Game of Thrones language creator addresses Emilia Clarke’s comments about struggling with Dothraki pronunciation.

Anyone who’s dedicated significant time to Duolingo knows how challenging it can be to learn a language, especially a fictional one meant for a vast audience.

So, it’s easy to understand Emilia Clarke’s frustration upon hearing that she was criticized for her Dothraki skills by the language’s creator.

“I invested so much effort into learning Dothraki,” Clarke shared during a recent appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers. “I read an article where the creator of the language said that I sucked at it. I thought, ‘Come on, it’s not a real language!’ I can’t be bad at it because my portrayal on the show—that’s the language, that’s how it works.”

Clarke expressed that she felt hurt and quite upset by the comments.

In response, linguist David J. Peterson clarified, “I think Emilia may have misunderstood what I said, because I’ve never criticized her Dothraki. Why would I? Her character wasn’t meant to speak it fluently, so she didn’t need to be perfect.”

Peterson has generally been supportive of Clarke’s performance in interviews, suggesting that the situation might have been blown out of proportion. In a 2017 interview, he remarked, “It’s always amusing to hear Emilia Clarke speak Dothraki. Of course, her character isn’t supposed to be fluent, and it really sounds… not fluent.”

Without the full context, that could come off as harsh. However, he also noted, “It’s great. For her character, she understands and can speak it. She just doesn’t sound quite right.”

In a later video with Vanity Fair, Peterson praised Clarke’s language abilities, stating her Dothraki always “sounded very nice.”

The upcoming Game of Thrones spin-off, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, based on George R.R. Martin’s Dunk and Egg novellas, is set to premiere on January 18.