Star Trek: 10 Ways The Klingons Have Developed Since The 1960s
8. "You Haven't Experienced Shakespeare, Until You've Read Him In The Original Klingon."
William Shakespeare was an English actor, poet, and playwright known for his three narrative poems, 154 sonnets, and 39 plays. He was arguably the greatest writer in the English language. Or was he?
In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Klingon Chancellor Gorkon asserted that Shakespeare was a Klingon. Throughout the movie, Klingon characters quoted Shakespeare with relish. General Chang, played with melodramatic zeal by the late Christopher Plummer, delivered the most Shakespearean lines, including quotes from Romeo and Juliet, Henry IV, Richard III, Henry V, Julius Caesar, and The Merchant of Venice.
On the audio commentary for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country Special Collectors Edition, director Nicholas Meyer said that the inspiration for Gorkon's assertion about Shakespeare came from Nazi Germany's similar attempt to claim Shakespeare.
Linguist Mark Okrand, who had helped develop Klingon, had a hard time translating the iconic line "to be or not to be" because Klingon lacks the verb 'to be'. Okrand's first attempt translated to "live or not live" but Plummer didn't like that, and well, you don't make Christopher Plummer recite bad Shakespeare. Okrand eventually hit on, "taH pagh, taHbe " which roughly translates to "to continue, or not continue [existence]".