Hi all, Thanks to a little credit I got recently on Amazon I decided to buy a little gift for myself. I purchased a used copy of the famous Klingon Dictionary.
I used to own this book as a teenager, maybe 20-25 years ago when I was a young, die-hard “Trekkie” (Star Trek fan). However, one time I remember bringing it to school one day and getting ridiculed by my schoolmates and after that I was so embarrassed I never brought it to school again. Eventually I lost that book, or sold it, I can’t recall. But times have changed a lot. What was considered fringe and nerdy is now mainstream and popular. A lonely nerd like myself now works a respectable job and has started a family. So, recently I’ve been getting in touch with the nerdy side that I suppressed for so many years out of shame. It felt really good to buy this book again.
Also, I am a bibliophile so I like to buy used books anyway. This copy was definitely worn and the pages browned, but I’ll give it a good home. :-)
But what about learning Klingon? Having learned Japanese, a little Korean, a little Latin, Mandarin and such, I am fascinated with languages in general. What makes Klingon so interesting is that it was made with great attention and care by Marc Okrand, a professional linguist. So it’s not just a few words and phrases thrown in a few TV episodes, but it represents a fascinating language and expression of Klingon culture. It’s not a very practical language, but it is interesting.
Unlike a real language though, there are little or no resources available by native speakers so learning it is more of a hobby. Still, it would be fun to show up at a Star Trek convention one day and strike up a little Klingon conversation like this scene from Star Trek VI:
Time will tell. :-)
bortaS bIr jablu’DI’reH QaQqu’ nay’
