Just geeky | May 23rd, 2009
Bantu1 alerted me via e-mail about an interesting twist by a software development company to localize their application. Bantu1 states:
The following was brought to my attention yesterday by someone-keen-to-keep-his-job-and-therefore-not-to-be-named:
A Klingon translation of a well-known anti-virus program!
We all know you can study Klingon nowadays at university, but is it really becoming so mainstream that geeks in technology companies can while away the time between biscuits translating their product into a language for the masses?
Hardly, methinks. As far as I can make out (and am assured by he-who-must-not-be-named), it has all the virus-busting capabilities of the standard, english version – so why do it? A sugar-fuelled mind-expanding exercise? To communicate messages to other business-Klingons?
Being only a conversational Klingon speaker myself, I was surprised to find I could download it without difficulty – it came with an English user manual (I guess Mr. Translator got bored). It didn’t appear to Vulcan-mind-grip my hard drive, and it even handily cleaned up a particularly nasty bit of loitering spyware.
But surely whoever did this is just inviting trouble. Not least from criticisms of his translation from other would-be Klingon software developers, but for being the forefather of a deluge of mainstream programs aimed at the wrinkly-headed ones.Is Klingon destined for great things? Not wanting to sport a Mars bar on my head just to blend in, I hope not.
Is this e-mail simply hype generated by the company to raise the visibility of their AV software? Probably, but who cares as long as this is legit. 
Here’s a video demo of the Klingon version:
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Bill Chapman
May 24th, 2009“Is Klingon the new Esperanto?” Definitely not! Esperanto is a practical planned second language which deserves to be even more widely used.
Take a look at http://www.esperanto.net
What do people think?
Andy
May 24th, 2009You’re right of course
I think the first time i learned of Esperanto was as a teen when I read the Stainless Steel Rat series of novels by Harry Harrison. In his stories, Esperanto is the universal language of the future.
mankso
May 25th, 2009I don’t use the term ‘universal language’ myself, since it is liable to misinterpretation. ‘Universal bilingualism’ [YOUR ethnic language + non-ethnic, non-territorial Esperanto for all] is much clearer where Esperanto is concerned. Does Klingon have a 7-point platform, such as Esperanto’s Prague Manifesto?:
http://lingvo.org
and where can I hear daily Klingon podcasts, such as those in Esperanto from Radio Polonia?:
http://www.polskieradio.pl/eo/
or find 2,000+ fluent Klingon speakers in one place, such as at the annual World Esperanto Congresses?:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Esperanto_Congress
roneyii
May 25th, 2009“Mr. Translator” here.
No, I didn’t get bored. I just wasn’t asked to translate the manuel. Only the software itself.
Andy
May 26th, 2009Good work roneyii. Have you translated anything else from English to Klingon? Do you read Klingon or did you use a brute force method of some other method?
Enrique E
May 26th, 2009There are Esperanto versions of many programs and web pages.
You may start using Google in Esperanto:
http://www.google.com/intl/eo/
If you search the word “esperanto” you will get 50 million hits.
If you are curious about Esperanto, start here:
http://esperantofre.com
Esperanto was created to be easy to learn … Klingon no.
I spent the last weekend in Saint Louis, MO, with another 100 Esperanto speakers, speaking Esperanto all the time. It was a very educational and interesting experience.
Best wishes,
Enrique
from Fremont, California, USA
roneyii
May 27th, 2009Andy,
This is the biggest project I’ve competed so far.
Yes, I read, write, and speak Klingon (all to varying degrees.).
You can’t trust a computer to translate Klingon, so yes, I did it all in my head or on paper.
I’m in the process of translating the Kama Sutra into Klingon. It’s a big book, and I’ve barely scratched the surface, so it won’t be out any time soon.
My Google profile at http://tinyurl.com/roneyii will direct you to my Klingon Language Institute wiki page which goes into more detail about my projects.
mankso
May 27th, 2009Let me get this straight! You are busy translating the Kama Sutra into Klingon, while Gordon Brown and his government are intent on anglicising the whole world:
http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page14289
and while Unesco informs us that half of the world’s 6,700 languages are in danger of disappearing before the end of the century:
http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?pg=00136
and nobody has anything at all to say about any of the 7 points in the Prague Manifesto (e.g. re language neo-colonialism, language diversity, universal bilingualism):
http://lingvo.org
You can’t really be proper geeks can you??? I always thought I was one, but then maybe I’m not after all!
Brian Barker
Jun 8th, 2009In reply to Mankso, I think that the choice, realistically, for the future global language lies between English and Esperanto rather than an untried project.
It’s unfortunate, however, that only a few people know that Esperanto has become a living language.
