Watch Smarter is Slate’s series that teaches you to spot hidden tropes in pop culture and beyond. Watch all episodes.
Huttese, Klingon, Dothraki—it’s all Greek to me. Just a bunch of sounds. Right? Not if you listen closely. Some of these constructed languages, or “conlangs,” pass as real languages much better than others.
What separates a convincing conlang from a bad one? In this episode of Watch Smarter, we examine how movies and TV shows create custom languages, and how the best—or at least the most realistic—evolve like real human speech.
More Watch Smarter episodes:
The Hidden Formula Behind Almost Every Joke on Late Night
The Tricks Movies Use to Avoid Sex and Swearing Rules From the MPAA
Why Do So Many Wizards, Kings, and Romans Have British Accents in Fantasy Movies?
