Sci-fi ... Klingon warship
Posted on 11/21/2009 2:58:43 PM PST by Stoat
Linguist Dr d'Armond Speers came up with the idea after watching an episode of Star Trek. He spent days translating phrases into Klingon - hoping his toddler's first word would be "vav" rather than "dad".
Dr Speers, of Minnesota, US, battled on with commands like "find the USS Enterprise", - but his wife only spoke English to the infant.
He said: "He was definitely starting to learn it. When Alec spoke back to me in Klingon his pronunciation was excellent."
Dr Speers experienced problems with his project as the alien language lacked common words like "diaper" and "bottle."
He was forced to use phrases like "thing which is flat" for "table". Eventually he abandoned his scheme, admitting his son "stopped listening to me when I spoke in Klingon". He added: "It was clear he didn't enjoy it."
Alec, now 13, doesn't speak a word of Klingon.
Dr Speers denied being a Trekkie, saying: "I don't go to conventions or wear fake foreheads. I'm a linguist. I get nostalgic when I look back at singing the Klingon lullaby May The Empire Endure."
Actor Leonard Nimoy, who played Capt Kirk's pal Mr Spock, and writer Harve Bennett wanted the alien Klingons to speak a "proper language" and roped in an expert to develop one.
Klingon has 21 consonants and five vowels and is the most spoken fictional language.
THINKING of teaching your Next Generation how to speak Klingon? Here are some words and phrases that might be useful to toddlers:
jIH neH wIj SoS: I want my mum
laH jIH ghaj 'op sweets: Can I have sweets?
jIH neH Daq jaH: I want to go home
jIH muSHa' SoH: I love you
baghneQ: spoon
bIQ: water
bor: gurgle
bur: hiccup
chuy: sneeze
qab: face
Quch: happy
qo'qaD: phlegm
Sa'Hut: bum
SenwI: thumb
Soj: food
tugh: hurry up
By LINDA BLAIR
Child Psychologist
IF you expose babies to two or more languages their language development is usually delayed.
A baby's brain is like a sponge. I always urge parents to teach kids more from the start. But to expose a child only to a language no one around him is speaking is irresponsible.
But this child was spoken to in English by others so I don't see the harm.
I am not short and stout but I always wanted to speak Dwarfish. Tolkien didn't take it that far. :`(
Speaking of your own or just children in general? TSO@U heh
Both lmao!
Khuzdul (sp?) always sounded like gargling or possibly choking to me.
Sicko.
Wow. Okay, so, that sound I just heard was my nerd rating dropping about forty points. I feel like such an poseur now...
;’)
Thanks hennie pennie.
I think I just liked the idea of exploring the Mines of Moria and carrying a big double bit axe like Gimli’s.
I guess I'd rather learn a secondary dead language as a toddler, even as strange as the choice of Klingon, than be raised along with a surrogate 'sibling' chimp, so that my parent coulc scientifically document the differences between infant & toddler humans & chimps.
LOL
"....New research even indicates that the onset of Alzheimer's disease in bilinguals is, on average, delayed by four years compared to monolinguals. The Northwestern researchers chose to study bilinguals who learned a second language at an early age and in a non-classroom study to avoid suggestions that their subjects simply were exceptionally talented or motivated foreign language learners...."
It's true statistically, as far as I know. Your anecdotes wouldn't change that.
I'm sure that my experiences are an aberration and are not in any way representative of the vast majority, but it just so happens that in my personal experience, the children of Psychologists that I've known (which has been several) have universally been the very most screwed-up, unhappy, suicidal and clinically depressed people I've ever met. Again I'm sure that it's just my bad, random luck in whom I've met from this demographic.
"....New research even indicates that the onset of Alzheimer's disease in bilinguals is, on average, delayed by four years
I'm not surprised...studies have also shown that folks who do lots of crossword puzzles and similar games involving memory or deduction as well as people who do a lot of creative writing tend to have a delayed onset of Alzheimer's as well. Interesting, thank you :-)
Liberal. (no difference)
So THAT's why Klingons are always angry!
"snicker"
Indeed, and I am utterly thunderstruck that someone who 'apparently' has a Phd in Linguistics would even attempt such an 'experiment' without having checked out an obvious pitfall.
From the article:
Dr Speers experienced problems with his project as the alien language lacked common words like "diaper" and "bottle."
Anyone with even a minimal intelligence and no formal schooling whatsoever would look at a project like that and instantly see such a monumental problem. The fact that this twit is a lib explains it in this circumstance.
It’s truly amazing. I guess his kid is lucky his dad isn’t a researcher in radioactive materials or an entomologist specializing in meat eating insects.
Frankly I think the supposed bi-lingual advantage is just European propaganda designed to encourage transborder comity. As adults only a few people retain the ability to learn a different language.
:’)
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