The 17th annual meeting of the Institute - or, in Klingon, the qep'a' wa'maH SochDIch - will be held at Comfort Inn in Essington July 21-25.
Klingon was invented by linguist Marc Okrand for the Star Trek films. He created, on purpose, a harsh, guttural, alien language that does things in ways earthling languages don't. Out of this world.
In the Land of Invented Languages ends with Okrent taking and passing a test to certify her as a Klingon speaker. Another aspirant, Louise, doesn't pass - but next year, when she tries again and passes, Okrent is there to celebrate her. Okrent can see the attraction of an endeavor that might perplex the Terra-ngon (earthling) world: Klingon speakers "are doing language for language's sake, art for art's sake. And like all committed artists, they will do their thing, critics be damned."