Public radio’s longest-running daily global news program.
©2026 The World from PRX
PRX is a 501(c)(3) organization recognized by the IRS: #263347402.
Why yes, I do speak Klingon
Who creates fictional languages and who bothers to learn them?
Performer Jacqueline Salamack (L) jokes with an audience member after a performance of "A Klingon Christmas Carol" in Chicago, December 20, 2012.
Jim Young
The new “Star Trek” series is heavily subtitled with dialogue spoken in Klingon — the made-up language of villainous space warriors. The linguist Arika Okrentis a certified Klingon speaker. In her book “In the Land of Invented Languages,” she describes the lure of Klingon and why Earthlings have picked it up.
(Originally aired May 22, 2009)