Stories and guides about languages, ciphers, and translation.
From "Qapla'" to "Where is the bathroom?", here are 25 Klingon words and phrases every Star Trek fan should know — with pronunciation tips, meanings, and fun everyday sentences to try in the Klingon translator.
"Prithee, good sir, forsooth!" Most "knight speak" actually comes from Shakespeare's era, centuries after the Middle Ages. Here's how to sound like a noble knight — the words, the manners, and the surprising truth about what real knights spoke.
"Arr, matey!" Most pirate speak comes from a 1950 Disney film, not real pirates. Here's where pirate talk really came from, which words sound authentic, and how to talk like a pirate with style — on Talk Like a Pirate Day or any day.
Wizards speak in riddles, Latin-sounding spells, and ancient tongues. Here's how to sound like a wizard — the vocabulary, the rhythm, where spell words come from, and the fictional languages of magic from Parseltongue to Draconic.
The best villains don't shout — they speak calmly, precisely, and with total confidence. Here's how to sound like a villain, what Shakespeare's villains teach us, and the fictional languages built for evil, from Black Speech to Parseltongue.
"Today is a good day to die." "All men must die." Warrior cultures in fiction and history built their languages around battle. Here's how to say warrior, victory, and death in Klingon, Valyrian, Old Norse, Elvish, and more.
Names don't translate — they transliterate. Here's how your name changes when you write it in Tengwar, Klingon pIqaD, runes, Aurebesh, hieroglyphics, and more, plus the tricks fans use to create "true" Elvish names.
Leonard Nimoy borrowed the Vulcan salute from a Jewish blessing he saw as a child. Here's the story behind "Live long and prosper", how it's said in Vulcan, Klingon, and a dozen real-world dubs — and how to do the salute properly.
Star Wars' most famous line has been dubbed into dozens of languages, written in Aurebesh, and turned into a global holiday. Here's how "May the Force be with you" sounds around the world — and in the galaxy far, far away.
From Klingon's "qamuSHa'" to Dothraki's "You are my sun and stars", here's how to say "I love you" in 20 fictional languages, ancient tongues, and secret codes — plus the surprising cultures that barely say it at all.
Khal and Khaleesi, Aran and Tári, Cyning and Cwēn — every fictional world needs rulers. Here's how to say king and queen in 15 fictional and ancient languages, and why "Khaleesi" became a real baby name.
In Game of Thrones, the person who understands the most languages often wins. Here's how Daenerys, Varys, Tyrion, and Missandei use language as a weapon — and why the show needed so many languages to feel real.