The 1,200 Klingon speakers of the world lead lonely lives. "You probably don't live within 10 miles of another person who speaks the Klingon language, so it's mostly been a written language so far," comments Dr. Lawrence Schoen, director of the Klingon Language Institute and a professor of Cognitive Psychology at West Chester University in Pennsylvania.
But on Wednesday, the Institute launched a forum using OnLive!'s voice-enabled chat technology, Talker, offering a new way for enthusiasts to both speak and learn the eclectic language. "Our goal is to bring the Klingon speakers together to speak the language," Schoen says.
Klingon, a language created by linguist Dr. Marc Orkand for the film Star Trek 3, has been officially spoken for less than 11 years, but the Klingon Language Institute is already in its sixth year. Besides meeting once a year to practice and discuss the language, members are also producing Klingon translations of Shakespeare and the Bible.
The group was approached by OnLive! several months back to create a room showcasing its chat technology, which allows up to 14 users to hold discussions in online "rooms" using their own voices - the Web equivalent of a telephone conference call. Besides enabling a space for the disparate Klingon speakers to chit-chat, the Talker room will also offer beginning classes in the language and pronunciation tutorials - an opportunity which Shoen believes is significant for the entire education community.
"The idea here is distance learning," comments Schoen. "Sure, this is Klingon, but a lot of educators are going to look at this and see it as a small private classroom. You can create a language lesson just like in a small college."
OnLive! is currently working on developing Talker projects for companies that will offer online language courses in voice-enabled rooms, says Rod MacGregor, OnLive!'s chairman and founder.
Some educators, while recognizing the potential for audio-based learning on the Web, think the key will be its implementation. "On-line audio is a promising technology that needs careful attention to the interface design for educational applications to be significant," says James Noblitt, senior fellow for the Institute of Academic Technology. "Even if the technology is perfect and the cost negligible, you still have to find a way to mediate the interaction."
Gathering together Klingon speakers from 40 different countries might bring up pronunciation issues - it's likely that KLI members originating from foreign countries acquired different pronunciations from watching dubbed versions of Star Trek.
Comments Schoen, "We're offering workshops on proper Klingon pronunciation to bring everyone to the same place. I'm looking forward to hearing Klingon with a Scottish accent."
