Klingonese

Klingonese (also known more commonly as "Klingon") was the language used throughout the Klingon Empire. It was boasted that half the quadrant was learning the language by the mid-23rd century. 

The Klingon language contained eighty poly-guttural dialects constructed on an adaptive syntax. The first Human to become fluent in it was Hoshi Sato, who learned from a linguistic database provided by the Vulcans. Sato once remarked that a book given to her by Tarquin, written by a civilization over a thousand years dead, was in a language very similar to medieval Klingon. 

The Klingon language was not an immutable language. It was constantly changing to meet the needs and aspirations of the people. In the mid-24th century, the word peacemaker appeared for the first time in Klingonese after the negotiations mediated by Riva between the Klingon Empire and the United Federation of Planets took place. However, as of the late 24th century, there still did not seem to be a Klingon word for jolly. 

By the late-23rd century, several Federation authors wrote books on learning the Klingon language. Uhura had several on hand aboard the Enterprise in 2293, when she had to convince a Klingon patrol post that they were the Klingon freighter Ursva, including Introduction to Klingon Grammar. 

In the alternate reality, described her mastery of Klingon as "rusty", but she appeared fluent enough to negotiate with members of the Klingon Defense Force.

Montgomery Scott once stated that reading Klingon was hard compared to maintaining damage control aboard a Klingon Bird-of-Prey. 

The directory of the Promenade on Deep Space 9 was written in Klingonese, as well as English, Vulcan, Ferengi, Bajoran, and Cardassian.

Kathryn Janeway stated to Arturis that, while Arturis could speak over 4,000 languages, she could barely speak basic Klingon. B'Elanna Torres stated that she found the language a little too robust for her taste. 

In 2374, Alexander Rozhenko admitted to Miles O'Brien that he could barely even say his name in Klingon. 

Klingonese quotes

 * bortaS bIr jablu'DI' reH QaQqu' nay': Revenge is a dish best served cold


 * bangwI' : "My beloved"


 * matlh! jol yIchu'!: "Maltz! Activate beam!"


 * taH pagh taHbe': to be or not to be


 * nuqneH, qaleghneS: What do you want? I am honored to see you


 * naDev ghoS: come here


 * jIlajneS. ghIj qet jaghmeyjaj: "I accept [with honor]. May your enemies run with fear"

A drinking song:


 * 'ej HumtaH 'ej DechtaH 'Iw: And the blood was ankle deep
 * 'ej Doq SoDtaH ghoSpa' Sqral bIQtIq: And the River Skral ran crimson red
 * 'e' pa' jaj law' mo' jaj puS: On the day above all days
 * jaj qeylIS molar mIgh HoHchu'qu': When Kahless slew evil Molor dead


 * Mok'Ta vor, kash a'VEH: You are an enemy of my House


 * wIy cha': show tactical display


 * SoHvaD pagh vIjatlh, Human!: I have nothing to say to you, Human!
 * 'ay'vamDaq nuHmey tIQeq: target weapons on this section


 * quv lughaj Archer HoD beqDaj je: Captain Archer and his crew are honorable people


 * maj ram: "Good night", as said by both Jadzia Dax and Kor as the former headed for bed.


 * Du'cha: In 2371, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) arrived at Veridian III and hailed the cloaked Bird-of-Prey used by Lursa and B'Etor. A Klingon officer told B'Etor of the Enterprise's hailing, but B'Etor responded with "Du'cha. We're still cloaked. They can't see us."

petaQ
One Klingon term used as an insult on numerous occasions was petaQ (also spelled "Pahtak", "Pathak", "p'tahk", "p'takh", "patahk", "pahtk", or "p'tak"). It was also used by the Klingons of the mirror universe.

According to William T. Riker, petaQ was a curse word. 

