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I'm in high school, and I'm currently taking Spanish II. When I needed to choose what language I wanted to learn a couple of years ago, I really pushed my mom for Elvish or Klingon--no joke! Unfortunately, she said no, and here I am taking Spanish. Don't get me wrong--Spanish is a beautiful language, but c'mon! Who wouldn't like to know a little bit of an invented language to confuse your friends? Well, if you're open to learning a fictional language, you've come to the right place. Today, I'll be talking about some invented tongues that you can actually learn--by the end, maybe you will have decided which one is the best for you. Let's get started. NA'vi (photo credit: britannica.com) If you've ever seen Avatar, you may recognize the Na'vi as the blue inhabitants of Pandora, but did you know that they have a functional language of the same name? As these aliens actually inhabit a system close to ours, knowing Na'vi might come as a useful skill should you encounter them in the near future. Here are some useful phrases: Kaltxì - Hello Zola‘u nìprrte’ - Welcome Nga yawne lu oer - I love you Kìyevame - See you soon Interested? You can learn more at: https://learnnavi.org/ Klingon (photo credit: independent.co.uk) Of course, as arguably the most well-known fictional language, Klingon had to be featured. Harsh and throaty, the Klingon language is spoken fluently by roughly a dozen people on Earth, and countless Klingons on Qo'noS. The fact that there are humans who speak the language gives this fictional tongue extra usefulness until humanity invents warp drives and can meet actual Klingons. Here are a few useful phrases: nuqneH - (used as a greeting) literally translates, "What do you want?" nuqDaq 'oH puchpa"e' - Where is the bathroom? qoSlIj DatIvjajn - Happy Birthday! (And, if you want to insult someone)* Hab SoSlI' Quch - Your mother has a smooth forehead! *note: do not use this on friends...apparently, this is the worst insult you can give in Klingon! Want to learn more? You can go to the Klingon Language Institute's website and get a membership! Check it out: www.kli.org/ Sindarin (photo credit: lotr.wikia.com) My personal favorite of the fictional languages is Sindarin, probably more commonly known as simply "Elvish." This language was actually invented by Tolkien himself as one of two languages for the Elves of Middle-earth. Sindarin is more commonly spoken than the second Elvish language, Quenya, and thus making it more useful, right? I suppose the likelihood of meeting an Elf is low, but speaking Sindarin is still an impressive skill to have. Some useful phrases include: Mellon nîn! - My friend! Yrch! - Orcs! Elen síla lumenn’omentielvo - A star shines on the hour of our meeting. Noro lim. - Run fast. While the Sindarin language does not enjoy its own institute, sindarinlessons.weebly.com/ seems to be a useful resource if you wish to learn the language yourself. Huttese (photo credit: wikipedia.org)
As a Star Wars nerd, I would be doing myself a disservice by not including a Star Wars language. While the Hutts, such as Jabba, were the most well-known speakers of the language, many also spoke it on planets controlled by the Hutts, most notably Tatooine (Anakin Skywalker was a fluent speaker). While Huttese is not as complete a language as the others listed here, you can still learn some phrases to help you secure a ship to smuggle goods out of your system. H'chu apenkee! - Hello! Ban gon wan she co, cah. - There will be no bargain. Coona tee-tocky malia? - What took you so long? Noah, noah! - No, no! You can find a decent amount of Huttese phrases and words here: starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Huttese So, have you decided what language you'd like to speak? Was there a language that you like that I left out? Let me know in the comments!
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