Klingon Interpreter Needed for Ore. Mental Patient

[JCVaughn]

I am almost speechless. I just don't know what to do say.

Sunday, May 11, 2003, Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore.  -- Position Available: Interpreter, must be fluent in Klingon.

The language created for the Star Trek TV series and movies is one of about 55 needed by the office that treats mental health patients in metropolitan Multnomah County.

"We have to provide information in all the languages our clients speak," said Jerry Jelusich, a procurement specialist for the county Department of Human Services, which serves about 60,000 mental health clients.

Although created for works of fiction, Klingon was designed to have a consistent grammar, syntax and vocabulary.

And now Multnomah County research has found that many people -- and not just fans -- consider it a complete language.

"There are some cases where we've had mental health patients where this was all they would speak," said the county's purchasing administrator, Franna Hathaway.

County officials said that obligates them to respond with a Klingon-English interpreter, putting the language of starship Enterprise officer Worf and other Klingon characters on a par with common languages such as Russian and Vietnamese, and less common tongues including Dari and Tongan.

[Delvie]

 :o ::)

I can't say much...if I ever end up driving Lickie into a home... they might need someone who speaks Sindarin. NO JOKE! She has learned to speak Elven. Mr. Tolkein was a Linguist & completely wrote languages for each of his races in Lord Of The Rings. It has been built upon by several Linguists. She has put the language on disc hoping I'll study it on the road so she has someone to practice it w/ offline. She is also moderator for the main Sindarin Board online & grades the quizzes & answers questions. I have to say.. it sounds beautiful when she speaks it. (Think- Liv Tyler) I am proud of her that she has followed thru on a challenge. This is rare for her as the support systems that most people have as a child growing up supporting progress didn't exist. Her father is native American therefore treated her like she wasn't good enough because he wanted a boy. Her father left her mother leaving her mother cynical who then broke down everything Lickie & her brother did into something that was doomed to fail, so why try. Sindarin was the 1st thing that Lickie had the desire to be a success at. KUDOS for her. Thanx for the humorous post J.C.
You ROCK

[Weldon]

I am almost speechless. I just don't know what to do say.

That's because you don't speak Klingon.
The Klingon probably have a word for it.
Of course, it probably sounds like you are coughing Feta cheese through your nose while choking...