If you’re an avid Trekkie like this Gadget Helpline blogger then the ability to instantly translate English into Klingon is something you’ve probably been dreaming of since childhood and through the invention of the internet and thanks to Bing – the Microsoft owed web search engine – we will finally be able to bridge this language barrier just as the latest movie adventure Star Trek Into Darkness lands in the United States this Thursday!
Adding Klingon to the translation feature in the Bing search engine will be the product of a partnership between Microsoft and Paramount Pictures to promote the new sci-fi flick which sees the U.S.S Enterprise crew’s most fearsome alien foes return to the Star Trek universe joining Captain Kirk, Mister Spock and Scotty on the big screen for the first time since the franchise received the JJ Abrams’ directorial treatment back in 2009.
The warrior race may have a slightly reimagined appearance from what we’ve known throughout the previous 10 movies and numerous TV shows but the Klingon dialect is still as aggressive and throaty as ever. As a response to the ‘pop culture relevance’ of Star Trek Into Darkness, Bing translation will be supporting 41 languages including English and French into Klingon and vice versa when it goes live this week.
The Klingon language was first used on screen by original Scotty actor, the late great James Doohan, in Star Trek: The Motion Picture back in 1979 and has since been formed into a full language. A Klingon dictionary was even created by expert linguist Marc Okrand with courses available the world over for those wishing to learn the warrior tongue!
But despite Bing offering the correct spelling translation for famous Klingon war cries such as “Today is a good day to die” (“Heghlu’meH QaQ jajvam” – so you know) the actual pronunciation will still be up to us to decipher!
We’re look forward to having fun making up some alien Facebook statuses when Bing goes Klingon this week! Qapla!