Star Trek's Klingon language can now be learned just by putting down your bat'leth and picking up the Duolingo app.

The free-to-use language speaking app and website announced Thursday that an entire course dedicated to the fictional language is now available, under license by CBS Consumer Products (disclosure: CBS, which also owns the Star Trek television series, is also CNET's parent company).

Klingon expert Felix Malmanbeck is part of a small team of five members developing the course for Duolingo since 2015, during which time 170,000 Duolingo users have registered their interest in learning the language. Malmanbeck notes that the Star Trek language has a very simple grammar that makes it different from other languages like Spanish or French.

"My goal has been to gradually introduce grammar and then hit people with lots of vocabulary and try to make the sentences at least occasionally a bit fun," Malmanbeck said, hoping that the levity can help encourage learners to grasp fluency.

Klingon generally has a meaner, more powerful direct translation from the informal phrases we might use in English. For instance, "hello" in English is said as "nuqneh" in Klingon, but translates directly back into English as "what do you want?" A safer bet if you want to send a compliment could be "qapla'" which translates directly in English as "success" and can be used similarly to the phrases "good luck" or "have a nice day."

"This course should serve primarily as a compliment to literature studies, like for instance reading 'The Klingon Dictionary'," Malmanbeck said. He notes that the dictionary was his start at diving into this Star Trek language.

Malmanbeck advises any fans hoping to compare their own Klingon to the Star Trek source material should take cues from the latest "Star Trek: Discovery" series and less from the earlier shows.

"For the latest series, they've really taken the language very seriously. They've had both a translator, Robyn Stewart, who is really good and also a couple of dialect coaches, whereas in previous series they have mostly made stuff up as they went along," Malmanbeck said.

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