Where Klingon Stands
The Story of Klingon
Course 1 · Chapter 10 · Where Klingon Stands
The last chapter pulls the story together. It looks back over nine chapters of history, separates what is well documented from what is disputed, asks how many people really speak the language, and ends with the question every invented language faces: what happens next?
The Story in Short
| Stage | What happened |
|---|---|
| Before the language | Klingons spoke English on television in the 1960s; the film Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) added a few words and sounds |
| The maker | The linguist Marc Okrand was hired for Star Trek III (1984) because the film-makers wanted a structured language, not gibberish |
| The book | The Klingon Dictionary (Pocket Books, 1985) fixed the sounds, grammar and about 1,500 words |
| The community | The Klingon Language Institute was founded in 1992; its journal, annual meeting and certification gave learners a structure |
| The growth | Okrand's later books and the rule that only his words are canon let the vocabulary grow slowly |
| The use | Speaking, theatre, opera, translations of the classics, and appearances in screen, software and government stories |
What Is Well Established
Some facts appear in every source this course used. Klingon has a documented sound system and grammar written down by a trained linguist, and a dictionary that has been in print since 1985. It has an organised community, regular meetings and a way of testing learners. People have written plays, songs and book-length translations in it. These are things that can be checked in books and archives.
What Is Disputed or Unclear
Dates
Sources disagree about small details, such as when Klingon first appeared on television, when the Institute's journal ended, and when one documentary was made. Earlier chapters flagged each case.
Speaker numbers
There is no census. Estimates range from a dozen in the 1990s to "twenty or so, maybe thirty" in a 2009 book, 30 to 50 from a Duolingo spokesperson in 2018, and perhaps 50 to 60 for 2021 in one Wikipedia snapshot.
What counts as Klingon
Only words from Okrand are canon. Fans coin many more, and whether a word is "real" depends on which definition a speaker uses.
How serious a speaker is
People use Klingon for sincere work, for play and for publicity stunts, and the line between them is not always clear (Chapter 8 sorted the cases).
How Many People Speak It?
A search for a current figure found no official count. A 2024 mailing-list post by a German Klingon teacher guessed about 100 fluent speakers, but said plainly that the number is "based on experience, not statistics". The same post made two useful points: the number who can read and write the language is probably much larger than the number who speak it, because of programs such as Duolingo, and there are no native-level speakers.
Putting the estimates side by side, the safest statement is that fluent speakers are probably in the dozens to low hundreds. The Institute's membership figure is undisclosed, and an old (2009) post citing Wikipedia gave roughly 2,500 members.
Where It Might Go
- New screen uses. Chapter 8 recorded Klingon in Star Trek: Discovery and Strange New Worlds. Each new series raises interest and produces new dialogue that learners study.
- New words. Okrand's own books and the Institute's word lists were the main sources of new vocabulary; the vocabulary still grows only as fast as he supplies words.
- New translations. The novel cha' monmey (2021, from Chapter 7) shows that book-length work is still being done.
- New learners. Online courses and software lower the cost of starting, so the learner population may shift towards casual study.
Sources for This Chapter
- Wikipedia, "Klingon language" (as returned by a web search).
- A July 2024 post to the Klingon mailing list (lists.kli.org), estimating the number of fluent speakers.
- The sources of Chapters 1 to 9, as listed there.
Course Recap
Across ten chapters this course followed one language from a television gap to a small, active community. The Story of Klingon, Chapter 1 showed the gap; Chapters 2 and 3 introduced the maker and his book; Chapters 4 to 6 followed the community, the growth of the vocabulary, and the first people to speak it; Chapters 7 to 9 looked at translation, the wider world and the culture inside the language; and this chapter weighed what is known.
Hands-On Exercises
Write a six-sentence timeline of Klingon, one sentence for each stage in the table at the top of this chapter, naming one person or organisation for each.
Explain why nobody can give an exact number of Klingon speakers, and say what kind of evidence would make an estimate more reliable.
Argue for or against the statement "Klingon is a real language". Define what you mean by "real" first, and use at least two facts from this course.
Quick Reference
- Established: documented grammar and dictionary, an organised community, original works and translations.
- Disputed: some dates, the speaker count, what counts as canon, how serious some uses are.
- Speakers: probably dozens to low hundreds of fluent speakers; no native speakers; no official count.
- Future: depends on adult learners, new screen appearances and new words from Okrand.