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

[Cheesy Potatoes]

I became a bit familiar of the languages in the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini, but I did not really consider learning it. If I were to learn a fictional language, I guess it would have to be the language the minions from Despicable Me speak. I know it's more like a bunch of nonsense and random vowels and sounds, but it sounds really cute and funny.

[Linguetronix]

Tolkien's Elvish (Quenya?). I didn't try learning it, but I remember using an online tool that would let me write stuff in that language. I inscribed a few birthday cards for friends in Quenya because I thought it would be cool. Needless to say, they didn't understand it.

[Canadien]

No, I've never attempted to learn a fictional language. To be honest, I think it'd be a bit of a waste of time considering the only ways to express/utilize it would be in reading/watching the medium it was created in. ie. only being able to use Klingon in Star Trek related books/film. As well, I think it'd be exceptionally hard to learn a fictional language because there would likely be little textbooks, study guides, or other educational materials to help you learn it, as there would be with a real language. It'd also be pretty difficult to keep it up, without getting bored and reading the same stuff over and over again.

[hoodoowytch]

Yes. I love the Elven Languages from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion. I think they are some of the most beautiful spoken and written fictional languages out there. I watch my LoR movies often and crank the hearing aids up to try to hear when the characters are speaking Elvish. Also, I just LOVE it when Pippin sings in the Denethor's chambers. I crank everything up at that point. 

[wander_n_wonder]

It may be interesting to do that but I think I would rather spend my time learning languages that are real and which I can use in various situations such as business.  There are way too many languages on my list that I would like to learn and I would not waste my time on other things.  I already spend like 30 minutes a day to devote to learning a language.

[hoodoowytch]

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.

Fellow Zelda-phile here Kaynil!  Which is your favorite? I'm still working through Skyward Sword. Love your icon. LOL (Sorry, off topic, I know... )

Never thought about trying to make a language out of some of the Zelda symbols. Cool. 

[sevvy]

I remember being so fascinated by Newspeak when I read George Orwell's 1984. There was a whole appendix on the language and it absorbed me right in. Part of its appeal is that it seems very realistic and plausible. I can see it being an actual language; I understand its purpose in society. To this day it's one of my favorite books, partly due to its very believable new language!

[Enlil]

I haven't but I certainly wouldn't consider it a waste of time like a lot of people are saying. I think the flawed assumption they're making is that your two choices are learning a fictional language or learning a real language, but this is wrong. It was a specific interest that drew the person to the fictional language and if they weren't learning it they would be using that time for another hobby, like playing video games or watching TV or reading a book, not something they would consider work. So if people think it's fun they should go ahead and learn whatever they want to learn. Fortunately I think learning real languages is also fun.

[silv31]

Don't remind me! When I was in Middle School and I first read Lord of The Rings, I was fascinated with the elven culture. I was really obsessed with it!

I even tried learning the Elven language. It didn't go that well because I was convinced by older people that learning a fictional language would be useless and that it would be better to spend my time doing something more productive than that.

So sadly, I gave up on learning it, even though I was fascinated by it.

I might be interested in giving it a try again though.

[Bobcar23]

I haven't tried to learn a fictional language but I think if you have a lot of spare time it might be interesting and a different challenge from learning a non-fictional language.

[GingerSpice]

I haven't tried yet, but I may attempt to learn Elvish.  Not sure how difficult it is, I guess I'll find out! It just seems so beautiful in the movies spoken I think it would be cool to learn!

[jfab]

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.

This is pretty impressive! I applaud you really! I wish I could do the same.

[diprod]

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.

This is my first time to encounter it. I am willing to discover this and play with my friends. Sounds cool!

[johnnear]

Haven't really tried it although it would be really cool to learn one especially when you want to pass around a secret message of some sort. But I do invent my own language, I once invented a few words and dialect when I wrote my first short back when I was still in high school.

[FosterTXT]

I remember trying to learn Klingon with a couple of my buddies back when I was in junior high school. We didn't really get that far but it was cool knowing that people didn't understand what we were saying to each other.

[Yorfs]

I was interested in the Elvish (Elven?) language from Lord of the rings because I remember reading that it was loosely based on finnish. I learned a few phrases, like how to say hello and how to pronounce certain sounds, but nothing more than that. This was years ago, so don't come chatting me in Legolas

[TheCleric12]

Fictional languages are very interesting. I think they are very much worth the time to learn. I heard that there was a couple that once met each other at a comic con and spoke different languages. The only language they could communicate to each other in was Klingon. Fictional languages are no joke.

[FunaSophia]

I've tried learning a little bit of Dothraki, the language spoken by Khal Drogo and his people in Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire. David Peterson, the creator of the language, hasn't mapped out everything yet, so it's not possible to truly learn Dothraki, but you can still learn some funny or cool sentences. I used this website: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/11/rosetta-throne-learn-to-speak-dothraki/#life

Aheshke jada!  :frozen:

[burtpovski]

It would be interesting to learn a fictional language if you're in a club or something. But for the most part, I'm not quite interested in it. The thing is, if it's ONLY for a club, then I feel that it's not worth learning unless you're going to stick to that club for a really long time. If you're using your fictional language in the real world, people might think that you're weird. Even if it may be weird, it could be quite cool though! Having a club with a "secret" language can be quite fun.

[amoredise]

I have not tried learning a fictional language yet. I am a pretty big Lord of the The Rings fan and I would like to learn Elvish, in specifics Quenya. But they seem very complex languages to learn. The script is beautiful calligraphy and I would start with writing it, then learning to speak it.

[snowfairy]

I did! After I've seen LOTR, I got interested with the Elvish language and tried researching on how to speak their tongue. Sadly I didn't get to master it and had given up after a month but it's still quite an experience. Then when Game of Thrones started, I also have done a little research about the Dothraki language though I didn't took it seriously as all I did was to research and learn the Dothraki term for Happy Birthday.

[Firelily99]

I had never heard of fictional languages before and was puzzled by the thread until I read through.  I was never very much into Star Trek so I really haven't paid much attention to their language. For the people who are fans I think it would be a fun thing if you had others involved in the learning process.  Otherwise why bother with it? 

[LazyLearner]

Fictional Languages are very intersting. time. Both are fascinating languages, and Tengwar is very elegant! I gave up because I couldn't find good sources to learn those languages.

[snowfairy]

Fictional Languages are very intersting. time. Both are fascinating languages, and Tengwar is very elegant! I gave up because I couldn't find good sources to learn those languages.

Couldn't agree more. One of the reasons I gave up as well is that there's no enough resources I can find that will teach me the language. If only I can find a book or  more online resources about Tengwar, I might just continue learning the language.

[levitator]

I tried learning Lojban for a while because I liked the looks of it. But just as the most people in this thread - I realised it is pretty much pointless and not likely even to impress anyone. Hobbies are the best when you can share it with other people, and when they result in something useful or pretty. This however seemed to me as a hobby for hobby's sake and I decided not to waste my time on it anymore.