Despite the Klingdon language existing in the fictional Star Trek universe, it has been made “real” as there are Star Trek fans who actually know how to speak the language. In fact if you are interested in learning Klingon, you might be interested to learn that Duolingo’s Klingon language course is finally available.The Klingon language course has been in the works for years and this is because Duolingo largely relied on volunteers to help bring the program to life. Speaking to Engadget, Duolingo’s senior PR manager Michaela Kron said, “On our end, it took some time to find Klingon experts who could commit the time and effort to creating a full-fledged course, as we wanted the course to be substantial and cover a lot of ground.”
Kron also mentions that Duolingo normally develops their courses internally, but for Klingon they had to turn to outside help. “While some of our earliest courses were built internally, most Duolingo courses are built by volunteers using the Duolingo Incubator. Through an application process, we carefully vet the volunteer contributors to ensure their skill level and commitment to the project needs. Then our team of language learning experts, linguistics PhDs, and tech staff help review the courses and provide QA and testing.”
The Klingon course is free for those who have downloaded the Duolingo app, so it could be worth checking out if you’re interested. In the meantime Duolingo is also home to Game of Thrones’ High Valyrian if Star Trek isn’t really your jam.