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Editorial Review Product Description
1. Pronunciation -- 2. Grammar -- 3. Numbers -- 4. Time and everyday usage. ... Read more Customer Reviews (3) 
W A R N I N G......T H I S ...I T E M....I S...A...T O O L....F O R.....M A S S....B R A I N W A S H I N G !.!.!.!
Klingons -- good guys or bad guys?THAT is the question!As a STAR TREK CLASSIC, (STC), (Original Series) fan, I learnt in just about every episode that the Klingons were the BAD guys!(As a moderate-liberal, politically, I have to say I do not -- and never did -- believe that ALL Klingons are/were bad.That would be stereotyping, something which I know is wrong.SOME Klingons really ARE good sentient beings, and though
no heroic Klingons were shown on STC, I believe in my heart that SOME of them, (maybe as high as 5% of them), truly were good at heart.But, broadly speaking, Klingons are usually BAD guys -- no doubt about it, (at least, no doubt during the run of STC).So, why, in heaven's name, study the language of the ENEMY -- unless you are in the Federation Bureau of Intelligence, (FBI's), elite counter-intelligence unit, and are learning the Klingon language for purposes of spying.....)
I almost felt as if Klingons had TAKEN OVER the Federation of Planets, when I watched the first season of "ST: The Next Generation".I didn't watch many of those episodes -- Jean Luke Picard, (no matter that he was a direct descendant of James T. Kirk, and no matter even that the actor who portayed him, PATRICK STEWART, was a distinguished thespian who just was NOT RIGHT for this role) -- came across as almost a manniken, with almot NO emotions showing at all.Not even the inner struggle not to show any emotions --as with Mr. Spock, in the original series, came through.JONATHAN FRAKES, (as second-in-command William T. Riker), DID show a few emotions, and was very, very handsome -- at least at first.Then for some unaccontable reason, he decided to grow a BEARD!He may have looked more distiguished, (and older) that way -- but certainly, a lot of his handsomeness was thus LOST!Stories in this series, (or those that I managed to watch), were dull, sleep-inducing, and incredibly b--o--r--i--n--g!(Zzzzzz.....)But the WORST thing this newer series did was....
MAKE KLINGONS INTO GOOD GUYS (???????? !)It was very refreshing to see ONE good Klingon ("Whorf", as played by MICHAEL DORN), as a member of the Enterprise's crew -- but the turning of the Klingon people, (formulators of the dreaded "Klingon Empire"!), into earstwhile heros, whilst turning the somewhat evil, (but at least truly noble), Romulan people into the true villians of the series was as logical to a STC fan, as saying that former real-life Vice President DAN QUAYLE was, and remains, this nation's greatest orator!(Not forgetting about former President GEORGE BUSH THE YOUNGER, who is tied for that historic position!)WHAT was going on here?
Was the entire universe turned topsy-turvey in the intervening years between James T. Kirk, and his descendant, Jean Luc Picard?Yes, a FEW "good" Klingons turning up is great -- but to turn ALL the noble Romulans into the universe's ultimate villians, was.....ridiculous, and without rhyme or reason, (and also very, very confusing) -- at least to the mind of THIS STC fan!
This "heresy", (at least, in terms of the universe as laid down on STC), continued, (I think), thoroughout the remaining series in the STAR TREK franchise.(I say "I think", because I became less and less intereted in ANY ST series, as time went on.The stories in ST series, (other than those in STC), were paced abominately s..l...o.....w.The stories were hard to follow, because the plot-lines were so drawn out, and often, so complicated one would need a score-card to keep the concurrent and confusing plot lines straight.And through them all, ran the idea that the Klingons were now GOOD GUYS.So, after STC, I tried -- but found I couldn't watch many episodes.I had more important, more exciting things to do.....like washing dishes, scrubbing floors, or doing tax returns....
Now that the STAR TREK franchise itself seems to have ended, I have NO idea why ANYONE would want to study CONVERSATONAL KLINGON. Study the language of the enemy-now-disguised-good-guys?WHY?The very NAME, (Klingon), brings to my mind, at least, weak-willed children, (and occasionally adults), who will NOT let other relatives lead their own lives, but continually pester, giving guilt and demanding pity.These people are CLING-ONS, you see!
Studying "Conversational Klingon" adds credence to the fact that these true villians, (at least in STC), are now stallwart and true members of the Federation of Planets.And it downplays the noble Romulans, so reminisent of the old, "noble Romans", of Earth's REAL history.Yes, the Roman Empire could often be cruel -- but some people, (including emporers, like Marcus Aurelius), were quite noble, indeed.(So was "the Romulan Commander", as played by MARK LENARD, in the episode "Balance of Terror")
Romulans weren't all good, of course -- but at least they had consciences and a code of values that they sought to follow.No such thing was ever considered by the (mainly) truly ruthless Klingons!
