Have you ever tried to learn a Conlang? (Ancient Post)

[Medza]

So there are a couple of well developed fictional languages out there, I think the two most famous ones would be Klingon from Star Trek and the Elvish langue from Lord of the Rings. I'm personally quite a big Star Trek fan and a keen linguist so I tried my hand at Klingon but I found it rather difficult to learn. Marc Orkrand the man that created the language specifically said that he wanted to create a unique language so he took the most difficult rules from all kinds of languages and mashed them together. The language is definitely speakable, I know a lady that likes to translate poems into Klingon, but for me it's more of a hobby or novelty rather than anything serious.

Did anyone else here every try their hand at fictional languages? If so, how did it go?

[BWL]

I used to like learning Tolkien's Quenya and Sindarin. They were developed with real world languages as inspiration (apparently mainly Finnish for Quenya and Gaelic for Sindarin). I liked the sound of Quenya and thought the agglutinative structure was really like that of a real language and not a fantasy creation.

I also love the elegant Tengwar script that Tolkien developed for his Elven languages. My favorite however, is the beautiful vertical Sarati script. According to Tolkien's mythology, Sarati was invented by the Elf Rúmil. It has an elegant look, usually written vertically like the Classical Mongolian script. It could also apparently be written in boustrophedon style, alternating from left-to-right to right-to-left from line to line.

[Anderson]

It seems like aa good idea if you get enough close family and friends to learn it, this way you can all communicate certain things and only you'd know.

[Robert]

I dont think I would ever want to learn a language that I won't be using at all. Unless plenty of people I know learned it too like anderson said.

[BWL]

I learned to write Tolkien's Tengwar in my teens, so that I can write stuff in my diary that my nosy brother and sister wouldn't understand if they were to rummage through my drawers! I just wrote in English or Malay but substituted the Roman letters with their approximate Tengwar equivalents.

[LauraM]

As I Star Trek fan, I was also fascinated by the Klingon language.  I had the dictionary years ago, and I would page through it from time to time, and pick up a few words here and there.  I did not have the inclination to go full force in study of it since, after all, it does not have any real application in the world other than within the Star Trek subculture.  I did like the sound of it spoken in the movies and the TV episodes. 

Just out of curiosity, is there anyone here who has tried the Na'vi language from the movie Avatar? 

[BWL]

The problem with some of these fictional languages that are meant to be spoken by aliens is that they are not "exotic" enough! For example, they all have "a,e,i,o,u" because those are some of the most common sounds that can be made by human vocal cords.

I like Na'vi because it is meant to be alien. The consonant clusters are very interesting, for example, "metal" is "fngap". It uses, ejectives, almost "popping" sounds made by pronouncing a voiceless consonant together with a glottal stop. The grammar is exotic as well, using free word order (I love you, love I you, you love I, love you I etc.) where the sentence can be scrambled in any way.\

Some real-life Earth languages can be just as exotic. My old neighbor in Bordeaux, was an immigrant from Morocco. His family was of Berber descent and spoke a dialect known as Shilha or Tashelhit. "You gave it!" is (believe it or not), "tfktstt"! Listening to him tell a story in Shilha was better than listening to two hours of Na'vi on Avatar!

[Elienc]

When in my early teens, after reading Lord of the Rings, I tried learning Elvish language, got the Silmarillion at the local library, but was put off by the dry style and sheer volume and rules of it. Years later, at university, my soon-to-be boyfriend was talking about it, he learned it and was searching and puzzling to translate my name in Elvish. Should've already noticed him being in love then I suppose 

However intriguing, I never seem to get around to learning it, as I had enough languages and grammar to study already. Now however, I'm thinking about it again. I might give it another try in the near future, will probably help that boyfriend knows it.

I agree that these 'invented' languages have a pronounciation pattern very much like Western languages, making them sometimes unrealistic/not exotic enough. Then again, maybe less people would try to learn them if they were harder/less recognizable?

[TomekaB]

Yes. I have tried to learn piglatin. No luck.

[Amatenshi]

Yes. I have tried to learn piglatin. No luck.

But wait... Igpay Atinlay siay eadday asyeay! Sadly, it has no practical use, like fictional languages. It seems like it'd be cool, especially because these languages were carefully formed mostly from scratch, but my motivation to learn something without practical purposes doesn't take me very far.

