language through the popular app. The Klingon language was created by Mark Okrand for the 1979Star Trekmovie and has turned into one of the most-commonly spokenfictional languages. The only three that rival Klingon are Elvish fromThe Lord of the Ringsand Dothraki, as well as Valyrian, which also has its own Duolingo course, both languages fromGame of Thrones.
The Klingons were introduced in 1967, but their language was not developed until 1979 when Mark Okrand was asked to develop the Klingon language. Before the language, the Klingons spoke in grunts, but after the popularity of theStar Trekfranchise, interest went into the Klingon language, which resulted in a best-selling book by Okrand called The Klingon Dictionary in 1985. The book has sold hundreds of thousands of copies all over the world. The language has been expanded over the years and the Duolingo course, which is free to use, promises to give an accurate overview.
The Klingon language was originally based off of military use.Ships, weapons, insults, and warset up the basis of the language. Insults are held in high esteem and some words have multiple meanings, which could get confusing. The Duolingo site says, “For example, the closest word you may use to express hello is nuqneH, which actually means What do you want? There are also plenty of insults, as it is considered an art form.” Taking on the fictional language might only be for the most hardcore ofStar Trekfans, but it’s worth checking out just for how long it took the officially licensed course to be developed.
As previously noted, over three years-worth of hard work went into making the free Klingon course, which is pretty significant. Duolingo does offer a paid version without ads and extra material, but the majority of users more than likely just use the free version. It’s been rumored that there’s only around 100 people from around the world that are fluent in Klingon, but that’s about to change since the free course is nowavailable to the masses. Will Duolingo be able to make good on their “5 minutes a day” promise for Klingon? Head over toDuolingoto check it out.
