Inventing languages - 6 Minute English

Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.

I'm Sam.

And I'm Neil. How are you today, Sam?

Thanks for asking Neil. I'm fine - not!

Err, sorry, so are you fine or not?

Oh, did I confuse you? My bad.

Sam is speaking English,

just a very modern type of English.

For example, saying 'my bad'

instead of 'my fault' is a way of accepting that she's wrong.

Or adding 'not' at the end of a sentence

to show I really mean the opposite of what

I said. Both are examples of small changes in English,

which have happened naturally over the last decade or two.

Changes like these happen because unlike, say, Latin,

which no one speaks day-to-day,

English is a living language - a language

people speak and use in their ordinary lives.

New bits of English are invented as people use their language in new ways.

But what happens when the language comes

from an entirely different galaxy - somewhere like Kronos, home planet of

the Klingons.

Yes, when sci-fi TV show Star Trek introduced alien characters called Klingons,

the makers needed to invent a whole new language-

Klingon - entirely made up, and unrelated to any human language,

Klingon has developed a life of its own today.

Today, you can even study it at university.

So, Neil, my quiz question is this: In 2010, Klingon became

the first invented language to do what? Is it a) have its own dictionary.

b) have an opera written, or c) be recognised as an official language.

by the United Nations? Every language needs vocabulary

so I'll say a) Klingon was the first invented language to have its own dictionary.

OK, Neil, I'll reveal the answer later

in the programme. Klingon isn't the only made up language

invented for the movies.

David Peterson is the creator of Dothraki, a language used in the fantasy

TV show, Game of Thrones.

From his home in Los Angeles,

David spoke to Michael Rosen, presenter of BBC Radio 4 programme,

Word of Mouth.

They discussed Saint Hildegard, who created

the very first made up language in the 12th century.

What she had was an entire list

of nouns, a whole list of nouns - many of them Godly,

many of them not - and she would drop them into songs using Latin grammar,

and other Latin words and so that it's not a language.

proper, it's the way that we understand it now,

because really, when we talk about a language, it's not just the vocabulary,

it's the grammar. Nevertheless, we still kind of look on her

as the patron saint of modern conlanging.

Saint Hildegard invented new nouns, but used Latin grammar.

So, David doesn't think her invention is a proper language.

Nevertheless, Saint Hildegard is considered

the patron saint of made up languages.

The patron saint of something refers to a Christian saint

to a particular activity.

Here, the activity is inventing a conlang -

short for 'constructed language' - artificially invented languages

like Klingon and Dothraki.

Another famous constructed language,

Esperanto, was invented in 1887

by Polish doctor, Ludwik Zamenhof.

He wanted to make it easier for people who spoke different languages

to communicate with each other. Listen as David Peterson speaks Esperanto

with Michael Rosen and tests

how much he understands, for BBC Radio 4 programme,

Word of Mouth.

You're an English speaker from Western Europe and in the 19th Century

'universal' meant 'able to be understood by people from Western Europe' and so

for example, to say 'I speak Esperanto' -

‘mi parolas Esperanton’.

Yes, I might have got that one.

The ‘parle’ bit from its Latin root and 'me', obviously.

Try me again.

Kiel vi fartas? Who is my father?

No. Where am I travelling? No,

I got stuck on that one.

Like Spanish, Italian and other modern European languages,

Esperanto is based on Latin.

Michael guessed the meaning of the Esperanto word ‘parolas’ from its Latin root -

the origin or source of a language.

But the second sentence of Esperanto, isn't so easy.

Michael gets stuck on that one.

He can't answer because it's too difficult,

I think I'd probably get stuck on that as well.

But at least Esperanto was invented for humans, not

alien creatures from outer space.

And speaking of creatures from outer space,

did I get the right answer to your quiz question, Sam?

Ah, so I asked Neil, about an unusual first, achieved by the made up

alien language, Klingon.

I guessed it was first invented language to have its own dictionary.

Which was...

the wrong answer.

I'm afraid, Neil.

Incredibly, the correct answer was b) - in 2010 a company

of Dutch musicians and singers performed the first ever Klingon opera.

The story must have been hard to follow, but I'm sure the singing was

out of this world!

MajQa! - that's Klingon for great, apparently.

OK, let's recap the vocabulary

from our discussion about invented languages,

also called constructed languages, or conlangs for short.

A living language like English is a language that people still speak

and use in their ordinary lives.

The phrase 'my bad' originated in the United States,

but is also used in Britain as an informal way to say 'my fault'

or to tell someone that you have made a mistake.

'Patron saint' is someone believed

to give special help and protection to a particular activity.

The root of a language means it's original source.

And finally, if you get stuck on something

you're unable to complete it because it's too difficult.

That's all the time we have for this programme about invented languages.

‘Gis revido baldau’ -

that's Esperanto for

'see you again soon'.

In other words 'Qapla’ - which is how Klingons say ‘goodbye’. Qapla!

Qapla!