A convincing alien requires convincing details; language is such a detail, and it's very hard to get right. Indeed, given how little we really know about how the human brain processes language (compared to how it converts and uses metabolic energy, for example), and how important it is to the human impression of the alien, it's probably the most difficult things to get right.
Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow [Spoiler warning!] goes into this in some depth. Er, no it doesn't. If it does, do remind me ... One particular sequence depends on Father Sandoz' understanding of the local language, or lack of it: when he is told he will undergo the hasta'akala he doesn't realise it means he will become a slave with his hands permanently mutilated. Right, but that hardly consitutes going into the language in some depth; it's just one word that he doesn't understand. Damn, i hated that book. -- TA
As an aside, the Psychological Association of America has recently issued the first job recruitment campaign for Klingon speakers. Apparently there are known cases of mentally ill patients who are incapable of conversing in any other language, and psychiatrists require translators to work with them.
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