J.R.R. Tolkien discussion

Question: do any of you brilliant minds out there know any of Tolkien's languages? I'm a language nut and I've always been fascinated by his Elvish languages. I know he made others, but the Elvish variety just sound so BEAUTIFUL! I'm thinking of trying to learn one. Just wondered if anyone else out there had similar aspirations.

I've seen some posts here somewhere about members who've learned Elvish: can't think where offhand, but they're here somewhere I'm sure!

Although I never tried to learn Elvish, I could at one time use tengwar and runes to write English phonetically.

In college I learned Phonetic literation, but I don't know anything about tengwar---is it a spoken language? Runes are lovely.

Tengwar is the name for the Elvish characters

Years ago when my facination with Tolkien's work and his creation began i started to study his work, that included his languages. Learning Elvish and writing in runes...but never the Black Speech.

AHHH! So cool!

L.M. wrote: "Question: do any of you brilliant minds out there know any of Tolkien's languages? I'm a language nut and I've always been fascinated by his Elvish languages. I know he made others, but the Elvish ..."
You're not alone. I'm a language nut too and I've ALWAYS wanted to learn the Elvish languages. I tried studying Tengwar for a while but I didn't get too far. haha!

No... but I'm working on creating a new elvish language... very, very hard. I'm hoping to have it done in a decade or so :P

Just remember that without Tolkien, we'd never have had Klingon.

My wife would consider that a dubious tribute, but I think that it's "maj"!

I have a friend who is in the process of learning Elvish. I was interested in it for a while and bought a book on it.

That joke is too funny, ERika

I'm glad someone started this thread! I'm interested in learning more about Tolkien's languages; can anyone recommend some good starting places, whether they're books, websites, articles, etc.?

Reno wrote: "I'm glad someone started this thread! I'm interested in learning more about Tolkien's languages; can anyone recommend some good starting places, whether they're books, websites, articles, etc.?"

YAY! I'm glad so many people are enjoying this thread! Omniglot (website) is a good place to start learning about Tolkien's languages. http://www.omniglot.com/writing/tengw...

WOOHOO!

Thanks for the website link L.M x

Lucinda wrote: "Thanks for the website link L.M x"

Welcome!

Yes, thanks very much, L.M.! There's so much information out there, it can be hard to know what's reliable when you've got no knowledge on the subject. This looks like a very good starting point.

Reno wrote: "Yes, thanks very much, L.M.! There's so much information out there, it can be hard to know what's reliable when you've got no knowledge on the subject. This looks like a very good starting point."

Yeah, there really are so many resources, it can be a big challenge to know where to start! :-)

A book to add to your wishlists

These books are on my to-read list:

A Gateway to Sindarin: A Grammar of an Elvish Language from JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings

The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-Earth

From Elvish to Klingon: Exploring Invented Languages

Gundula wrote: "These books are on my to-read list:

A Gateway to Sindarin: A Grammar of an Elvish Language from JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings

The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-Earth

From Elvish to Klingon: Ex..."

I've been reading The History of the Hobbit and it references A Gateway to Sindarin frequently...definitely going to have to check that one out! I've been studying a bit of linguistics in university (just as a side interest haha) so it will be interesting to read a technical perspective of Sindarin.

I know some colleges offer it as a language to learn. The one I know about is University of Wisconsin- Madison. You could check to see of they are offering it as an online class if you are having trouble finding resources online. www.arwen-undomiel.com/elvish.html Is where I started to teach myself some elvish. :)

Lizzy wrote: "I know some colleges offer it as a language to learn. The one I know about is University of Wisconsin- Madison. You could check to see of they are offering it as an online class if you are having ..."

That is a really useful website and one that makes picking up Elvish not too complicated - as it can be baffling at first!

I would probably never get to use it, but it would be really fun to learn!

I'm a trained linguist. I had found some information on learning some of his Elvish languages last year. They were based (loosely) on Greek and Norse. The conjugation constructs follow a greek pattern. The subject, verb and their conjugated agreement are usually all in one word. Once you see the method in the madness, it's really a beautiful language.

Tenguar... It´s so interesting. I sooo wish to learn it. I already know the runes from both ways, Sindarin and Quenya.

I love the languages Tolkien created, and there's a good guide to Quenya I found last year on a bookshop. The thing is it's written in Spanish, and I think most of the people in this group are English speakers. Anyway, is this one, for if you want to take a look: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...
And... well, I've been studying both Quenya and Sindarin for quite a time, and this web has helped me a lot with them: www.realelvish.net. I hope you find it useful!

Erannë wrote: "I love the languages Tolkien created, and there's a good guide to Quenya I found last year on a bookshop. The thing is it's written in Spanish, and I think most of the people in this group are Engl..."

That is soooo much interesting. Great I speak spanish :)

Juan wrote: "Erannë wrote: "I love the languages Tolkien created, and there's a good guide to Quenya I found last year on a bookshop. The thing is it's written in Spanish, and I think most of the people in this..."

Then you'll find it quite useful ^_^

Erannë wrote: "Juan wrote: "Erannë wrote: "I love the languages Tolkien created, and there's a good guide to Quenya I found last year on a bookshop. The thing is it's written in Spanish, and I think most of the p..."

I´m certain.

There's two books for elvish languages. You can look for. A course for sindarin (Peden edhellen) and another for quenya. You can look just for "quenya" in goodreads and you'll find it.

But i don't start to learn the ekvish languages so far. Hehe I will, someday. I already have the books.