Those crazy people at Germany’s equivalent to the BBC World Service - Deutsche Welle - have celebrated the 10th anniversary of their website by adding another language section to their homepage: Klingon.
The language invented for the creators of Star Trek - or Raumschiff Enterprise, as they call it in Germany - has joined the 30 already used on the news site, ranging from Albanian to Urdu.
Germany has thousands of Trekkies, obsessed with the long-running 1960s TV series which produced the big-browed alien warriors from the planet Kronos and their harsh guttural language.
But Deutsche Welle said that it was aiming its service not at local fans but at genuine extra-terrestrials, to underline the station’s multicultural openness and give Germany the kind of intergalactic recognition it so clearly deserves.
“We should celebrate our ten-year presence in the online universe with a cross-border language,” said Erik Bettermann, the Deutsche Welle director. “This should help users from other galaxies get an impression of Germany.”
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The Deutsche Welle Klingon web page includes a very useful section introducing Germany to the passing Klingon-speaking visitor, starting: “tera’Daq europa SepDaq Deutschland yoS tu’lu’. tera’vaD lenglu’DI’ lurDechDajmo’, Hatlh DunDajmo’ pIj pa’ ghIQlu’.” (or for the unitiated, “Germany is a country located in sector 001 of the planet Earth. Its traditions, stunning landscape and international flair make it an attractive holiday destination for Klingons and other extraterrestrial life forms.”)
The Klingons originally featured during the first three-year series of Star Trek, but inexplicably failed to speak anything but English. The first few Klingon words came during the 1979 film, Star Trek - The Motion Picture and the language did not properly make its appearance until Star Trek III - The Search for Spock (1984), by which time the producers had hired Mark Okrand, a linguist, to create a full language that sounded other-worldly yet could still be pronounced by actors.
Since then Okrand has written a whole slew of grammar books and dictionaries, while Klingon fans have even started translating the works of Shakespeare.
Some common Klingon phrases:
HISlaH - Yes
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ghobe’ - No
tlhIngan jIH - I am a Klingon
tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh’a’ - Do you speak Klingon?
tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhlaHbe’ - I cannot speak Klingon.
jIwuQ - I have a headache.