Star Trek fans, or really anyone, can now learn a fictional language through Duolingo's Klingon course. The course is currently free on Duolingo's website, and will be made available for iOS and Android apps at a later date. The course is fully licensed CBS consumer products and created by a team of Klingon speaking volunteers. This is not the first conlang that Duolingo has a course for as the service also offers classes in both Esperanto and High Valyrian from the Game of Thrones series.
The development of Duolingo's Klingon course was lead by Felix Malmenbeck, who is a fluent Klingon speaker, and was executed by a team of volunteers. Building the all-volunteer team was not an easy endeavor as it took some time to find Klingon experts who could commit the time and effort in creating the course. The platform also had to be tweaked for Duolingo's Klingon course as the language features several quirks that do not appear in any other languages.
Image Credit: Duolingo
What's Driving This Trend
- Fictional Language Learning
- Opportunity for creating language learning courses for popular fictional languages like Klingon, catering to fans and language enthusiasts.
- Volunteer-based Online Education
- Opportunity to develop online learning platforms that rely on volunteer experts to create and teach courses on niche subjects like conlangs, offering unique educational opportunities.
- Specialized Language Learning Apps
- Opportunity for developing language learning apps that specialize in teaching specific fictional languages, providing a tailored learning experience.
Who This Affects Most
- Language Learning
- Disruptive innovation opportunity for language learning platforms to expand their offerings to include popular fictional languages, targeting a niche market.
- Online Education
- Opportunity for online education platforms to incorporate volunteer-driven course creation and expand their course catalog to include niche subjects like conlangs.
- Edtech
- Disruptive innovation opportunity for educational technology companies to develop specialized apps for learning specific fictional languages, capitalizing on popular culture.
