Tolkien Speaking Elvish

[Joy]

If you would like to hear Tolkien speaking Elvish, go to Namarie

This is found in the chapter "Farewell to Lorien"

[Maeglin]

IIIHHH!!! [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]

That sounds like lapish and not magically beautiful att all!

(My appologies to anyone being a laplander, wich I doubt)

[Aralaithiel]

Those English accents will do that. Now, if we could get Hugo Weaving to read that, ahhh...!!! He did the BEST job of pronouncing Elvish in FOTR, in my opinion. And listening to his recitation of Elrond's healing words to Frodo IS magical! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[Joy]

Check out Svenska Teatern Go to Musik m.m and listen to Namarie. It is sung by a Finnish Choir. Very slow, beautiful and haunting. Sends chills up my spine in places.

[ February 16, 2002: Message edited by: Joy ]

[Maeglin]

Is it only I who have bad taste or does anyone else think that that didn't sound very beautiful either?

[ February 17, 2002: Message edited by: Maeglin ]

[Mayla Took]

Is it only I who have bad taste or does anyone else think that that didn't sound very beautiful either?

I agree with you Meaglin, I didn't like it that much. It needed more harmonys or something. I really like the Howard Shore LOTR music though!

[Mayla Took]

I do like the way Tolkien speakes Elvish though! Not quite how I pronounce words but I still think it sounds so cool!

i like it, somehow..

[Carannillion]

I think Tolien sounded right, somehow. Not splendidly mystical (he has a somewhat aged man's voice, you know) but right, and I liked listening to it. If I become as proficient in Elvish as I would like, I may even be able to listen to him speaking words, not just recognizing it as an Elvish sample I can't make out...

[dragongirlG]

Hmm...Tolkien sounded a little strange, but true, his voice isn't Liv Tyler's or anything...personally I thought she sounded the best speaking Elvish as Arwen. Well it's pretty cool that someone got a recording of that though, it's so nice to hear what the author wants it to sound like.

Cheers, dragongirlG

[Jjudvven]

Well... Tolkien should know how it sounds... [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[Aralaithiel]

Hey..at least it doesn't sound as bad as Leonard Nimoy singing about Bilbo! OMG that was AWFUL!!!!!!!!!! [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] [img]smilies/redface.gif[/img]

[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

I liked it. It sounded more foreign than when other people speak it.

at least it doesn't sound as bad as Leonard Nimoy singing about Bilbo! OMG that was AWFUL!

Who wrote that dreadful song? Why did Leonard Nimoy sing it? Couldn't he see that it was rubbish? And that video: well, it's best not to talk about it. He's a better singer than William Shatner, though.

Those English accents will do that. Now, if we could get Hugo Weaving to read that...

My argument is simple: Tolkien invented the language, along with all of the intended pronunciations. Therefore his manner of speaking it must be the closest to the correct mode and thus accentless. If it sounds like Lapp, that's hardly surprising since much of the parent languages were Germanic and Scandinavian.

As for English accents: I shan't heap my indignant scorn on that concept, I shall merely repeat the old adage that Britain and America are two countries divided by a common language.

[Calencoire]

Wow [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] ummmmm... it sounded a little rough, but it still sounded really good. He was really fluent! I wish I could speak tit like that...

[Raefindel]

It was cool to hear Tolkien's own voice. I expected him to have a lower voice, more baritone, ya know? That's what you get for "expecting"

[Orofacion of the Vanyar]

I've heard this before. I for one loved it. Tolkien's the only one that can truly speak elvish the way it was intended. Tres beau!

[Guinevere]

Thank you, Joy, for giving this link !

I enjoyed very much hearing Tolkien himself reciting Quenya !!
Well, perhaps I had imagined his voice differently and he spoke a bit fast for me, but otherwise it sounds beautiful, and much as I had thought it would. Fullsounding, with rolling R`s and all.Of course it does sound foreign .Very unlike English anyhow. (My mothertongue is German and I can speak Italian , for me the pronounciation rules for Quenya seem less tricky than those for English!)
You can`t compare this to the Elvish spoken in the FotR movie: that was all Sindarin !!

Otherwise I agree with all that the "Squatter of Amon Rudh" has written.

Thank you also for the music of Svenska Teatern, Joy ! I liked the other songs too, especially Tinuviel. (It helps that I know Norwegian, its very similar to Swedish)

Namarië, Guinevere

[Joy]

The Svenska Theatern site no longer has Sagan om Ringen or the songs.

[davem]

Harper Collins have released recordings of Tolkien reading & singing poems & songs from LotR on Cd - the recordings also include him reading the whole of Riddles in the Dark from Hobbit


In UK:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...236304-2089236

In US:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...books&n=507846

[Roccotari Eldandil]

Yippee! I love this. As a student of Quenya, it's wonderful to hear this pronounced! Some of the first few words are different though...instead of yéni there's "inyar" and some wording changes. I think this was mentioned in the 1st lesson of Ardalambion.com's Quenya course. Check there if you want more.
I LOVE TOLKIEN!!! (well, duh, otherwise I wouldn't be on here.) He's so cool.

[Joy]

Here I am reading Namarie - http://kingdomwarrior.jlym.com/Namarie.zip It is a large file - about a meg in space.

EDIT: I zipped the file now and it is a bit smaller and faster to download.


I think that part of the "Voice" changes could be because of British accent and also he is speaking fast.

[PaleStar]

Joy, I love your voice! You sound like you've been speaking Quenya for a long while.
*smiles*

[Thulorongil]

I had heard that recording of Tolkien before. It really is interesting to hear him speak it. I wish I could have heard that Finnish choir. He does speak rather fast, but it make it more "authentic" as someone speaking their native language would go quicker. (Just ask my friends!)

Yeah, the recording has some different words than those in LotR. The recorded version has inyar únóti nar instead of yéni únótimë and inyar ve lintë yulmar vánier ra rather than yéni ve lintë yuldar (a)vánier as in LotR. Does anyone know why?

The sound of it kind of feels weird, though. More of a repetitive, bouncing almost in the middle of each phrase as he must get through the long syllables of each word before dropping off at the end. Quenya always seems like it should be more flowing, and it is that way when Joy reads it. And everyone will have their own voice and dialect. I guess we're also all used to hearing poetry in our own languages, though, so anything seems strange. I do love the feel of each word, with such pure vowels and expressive sounds.

[Lalaith]

I really enjoyed your reading, Joy!
For those of you who find the Tolkien reading a bit strange, try listening a few times, I found it grows on you with repeated listening.

A few things about the different languages mentioned: Lapp (Sami) and Finnish on the one hand and the Germanic/Nordic/Scandinavian languages on the other are entirely unrelated.

Finnish (which is fiendishly difficult to learn) is not an Indo-European language, and is not related to any other language in Europe except Hungarian. The language of the Lapps (or more politely, the Sami) is really many dialects and belongs to the same family as Finnish.

Tolkien found Finnish a beautiful language (it is an indication of his linguistic brilliance that he mastered it!) and did indeed use it as an inspiration for Quenya.

[Joy]

Thank you so much Enca I want to do some others, but can't find my mic (O Orofarnë is the hardest to do in my opinion).

[Ardamir the Blessed]

Anar posted:

Do you know who is the person speaking at this recording and where is he from?

I am that person. That sample is just one of many that I have recorded. All can be found in the Pronunciation Recordings section of my Tolkien site here.

[Joy]

Neat, thanks for the link Amandir. I am downloading the zip file for the words.

I would love to learn Finnish actually. I have heard that it is a difficult language, but I have heard that Danish is too - and I am doing fairly well in that.