Father Speaks Only Klingon Until Son Turns Three

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A lot of kids are brought up speaking more than one language at home but how many kids are raised in a home where Klingon is the only language they hear?

In his wisdom, d'Armond Speers decided to see what effect it would have on his son if he spoke Klingon, and only Klingon, around him until he was three years old. The reason? Apparently, Speers wanted to see if a kid would acquire Klingon as his first language in the same way he would any other language.

At the time, Speers was using his doctorate in computational linguistics to help Ultralingua, a dictionary, translation and grammar software company create applications for a Klingon dictionary.

Unfortunately, it seems the experiment was a bust. MNDaily reports that fifteen years later, Speers' son is in high school and doesn't speak a word of Klingon. All Speers has left are the memories of singing the Klingon lullaby "May the Empire Endure" at bedtime.

It's not clear how long it took the boy to learn English once his father began speaking it around him.

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Jane McEntegart

Jane McEntegart works in marketing communications at Intel and was previously Manager of Content Marketing at ASUS North America. Before that, she worked for more than seven years at Tom's Guide and Tom's Hardware, holding such roles as Contributing Editor and Senior News Editor and writing about everything from smartphones to tablets and games consoles.

51 Comments Comment from the forums
  • ssalim
    Nerds should not have any offsprings.
    Reply
  • yzfool
    Wow, he is apparently unaware that Klingon IS a human language.
    Reply
  • HibyPrime
    He would have developed it as his native language if he kept going, you can't just stop randomly.

    That said, theres a point where an experiment becomes cruel. This kid is going to have issues when he's a little bit older about his father raising him as an experiment.
    Reply
  • bfstev
    Cant wait to have kids so i can perform sociological experiments on them.

    My question is, is he a trek fan?
    Reply
  • counselmancl
    I wonder if the kid has any identity issues?
    Reply
  • gaevs
    Human P´tah!!, their kids are too weak to be part of the Empire!
    Reply
  • Computer_Lots
    This kid has no shot of getting a girlfriend.
    Reply
  • mook33
    hmm...now if only someone would do the same experiment with the ancient languages of Cthulhu & the Old Ones...
    That would be one scary kid.
    Reply
  • apr01
    Speers decided to see what effect it would have on his son if he spoke Klingon, and only Klingon, around him until he was three years old. The reason? -- Cuz he's a massive choad!javascript:%20void(0);
    Reply
  • jonpaul37
    ummm... last knew, the Klingon language was invented by a human, thus it is a human language. It is no different than Elvish or French for that matter. FAIL!
    Reply