Translating the Classics
The Story of Klingon
Course 1 · Chapter 7 · Translating the Classics
A real language eventually gets translations of famous books. Klingon got them too, and the first one began as a joke in a film. This chapter follows the Klingon Hamlet from that joke to the shelf, and then looks at the other works the community has put into Klingon.
The Joke in the Film
In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), the Klingon Chancellor Gorkon says that one has not experienced Shakespeare until reading him "in the original Klingon". He does not quote any Klingon text, but another character, Chang, quotes the Klingon words taH pagh taHbe', which Wikipedia glosses as "To be, or not to be". The director, Nicholas Meyer, said the Klingon claim to Shakespeare parodied Nazi Germany's pre-war attempt to claim him as German.
The Klingon Hamlet
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full title | Hamlet Prince of Denmark: The Restored Klingon Version; in the trade edition, The Klingon Hamlet, or The Tragedy of Khamlet, Son of the Emperor of Qo'noS |
| First edition | Klingon Language Institute, 1996, a limited edition of 1,000 numbered copies |
| Trade edition | Pocket Books, February 2000, 219 pages |
| Translators | Nick Nicholas and Andrew Strader, over several years, as the "Klingon Shakespeare Restoration Project" |
| Helpers | Mark Shoulson, d'Armond Speers and Will Martin gave feedback and editorial help |
| Cover | Phil Foglio |
A Joke That Is Also a Translation
The book prints the English beside an "original Klingon" text. In a mock-academic introduction it claims that Shakespeare was really a Klingon named "Wil'yam Sheq'spir", and that the human Shakespeare was an invention of Federation propaganda. The Klingon text deliberately differs from the English in ways meant to look Klingon in origin. So the book is a real translation of a real play and, at the same time, a performance of the joke.
Other Works in Klingon
The KLI lists a number of other translations, from its own work and from members:
Epic and Classic
ghIlghameS (the Epic of Gilgamesh), the Tao Te Ching and the Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
Shakespeare and Stage
paghmo' tIn mIS (Much Ado About Nothing), and the stage work described in Chapter 6.
Children's and Popular
The Wizard of Oz. Work on books of the Bible and further Shakespeare is described as ongoing.
Wikipedia also records a 2021 novel, cha' monmey, which it describes as the first novel originally written in Klingon. That is a different kind of milestone: not a translation, but a work that began in the language.
What Translating Teaches
- The vocabulary is the limit. The language began with Star Trek themes (Chapter 5), so a text full of kings, battles and death fits it well, while a novel about ordinary life strains it. Every translation project therefore needs new words, and only Okrand's count as canon.
- Translators become coiners. The Klingon Hamlet drew feedback from future leaders of the KLI, which links this chapter to the community of Chapter 4.
- The target is also a joke. Because the audience knows Klingon is an invented language, a serious translation is always partly a performance. The project works in both modes at once.
Sources for This Chapter
- Wikipedia, "The Klingon Hamlet", "Klingon Language Institute" and "Klingon language".
- A web search for the translators and the film line (library and publisher records).
Hands-On Exercises
Trace the Klingon Hamlet from the film line to the book: what the film said, who translated it, and the two editions.
Explain the book's joke ("the restored Klingon version") and say what it lets the translators do that a plain translation would not.
Name three other works put into Klingon and one thing that makes translating into an invented language harder than into a natural one.
Quick Reference
- 1991: film line about Shakespeare "in the original Klingon"; Chang quotes taH pagh taHbe'.
- 1996 and 2000: the KLI edition (1,000 numbered copies) and the Pocket Books edition of The Klingon Hamlet.
- Translators: Nick Nicholas and Andrew Strader.
- Others: Gilgamesh, Tao Te Ching, Much Ado About Nothing, The Wizard of Oz; cha' monmey (2021) written in Klingon.