Interested in learning a bit of Klingon? It’s easy, we’ll show you how! We’ll also demonstrate why phonetic development is so important for language learning. Phonetic development involves learning the sounds—or “phonemes”—of a language.

MATERIALS:

Studious setting
Computer or notebook to write in
Writing utensil
Online Klingon dictionary (don’t open yet!)

TIME ESTIMATED:

15 minutes

DIRECTIONS:

First, get into small groups of 3 or 4 students. Together, search for some Klingon words, especially these few: jagh, puq, HoD, tlhutlh, ghItlh, Qel.
You can tell that they sound very different from English. Pronounce these words out loud as best as you can, and guess what they might mean. Try inserting them into English sentences. It’s okay if you don’t have a Klingon dictionary or something to look them up at the moment.
Afterwards, take some time to look for clips of Klingons speaking in the actual Star Trek show on the Internet.
Try speaking the words out loud again. Notice your own pronunciation, and the pronunciation of others in your group. Can you describe the differences from the first time around?
Looking back, did anyone manage to pronounce the words before they saw the final demonstrations where we spoke Klingon? Research claims that multilingual speakers might be able to acquire new phonemes faster. If there were multilingual speakers in your group, did you notice this trend?

Spelling Bee Activity

Now that you’ve learned a little bit of Klingon, you can put you and your friends to the test...in a spelling bee! You can play with any number of people, from a group of 3 or 4, to your whole classroom!

Get a friend or a teacher to be the judge, who will read out the word. They’ll need to look up the Klingon word on the Internet since they need to both know how the word should be spelled and pronounced correctly.
First, the judge should practice saying their chosen word to themselves. They can also learn what the word means, and tell everyone its meaning at the end of the activity.
Then, the judge should read the word out to the players, who will try to spell it correctly. The judge can say the word once again during the round if one of the players asks to hear it again, but only two times total. Going person by person, they should listen to everyone spell the word out loud. Everyone who spells the word correctly gets to move onto the next round, when the judge has to pick a new word; everyone who gets it wrong is eliminated from the game.
Finally, when there are only 2 or 3 people left, they should raise their hands as fast as they can. Whoever raises their hand first, and can spell the word, wins the whole game! If none of the 2 or 3 players can spell the word correctly, move on to another word. If you’re going to play again, make the winner of the last round the new judge.

THINK LIKE A SCIENTIST!

Do you remember when you first learned the phonemes of your native language? What are the best ways to go about teaching phonemes?
How difficult is it to learn the phonemes of a language? Are certain sounds harder to pick up on than others?
Do you think that speakers of multiple languages are better at picking up on different phonemes?

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Phonetic development, the process of learning the speech sounds of languages, is central to the process of language development. Interestingly, babies can hear all of the 800 or so phonemes that make up all of spoken language, but lose that ability by 12 months of age. Learning another language later re-triggers the process of acquiring phonemes as a person is exposed to that language’s sounds repeatedly.

Bilingualism affects the learning and mental storage of sounds, but not everyone can agree on how. In any case, many researchers think that bilingual children create two systems of linguistic devices, like phonemes and meanings of words, which interact with each other. These may help or hinder bilingual children’s comprehension or production of the language at certain points (Fabiano-Smith & Barlow, 2010). These two systems, in contrast to the monolinguistic person’s single system, make the second language acquisition process quite different from the first. For example, bilingual children show more neural connections and greater activity in the left inferior part of the parietal lobe of the brain, which works to distinguish different phonemes from different languages. While these structural and functional changes in the brain might be better for switching languages, it may make remembering certain words from one language more difficult.

FURTHER EXPLORATION:

When learning a foreign language, like Klingon, many second language learners use different strategies to learn and create a new linguistic system in their mind (Vihman, 2002). Simply being exposed to the sounds of this language reengages the phonetic process that very young children undergo while learning their native language. However, at the same time, this looks very different to the process of learning a second language in a school environment. You’ll be able to step into the shoes of a multi-linguistic learner, if only by learning the sounds of an alien language like Klingon.

Anticipated Concerns:

Students may struggle to pay attention to the new language, or grasp that the words are in Klingon rather than gibberish.

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