[pcgamer]

So, is there is such a thing as fictional language. Candidly speaking, I have never heard about any up until now. I didn't know that there are people learn and speak these fictional languages. I am intrigued

I don't know if I would be able to get the hang off nay of these aforementioned languages as I am still learning English and French as my third and fourth languages respectively, but I might as well try to learn it after I master English language.

Can anyone write in any of the fictional languages that have been mentioned above?

[mleocasas]

Tried out Tengwar once years ago....it felt kind of silly without real world context. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fantasy nerd, but....I guess the exciting part of learning new languages to me is the ability to communicate with people and explore different points of view. It's kind of hard to do that with fictional characters who can't so much be developed further with their creator being dead.

[NatureSun]

I haven't tried to learn it myself, but I'm a huge fan of Doctor who and he is a Gallifreyean in the series.

They have their own language which as far as I'm aware can only be written. But god, it's so beautiful. You guys should check it out, and if any of you know it, do share!

[maria del pino]

No offense, but i think that with all different real languages that we have in this world. Why anyone should want to waste time learning something that almost a 0,0000000001 of poblation in the whole world is going to understand? Im not saying that is wrong, not at all, maybe you got it as a hobby, but anyway. I wouldn't cause i dont't get it. 

[Kaynil]

I guess it is because it is something you enjoy you won't consider it a waste of your time. 

Anyway, I tried to understand the Zelda symbols and the fictitious Dinosaur Planet language. Never got deep with either, though I took OoT symbols to create my own secret writing. Hahah.

[Topcho]

I did try some years ago, but didn't go that far  :cry: I was a member of several forums, one of them was Harry Potter related and we were having Hogwarts like classes ( I was a Ravenclaw!) and the other was Middle Earth related. We stuidied Tengwar, history of Middle Earth and etc  :grin: It was fun, but then time came when I had to begin preparing my exams and I had to quit.

I would love to give it a try one day but again, time is an issue.

Some time later I became a fan of the star Trek universe too. Klingon is cool but to be honest I was more interested in Vulcan. But I don't seem to find as much info on this language as there is on Klingon, so in my studies I went as far as "dif-tor heh smusma" - Live long and prosper  Btw, I love the Vulcan written language too, from the little I have seen! Some of the marks remind of the Time Lord signs XD

[mh57]

I've never tried to learn a fictional language but I always get a good laugh when there are people who go that far with their hobby. It's amazing what people can do when they put their mind to it.

[A0130]

I tried to learn Elvish and Klingon. Failed at both because they're so hard. Elvish looks so beautiful it's a shame I can't read it.

[Shellyann36]

My sister and I created our own words when we were younger.  It was our very own language and the only people to know it then and now are us.  For us it was a way to communicate without our parents or other family members knowing.  It was very fun and mysterious for us.  Even today we still use a few of the words when we are hanging out together.  It throws everyone else off.

[btatro]

Interesting. My simple reply is no, I have not Perhaps, if I felt fluent enough in the languages I already know or am learning I would find time to learn something that is (sorry) quite usesless  :speechless:

[klassiter]

I have never tried learning a fictional language.  I didn't know fictional languages existed.  After reading some of the posts I am curious to find them to see what they sound like.  I don't think I would try learning one but it sounds interesting.

[sayitwell]

Well this is an incredibly interesting topic.  I can't say that I have tried to learn a fictional language but I respect those that do as there is not much that makes a real language better than those developed in fiction creations like movies, books, plays etc. 

Spin: Has anyone tried to create their own language?  Have you tried to spread it to your friends?

[cinderr]

Does pig latin count? Why do they call it that, do you think? I may have to look that up!

I think all kids, particularly all besties, make up a language they think is unique to them, don't you?  :frozen:

[kvenne]

I actually have an Elvish tattoo on my foot that means "friend." I think learning a fictional language is tempting to people, especially if they are doing it with a friend. It is kind of like learning a secret language that only you and your friend share. Tomekab, Piglatin is pretty simple. It is just moving the first letter of the word to the end and adding ay. The word piglatin would look like this: iglatinpay.

[GetFresh]

It's an interesting hobby to learn a fictional language. After watching the recent Star Trek movies, it has intrigued me to look at it.  By the looks of it, it seems like a difficult language to learn.  I bet speaking Klingon to others who know the language would be very fun.