Usage

 * Romulan Admiral Alidar Jarok asked Commander William T. Riker how he'd allow "a Klingon petaQ to walk around in a Starfleet uniform" referring to Worf.
 * J'Dan called Worf a pahtak when he didn't want to help him escape with a shuttlecraft.
 * Klingon Chancellor Gowron told Captain Jean-Luc Picard that the former was "referring to the filthy patahk who's using his name" when discussing the Clone of Kahless.
 * A Klingon officer aboard the Duras sisters' Bird-of-Prey called Tolian Soran a petaq when the El-Aurian returned to the bridge of the vessel after torturing Geordi La Forge.
 * Governor replied to Lt. Worf calling him a lo'Be Vos: " At least I do not wear the uniform of the P'tak! "
 * After Quark mentioned D'Ghor, Tumek told him "that pahtak's name is not spoken in this House".
 * Morka called several Romulans in Quark's "filthy pahtaks" in 2371.
 * Kor called Worf a "traitorous p'tak" when he believed he was going to steal the Sword of Kahless from him.
 * In 2372 in the mirror universe, Regent Worf called Garak "the p'tak who lost Terok Nor to the rebels".
 * Worf called a Dopterian a p'tak after he discovered the alien had broken into his quarters and had stolen several items belonging to him.
 * A Klingon stationed on Deep Space 9 called Laas a p'tak after the Changeling told him his hands would have a stench on them if they were "stained with the blood of Klingon warriors", as the Klingon had told him.
 * After The Doctor added a "daydream" subroutine to his program, and started malfunctioning, B'Elanna Torres reminded him of an old Klingon saying while she was trying to fix it: "A Doctor that operates on himself has a pa'taQ for a patient."
 * The fully-Klingon B'Elanna Torres called her separated fully-Human self a petaQ several times after rescuing her Human counterpart from a Vidiian prison barracks.
 * B'Elanna Torres used to call Max Burke pahtk while they were attending Starfleet Academy.
 * B'Elanna Torres called Ensign Vorik a petaQ when they were both under the influence of Vorik's Pon farr.
 * B'Elanna Torres called Tuvok a petaQ when during a vivid dream before discovering she was on her way to Gre'thor.
 * The Doctor's holographic son, Jeffrey, called his father a petaQ when he tried to tell Jeffrey to stop hanging out with Klingons.

Non-Klingon speakers of Klingonese

 * Arturis
 * Curzon Dax
 * Ezri Dax
 * Jadzia Dax
 * Emergency Medical Hologram
 * Sito Jaxa
 * Flaherty
 * Elim Garak
 * Kathryn Janeway
 * James T. Kirk
 * Melora Pazlar
 * Jean-Luc Picard
 * Quark
 * William T. Riker
 * Hoshi Sato
 * Montgomery Scott
 * Benjamin Sisko

Background information
The Klingon language was originally called "Klingonese" in the episode (by Korax) and again in  (by Quark). Most later episodes refer to the language simply as "Klingon," and non-canon names include Klingonaase and tlhIngan Hol. Some people assert that Michael Pataki actually said "Klingoni" in "The Trouble with Tribbles", but this conflicts with the script and the Star Trek Encyclopedia.

The Klingon language was developed by James Doohan for, and expanded for by Marc Okrand, who enlarged the lexicon and created a grammar around the original dozen words Doohan had created. It has spawned several reference works, beginning with The Klingon Dictionary. Scotty once remarked, "reading Klingon, that's hard."

Michael Okuda, who led the TNG-era art departments in creating Klingon language graphics, has admitted they are randomly arranged symbols, which he based on the small number of Klingon writings visible in TOS and the. These graphics and writings do not reflect any possible spellings or translations in what Okrand's non-canon works call pIqaD, the native Klingon writing system. (NOTE: An unofficial guide to pIqaD is included on the box insert of the Star Trek Klingon Edition Monopoly game.)

Sounds
The sounds of the Klingon language as developed by Marc Okrand are harsh and guttural. This transliteration system was used in preparing scripts and phrases when Okrand supplied dialog and coached pronunciation.

Below is a table providing a rough guide on how to pronounce Klingon and the standard transliteration of the sounds of Klingon. Please note that this table corresponds to the sounds of the standard dialect used when Okrand created the language; other writers have introduced other sounds and concepts into the language.