After a short period of 121 years Esperanto is now in the top 100 languages, out of 6,800 worldwide, according to the CIA factbook.
It is the 17th most used language in Wikipedia, and in use by Skype, Firefox and Facebook. Native Esperanto speakers,(people who have used the language from birth), include George Soros, World Chess Champion Susan Polgar, Ulrich Brandenberg the new German Ambassador to NATO and Nobel Laureate Daniel Bovet.
Further arguments can be seen at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHALnLV9XU Professor Piron was a translator with the United Nations in Geneva.
A glimpse of Esperanto can be seen at http://www.lernu.net
Zeinelabidin Elhassi
Nov 25th, 2009I rather say
Is Ardano the new Esperanto ?
I hope so ,because then justice and unity will spread
Or maybe I say :
Is Esperanto really the solution
http://nova-esperanto.blogspot.com/
A unique advantage for Ardano language
http://sites.google.com/site/theworldlanguageardano/
Links to Ardano language
http://ardano.weebly.com
mankso
Nov 25th, 2009Re Ardano:
The site about this new project Ardano (it can’t really be called a language till there is a sufficient number of speakers) fails to note that the wordstock of Esperanto was selected on the pragmatic basis of ‘maximum internationality’. Ardano on the other is trying to be ‘politically correct’ by including words from many languages. As a Manxman, may I ask ‘how many words have you included from Manx Gaelic?’. If there are none, as I strongly suspect, may I then claim linguistic discrimination?
Esperanto works fine around the world as it is – why try to reinvent the wheel?
Zeinelabidin Elhassi
Nov 25th, 2009Yes we have words from Manx Gealic. For example we have:
1- Caxtal (cashtal) which means castle
2- bate which means boat
But unfortunately the second word is found only in Ardano dictionary and in literature and it is not in active use(everyday use) in Ardano ,because we have to wait for the attempts to revive Manx Gaelic. It’s an important language historically ,and we hope it will be revived. Currently we use another word for “boat” which is an active word from Turkish which is “gem” . But caxtal is active, “caxtal” is close to some other living languages ,and in this way we can ensure that there is a garanteed place for Manx Gealic in case it was revived ,and we encourage that ,because the first goal in Ardano is to help natural languages specially the endangered ones and to revive them ,and not like Esperanto which aims to be the second language for all while ignoring the biggest linguistic problem in our world which is the problem of endangered languages.
Unfortunately Esperanto ignores the small languages ,actually it ignores the biggest mother tongue , Chinese.
And sorry to say that but Esperantists love Esperanto which is an artificial language much more than the natural languages. In Ardano its different, really I love Manx Gealic and I care about it ,because it’s a part of Ardano, my language.
Ardano gives a chance to its speakers to hear and use beautiful words from the natural languages ,and this caused us to be the movement that really cares about our languages. and I say “our languages” ,because I consider Manx Gealic as one of my languages.
As I have said the beauty of Ardano teaches me to love all languages (the source of Ardano). But it’s not just about the participation of small languages in the world language Ardano ,but also it represents the rights of people specially the minorities ,and about global equity and equality ,and of course harmony between all nations.
Imagine that students learn Ardano in schools ,they will get benefits from Ardano as if they are leaning a language plus a subject that teaches unity and tolerance between the big nations and the small ones, plus the Geography subject. Because Geography teaches you the places ,but Ardano teaches the pupils about the nation that lives in that place. If we teach Ardano to our children they will know that there was a nation and people called Manxmen. The people of Manx Gealic. Nothing in the world can teach our children through out the world about our entity more than Ardano. Yes we know from Geography that there is a country called Guinea ,but our children no nothing about how many seperate tribes live in that country. Can the other conlangs give us an idea about how many nations there are in the world. Can the other conlang represent those nations through words. Are the languages of African tribes weird or normal like our mother tongues. They are just conlangs that are useful only to chat. They do not teach us the unity of humanity. And they do not teach us that justice for all nations including that nations that suffer from discrimination right now in our world.
You are a Manxman. and you care about your language ,because you asked me about it. Sorry but people of Libya for example don’t know about your nation ,but I know ,because of Ardano. Not just that ,but I use your beautiful words in Ardano that were carefully chosen. So Ardano is not just a communicating language. Ardano goals and principles are different. We do not compete with Esperanto. Actually we say that a true ardanist can be an esperantist in the same time and vice versa. Everything in Ardano is about tolerance.
You can visit this website to know about Ardano goal to save endangered languages ,but we cannot achieve this goal ,because we do not have a big community like some other old conlangs
http://sites.google.com/site/theworldlanguageardano/