Father Speaks Only Klingon Until Son Turns Three

[demonhorde665]

[citation][nom]zargg[/nom]"MinnesotaDaily cites Speers, who actually isn't even that big of a Star Trek fan, as saying..."How can you not be a big star trek fan, but know enough Klingon words to speak only that language? sounds like he is coming out of the nerd closet via his son[/citation]

MOTHER F-ING AMEN !!!!!

 

[Ehsan w]

[citation][nom]nicnash[/nom]am i the only one that finds that kinda interesting... I mean I could never do it to my kid, but kinda cool to find someone else did, sorta;p He should have spoke both languages the entire time... how cool would it be to say you're fluent in klingon. only his dad and him would understand anything said.[/citation]

Yeah that would be pretty awesome

 

[dtq]

No mention in the article of a mother of the child. If the mother was speaking English (or her native language) then theres nothing really wrong with the experiment, apart from the fact that the dad quit early. I see nothing wrong with a kid growing up knowing "alternative" languages as long as they have a mainstream language as well. Bringing up a child with just a fictional language would be irresponsible.

Kids grow up bilingual all the time no problem at all. My wife is German (grew up in Berlin) but as her mum was English she learnt both languages from a baby. At that stage in her life English had little use outside of the home, now her German has little daily use. She can swap between the two at will, and knowing the additional language in no way takes away from her abilities with whatever she is using as her current main language. She also learnt latin, not a language you can find many people to have a conversation with, but fantastic for understanding

For myself I like languages, foreign, historical or fictional. I like seeing the roots of the languages, how varying languages relate to one another etc etc. My own kids have English as their primary language but they all know a passable amount of German, and smatterings of other languages including I believe a few words of purely fictional languages.

A quick google confirms that this kid was growing up bilingual, his mum speaking English his dad Klingon. The kid wasnt going to suffer any more than any other bilingual kid, even if his dad had continued the experiment.

I really dont see knowing multiple languages even if some are fictional as damaging a persons life prospects.

 

[g00ey]

I don't see anything wrong with this experiment at all. Once the kid grows up he will have the freedom to choose whether to use it or not. Remember that the learning of a new language is more important than what language you are learning. Of course, it would have been more useful if he learned French or Spanish but it doesn't really matter. When he grows up and decides to learn a new language it will be much easier for him now that he is used to speaking more than one language. It is always easier to learn a third and a fourth language than it is to learn a second one.

And at the very least, if he gets successful in drama a believe he will have secured a role in Star Trek...

 

[utgardaloki]

quote@brendano257
“It doesn't matter how much you sing me a song in a different language. I won't learn a single word and it's meaning in that language. You need to learn to associate the word with an object or action, hence holding up objects to your baby and saying the word of what it is. If this guy did not realize that, he is simply an idiot.”

Direct experiments as well as cultural linguistic behaviour around the world have already established that that’s not how it works. In other words you are wrong. This guy who performed this experiment is without a doubt much more experienced with “how it works” than you and the rest of the “experts” in this thread.

One of the more telling cultures of the world is a certain primitive tribe culture (I’ve forgot the tribe’s name). If you’re familiar with language acquisition studies you have heard of it. This culture is known for never ever paying any linguistic attention to their children before the children themselves start to talk. In other words no one talks to a child that cannot speak, let alone sits down with them showing them stuff while repeating words connected with that stuff. In their thinking why talk to someone who cannot talk back? Never the less these children learn to speak their mother tongue just like any other child in the world. Linguists were amazed when they learned about this tribe since they couldn’t figure out how these children managed to connect words, grammar and syntax to a whole considering no direct linguistic stimulation was ever applied. Well anyway. There you go.

A child needs to connect linguistic components to certain situations. But they don’t even need to see what’s going on in order to do that (blind children everywhere learn to speak too). And it just turns out those who do know how to speak don’t need to care a rat’s ass about how that works since the toddlers are fully capable of connecting all the dots themselves.

 

[jrabbitb]

interesting idea, would have stuck if he did 50/50 klingon/english for another 3 years i bet

 

[dingumf]

[citation][nom]ssalim[/nom]Nerds should not have any offsprings.[/citation]

And you are on a tech site WHY?!?!?

 

[Guest]

Fascinating experiment..but COMPLETELY wrong.

There are lots of questions id love to see answered about human behavior. But none of them would be ethical to perform. Some things you just don't do.

Granted this isn't that bad...but i still think its wrong of him to do that to his child.

 

[utgardaloki]

Fascinating experiment..but COMPLETELY wrong.

There are lots of questions id love to see answered about human behavior. But none of them would be ethical to perform. Some things you just don't do.

Granted this isn't that bad...but i still think its wrong of him to do that to his child.

 

[utgardaloki]

Ignore the last post. Meant to make a quote. Fukked up posting system.


quote@sdfg
"Fascinating experiment..but COMPLETELY wrong.

There are lots of questions id love to see answered about human behavior. But none of them would be ethical to perform. Some things you just don't do.

Granted this isn't that bad...but i still think its wrong of him to do that to his child."

So what's the ethical wrong about this experiment in your view? The child doesn't suffer any harm so there has to be something else you're refering to(?). What did the father do wrong in your view? I'm not criticizing. I'm simply interested to know since I've been studying linguistics for a long time.

 

[Guest]

If this man really had to teach a contructed language to his son. At least Esperanto can be used for international communication.

 

[Guest]

google translate USED to have klingon translation in it