Sick of the tension, sick of the hunger

Klingon Translator Sought For Mental Health Patients

PORTLAND, Ore. - Star Trek fans fluent in Klingon take note — there's a job opening in Oregon for you.

The fictional language of the popular TV and movie science fiction series is one of about 55 languages 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.

County research has shown that Klingon has gone from being a fictional tongue to what many people — and not just fans — consider a complete language, with its own grammar, syntax and vocabulary.

If a patient speaks only Klingon, the county is obligated to respond with a Klingon interpreter. So officials have decided to include it with about 55 languages, some of which, such as Russian and Vietnamese, are widely spoken, and some, such as Dari and Tongan, are seldom spoken.

The county's purchasing administrator, Franna Hathaway, greeted the request to include Klingon with skepticism.

But, she said, “There are some cases where we've had mental health patients where this was all they would speak.”