Sinprezento de Andrej el Germanio

What does “planlingvo” mean in Esperanto?

Introducing himself, Andrej mentions he also once learned la klingona — Klingon, from Star Trek — calling it “another planlingvo, similar to Esperanto but completely different.” Planlingvo is the term Esperanto speakers use for any deliberately invented language, built from plan- (planned) plus lingvo (language), as opposed to a natura lingvo that grew without a designer.

The comparison is more pointed than it sounds: Esperanto was built as an international auxiliary language, meant for anyone to pick up as a practical second language, while Klingon is an artistic language, built to sound alien and belong to one fictional people. Both are planlingvoj in the broad sense, but “planned” doesn’t mean “built for the same job.”