Learn the Klingon Language!

The first lesson in this language will be learning how to sound out the different letters and letter combinations in Klingon.

Also, in Klingon the capitaliztation is already included. Certain letters are always capitalized and they are he only ones every to be capitalized and are never lowercase.

Now here's the klingon alphabet:
a, b, ch, D, e, gh, H, I, j, l, m, n, ng, o, p, q, Q, r, S, t, tlh, u, v, w, y

Next to the letter you will see how it would be written in Klingon, the Klingon writing system is called the pIqaD.

a

as in psalm, never as in crabapple.

b

as in gazebo.

ch

as in chew.

D

is close to the d in dream. It is made by putting the tongue half way between the teeth and the soft palate and saying the d sound.

e

as in sensor.

gh

to make this sound put your tongue in the same place as if you were going to say the g in gobble. Relax the tongue and hum. (The vocal chords ARE used in this sound!)

H

is like the ch in bach. It is made the same was as gh, but it is accompanied by a very coarse, sharp rasp. (The vocal chords are NOT used in this sound!)

I

as in misfit.

j

as in junk. Never as in jour.

l

as in lunge.

m

as in mud.

n

as in neck.

ng

as in furlong. Never as in en-glf.

o

as in mosaic.

p

as in pat. It is accompanied by a strong puff of air, it is never pronounced laxly.

q

close to the k in kumquat. But to produce it the main body of the tongue touches the roof of the mouth at a point farther back then for gh or H. It is accompanied by a slight puff of air and the sound almost approximates a choking sound.

Q

This is like an overdone q. It is made the same way but is very guttural, raspy, and strongly articulated.

r

This is not like an American r, but more like a British r. It is lightly trilled, or rolled.

S

This is halfway between an English s as in set and sh as in shuttle. In this sound the tip of the tongue reaches towards the back of the throat as you say an s sound.

t

as in tar.

tlh

This is very much like the final sound in the word tetl. To produce this sound the tip of the tongue touches the same point as you do to say the t sound. the sides of the tongue are lowered away from the sides of the upper teeth and air is forced through the opening with great force and friction.

u

as in gnu. Never as in but or cute.

v

as in vulgar.

w

as in worry.

y

as in yodel.

'

This is a glottal stop, a slight catch between two syllables. There is a slight echo of the sound before the apostrophe. As in je' which is pronounced as if it were je'e. But the second e is quiet and usually not heard unless the person is very exicted or angry.