The Universal Translator

Everything You Need to Know About 139 Languages that Don't Really Exist

By: Yens Wahlgren

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Hardcover | 1 April 2021

At a Glance

Hardcover
288 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
21.6 x 13.8 x 2.8

Hardcover

RRP $39.99

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A linguistic and creative masterpiece on entertainment's constructed languages to instruct and delight fans and creators alike.

This is a book about languages that aren't real: those from countries that don't exist, alien languages, languages of mythological creatures and languages spoken in an imagined future or parallel universe. But they are also languages that are, to the highest degree, living on Earth thanks to their enthusiastic fans. Klingon, Valyrian, Syldavian, Na'vi, Lilliputian, Orcish – these are a few of the 139 fictional languages that xenosociolinguist Yens Wahlgren delights in and unravels. This is not a grammar book or a lexicon but rather an exploration through time and space, through worlds and universes arisen from the imagination, through pop culture and linguistic nerdship.

Follow Wahlgren on a journey through the universes of Tolkien, Star Trek, Game of Thrones, Doctor Who and Marvel, from the complex and beautiful Elvish to the seemingly nonsensical yet surprisingly considered hoots of Pingu, and learn the creative and sociological value of constructed languages across the world (and beyond).

15 b/w illustrations

About the Author

Yens Wahlgren is a xenosociolinguist, communicator and writer. He works at Lund University and previously worked as a journalist. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Klingon, and his 'Klingon as linguistic Capital' is a standard for its speakers and in the study of the alien language. Yens has had a lifelong interest artificial languages in literature and in popular culture.

Industry Reviews

'Wahlgren has written a wonderful book: ... A tribute to the collective creativity. When you have read it you just want more!'
-- Fredrik Kylberg, OEstgoeta Corren Swedish-language newspaper

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