Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012, September 20, 1993, Page 21C, Image 75

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    ‘Trek’ fans start camp
devoted to Klingon
red LAKE FALLS, Minn.
(AP) — A dozen or so fervent
fans of Star Tn'k may truly have
reached the final frontier of
Trekkiedom: A two-week lan
guage camp devoted to the study
of • tlhlngan." the Klingon lan
guage.
l or I rekkies. nine explana
tion is needed. Klingons are the
warlike, alien adversaries of the
crew of the starship Enterprise.
Those in other orbits, however,
might be tempted to ask how to
s.i\. in Klingon, "Get a life."
"That's not fair. We have a
life," said camp organizer Glen
Proechel. "These are people
who are highly trained profes
sionals and this is something
they do as a hobby. I think it's a
little hit more creative hobby
than going bowling or going
fishing for the weekend "
Lawrence Schoen, a linguis
tics professor at Chestnut Hill
College in Philadelphia, played
a Klingon ambassador in open
ing ceremonies.
Rich Yempell. a software engi
neer from Stoughton, Mass., beat
Ins chest with his leather-gloved
. fist — the Klingon salute — as a
gloomy Klingon battle song
played.
Acknowledged by his peers as
the best non-native speaker of
Klingon. Yempell goes by the
Klingon name "HoD Quanqor,"
or Capt. Krankor.
"Maj." he said approvingly
and launched into his own
solemn version of the Klingon
national anthem as a young boy
raised the black alien Hag
In the imaginary universe of
Star Trek. Klingon is a planet
whose inhabitants wore always
fighting with Capt. Kirk and the
United Federation of Planets
(the original TV series) until an
uneasy alliance was formed (the
new movies).
In the original Star 'Irek
series, Klingons spoke clear, if
grouchy, English. But by the
time the movie Star Trek III was
being filmed in the mid-1980s,
producers decided Klingons
f needed a language of their own.
^ The result was a working lan
guage with its own alphabet,
syntax and sounds — "as unlike
any language we know on Earth
as possible." said Proechel, a
Spanish instructor at the Uni
versity of Minnesota at Crook
ston.
It also captures the essence of
the cruel Klingon race. As the
inventor of Klingon. Marc
Okrand, put it on the audio cas
sette "Conversational Klingon."
Spitting is quite appropriate."
Donna Herbster. a research
instrument maker for NASA,
traveled from Cleveland for the
seminar.
i "My favorite Klingon phrase
is 'Jiajbi,' " she said, dressed as a
Klingon marine lieutenant. "It
means, 'I don't understand.'
Service
told in
Klinaon
RED LAKE FALLS. Minn.
(AP) — The rending at St
John's Lutheran Church told
the story of the Tower of
Babel — in Klingon. one
tongue God didn’t include
when he confounded the lan
guages
Klingons are the alien
adversaries of those on the
Star Trrk starship Enterprise
And they ore imaginary, hut
that didn’t stop Glen
Proechel from planning a
Sunday service in "tlhln
gan," tlie Klingon language
"Sometimes you have to
use fiction to deal with the
problems of real life," said
Proechel, director of a two
week camp in northwestern
Minnesota where the Klingon
language is being taught
About 50 people attended
Sunday's service. Proechel
translated the Lord's Prayer
and the Apostles' Creed into
Klingon.
The term Holy Spirit pre
sented a problem, because
Klingons aren't big on holi
ness, nor spiritual things So
Proechel constructed the
torm "honorable alien” — or
"Nov Batlh," in Klingon — to
describe the third person of
Christendom's Trinity.
ProecJiel also translated the
hymn “A Mighty Fortress is
Our God."
And there was the story of
the Tower of Babel, when
God prevented Noah's
descendants from building a
tower to heaven by confusing
languages; and the story of
tongues of fire coming down
on the heads of the apostles
as they spoke in other lan
guages.
Klingons spoke English in
the original Star Trek televi
sion series, but for the movie
Star Trek III in the mid
1980s. producers decided
Klingons needed their own
language. The result is as
unlike any language we know
on Earth as possible." said
Proechel, a Spanish instruc
tor at the University of Min
nesota at Crookston.
The Rev. Roger Kaebel, the
Church's pastor who played
organ at the Klingon service,
was pleased with the event.
"I think it flowed very
solemnly. It was a worship
service.” he said. "As the
church, we have to learn to
speak the language of the
children with the Gospel of
Christ."
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