I, for one, would much prefer to study "Conversational Romulan"!
Or even "Conversational Tenctonese"!As portrayed in the fabulous, all-too-soon taken from the screen, sci-fi classic, "Alien Nation -- The Series", Tenctonese is the language native to the planet Tencton.On "Alien Nation -- The Series", it is recounted how a huge space-ship, carrying 250,000 Tenctonese (people), crash-lands in California's Mojave Desert.Before the ship blows up -- stranding the ET aliens inside in Los Angeles and environs -- most of these 250,000 Tenctonese emerge.It is discovered that the SPACE ship they were on, was actually a SLAVE ship -- and that most of those inside were slaves in transit.The remaining beings were there Overseers.Now, all have to make new lives for themselves in 1988 Los Angeles.The series follows one Tentonese -- renamed George Francisco, (ERIC PIERP0INT), who becomes his race's first Police Detective, and his human partner, Matt Sikes, (GARY GRAHAM), on their adventures solving crimes in "Little Tencton", how their families
react to various situations, (George has a wife and two...eventually 3...children, Matt is divorced, with one daughter), and how Tenctonese do, and do not, try to maintain their ancestral heritage.Much, much more is in this wonderful series -- my own favourite show of ANY genre -- as it recounts, symbolically, the stories of ALL immigrants, to ANY country, and to those who, like the Native Americans, (and First Canadians), find themselves virtual strangers in the land inhabited by their families for untold centuries.This was one GREAT series -- and part of the fun was learning about Tenctonese traditions and culture....including their spoken and written language!
At the height of the Nazi era, Anne Frank wrote her diary.One of the "Rules of the Secret Annex" was that the inhabitants thereof speak only civilized languages -- meaning NO GERMAN!Since then, of course, Germany, (and Germans), have become, for the most part, staunch defenders of democracy and freedom (witness those who lost their lives trying to be free when the Berlin Wall was set up.)There even are rumours that, today,
even as I write this, many Russian Jews are considering moving to Germany, as they fear the threat of anti-semitism far more in today's Russia than in today's Germany!And no one, it seems, is as miserable and embarrassed by the acts of Adolf Hitler than his own descendants.In a History Channel documentary on Hitler's present-day descendants, it was hinted that they have, by accordance, decided to let their family die out.Most other Germans, too, have learnt of, and are ashamed, of the momentary "blip" in history, when mass madness took over their country. Most have learned.Most are sorry.Most are deeply committed to the idea that it shall never happen again -- especially in their country!Were she alive, and had she the inclination, I believe even Anne Frank would study and learn German -- today.
But no such "learning from the past, to make the future better", was ever
intimated as happening in the fictional world of Star Trek's Klingons. On one series they were the bad guys.Several generatons later, (in ST:TNG),
they are suddenly good guys -- and no reason, no leader-who-showed-the-way,
no mass-change-of-heart, is ever given.They were bad.Now, they're good!
So, turning Klingons from the worst people to inhabit the galaxy since the minions of Ming the Merciless, ("Flash Gordon"),into a kind and benevolent race, worthy of language study, of all things!), confuses the mind -- and prepares it to swallow even bigger lies in real life.(2 + 2 = 5, etc.!1984?Brave New World?Yikes!!!!!)Perhaps this was NOT the intention of the inheritors of Gene Roddenberry's franchise -- but this is what it amounts to.So, my advice is to eschew this "Converstional Klingon" book, CD, whatever.Hit the "bad guys" where it hurts in REAL LIFE -- that is, in the pocketbook!
If Klingons have REALLY changed from bad to good.....please tell us WHY, and give REASONS and stories for when and where this happened!Until then...I'll study Romulan, I'll study Tenctonese, I'll study German.
But I'll NEVER study Klingon.I strongly suggest you do the same!
Waay Too Deep for Friday Night at the Bar
Let's face it- picking up on drunk chicks is totally easy, as long as you have an ample stash of pick up lines like, "I forgot my phone number, do you have it?" so I figured picking up "Conversational Klingon" would tell me all I needed to know about rudimentary hormonal advances upon intoxicated Klingon females.Instead, I learned how to ask for the Hiemlich Maneuver, and does the Universe ever achieve World Peace?
I don't know if you have ever been at a Klingon bar on a Friday night at 11:30, looking for love, but if you have, and found yourself at a loss for words, by all means, don't trouble yourself with this book, Conversational Klingon, because you will totally come off as a Star Trek - Starfleet Phaser.
most entertaining insight into klingon
Just what I was looking for - could have been a bit more extensive but in general I am happy with it and consult it every now and then ;-)
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5 Stars!