Basic phrases
Below is a short list of some useful basic phrases in the tlhIngan Hol dialect, the most commonly-heard dialect used in the Empire.

Inconsistencies
The tlhIngan Hol dialect is featured most prominently in the Star Trek movies and intermittently in the series. Some writers on the television series followed The Klingon Dictionary fairly closely, while others did not. Ronald D. Moore, noted for his major contributions to developing the Klingon culture, commented "Whether or not we use the language as spelled out in Marc's dictionary is up to the individual writer. I personally find the dictionary cumbersome and usually find it easier to make it up phonetically."  Marc Okrand noted that despite these departures, "[A]ny Klingon spoken during TNG counts as legitimate Klingon, whether I made it up or not, and I've incorporated all of it into the language."

Such departures from Okrand's version included the following:
 * The writers made up their own Klingon words: e.g kuva'magh or pfiots, against Okrand's pronunciation rules of standard tlhIngan Hol
 * They used established Klingon words but in such a way that they were strung together without following Okrand's grammar rules, for example SoH batlh jI' for "you honor me", even though this sentence means something like "I am a honor you are". The correct translation of "you honor me" would be choquvmoH or tuquvmoH, depending on whether you referred to one person or multiple people.
 * They gave new or extended meaning based on the English translation of a word, for example pu'DaH (pronounced poo-dakh) - phasers and cha (pronounced chah) - torpedoes, becomes pu'Dah dak cha (pronounced puh-dar dack chah) meaning photon torpedoes, when Okrand had already devised ' otlh cha.
 * Okrand specified that Klingons do have any rituals for ending conversations, since courtesy was not part of their culture. A conversation simply ends when either participant leaves. However, qapla' ("success") is often used in dialog where English-speaking humans would say, "good-bye".

Lyrics
Composers have also used Klingon lyrics in their leitmotifs for the films. Cliff Eidelman, who composed used taH pagh taHbe', a translation of "to be or not to be", for the choral parts for the score on Rura Penthe, in reference to Chang's love of William Shakespeare. 

For, music editor Alex Levy incorporated Klingon lyrics into Michael Giacchino's score, mainly using Klingon insults to represent their fury at 's intrusion of their planet. 

Episodes in which Klingonese is spoken

 * (by Commander Kruge and crew)
 * (Deleted Scene, by the Klingon guards of Rura Penthe)
 * (sung by the Klingons in the Romulan prison camp after Worf returns from "the hunt")
 * (by the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) bridge crew, at Worf's birthday party)
 * (by Jeffrey)
 * (by Arturis)
 * (by Miral Paris)
 * (by Klaang, Hoshi Sato and the leader of the Klingon High Council)
 * (by Hoshi Sato)
 * (by the unnamed Klingon prisoner)
 * (sung by the Klingons in the Romulan prison camp after Worf returns from "the hunt")
 * (by the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) bridge crew, at Worf's birthday party)
 * (by Jeffrey)
 * (by Arturis)
 * (by Miral Paris)
 * (by Klaang, Hoshi Sato and the leader of the Klingon High Council)
 * (by Hoshi Sato)
 * (by the unnamed Klingon prisoner)
 * (by Jeffrey)
 * (by Arturis)
 * (by Miral Paris)
 * (by Klaang, Hoshi Sato and the leader of the Klingon High Council)
 * (by Hoshi Sato)
 * (by the unnamed Klingon prisoner)
 * (by Jeffrey)
 * (by Arturis)
 * (by Miral Paris)
 * (by Klaang, Hoshi Sato and the leader of the Klingon High Council)
 * (by Hoshi Sato)
 * (by the unnamed Klingon prisoner)
 * (by Jeffrey)
 * (by Arturis)
 * (by Miral Paris)
 * (by Klaang, Hoshi Sato and the leader of the Klingon High Council)
 * (by Hoshi Sato)
 * (by the unnamed Klingon prisoner)
 * (by Klaang, Hoshi Sato and the leader of the Klingon High Council)
 * (by Hoshi Sato)
 * (by the unnamed Klingon prisoner)
 * (by the unnamed Klingon prisoner)