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by unnah 127 days ago
So apparently the Elvish spoken in the Peter Jackson movies is as far from the language imagined by Tolkien as the famous Portuguese-English phrasebook is from natural English. That's one childhood fantasy broken. What about the Klingon spoken in Star Trek movies?
1 comments
NoGravitas 127 days ago
The difference is that tlhIngan Hol was created to be spoken in movies and shows, not just to explore the parts of language development that were interesting to the creator. So usually, the tlhIngan Hol used in Star Trek movies and shows is about as good as it's going to get. Sometimes the actors have terrible pronunciation, and sometimes the writers make up names for people and places that aren't actually possible in tlhIngan Hol phonology and we have to just roll with it. And modern Star Trek shows have mostly done a better job than the classics, because they bother to have a Klingon language consultant on staff (I was gobsmacked when in ST: Starfleet Academy they used "qeylIS" and "Qo'noS" rather than "Kahless" and "Chronos") . But unlike Quenya or Sindarin, you can have an actual natural conversation in Klingon, as long as you avoid topics for which the Klingon Language Institute hasn't developed vocabulary.
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nocman 127 days ago
> they bother to have a Klingon language consultant on staff

I realize there's a fair bit of money to be made, and also that many people are super invested in their favorite science fiction series, but the fact that "a Klingon language consultant" is a real thing still makes me think "wow!".

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JeddHampton 127 days ago
I'm currently reading a book written by the guy who created the Dothraki and High Valerian languages for Game of Thrones. He had to make what already existed in the books for, so there were a few things already set.

He was a consultant in the show as well as he was the one who had to get the actors to speak it well.

The book is called The Art of Language, and if you have an interest in conlangs, you should give it a try.

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Octoth0rpe 127 days ago
>Sometimes the actors have terrible pronunciation

I'm sure this could be easily dismissed as a regional (planetary?) accent.

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