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.

[Osse]

I for one, found Tolkien's voice far more 'mystical' than all of the actors in the films. It sounded like he could actually use the language in day to day life (seeing he was fluent in both the elven languages and finnish, he could!) unlike most of the actors who seemed to almost sing the words, which quite frankly is im-bloody-practical... and as for "english accents making the words sound icky" i shall (like squatter [i am so proud of your restraint!]) stop myself from speaking openly, for one could say exactly the same about american accents!

May I say, however, how much I admire Joy for the time and effort she has obviously poured into her endeavour of learning such a difficult language. My hat and heart goes off and out to you.


Keep up the work, and i am sure you'll have it flowing as you say you'd like!!

[One Axe to Rule them All]

I always imagined him as an Anthony Hopkins character, but we can't have everything we want...

It would be great to hear Anthony Hopkins speak Sindarin or Quenya some time though!

[Bombadil]

It's weird, I alywas thought Namarië was pronounced: (Nah-Mar-ee-uh) But as Tolkien speaks it, he pronounces it: (Nah-Mar-ee- ay) Now I thought that ë at the end gave an "uh" sound? I suppose I'm wrong, but I thought "é" was the only form to give the "ay" sound. Does this mean Manwë is pronounced: (Man-way) ?

[Lalaith]

Davem, the audiobook you posted a link to, I think it might be very similar to a cd I got free with a boxed set of LotR I bought about four years ago.
(The boxed set, incidently, doesn't seem to be available any more but it is really lovely, there are seven hardback volumes, for each of the six books of the trilogy plus the appendices and index)

[symestreem]

Tolkien read it with the intonation of a Native American shaman telling the stories of his tribe to the children. Or a Maori chief, or an African one, or basically anyone besides an American or a Brit. He really believed in what he was doing.

[ninlaith]

The intonation of Tolkien in his Elvish speaking was very similar to that of the Kalevala which he had an obsession with for most of his life. It also sounds as if he may have been adding a little of old Anglo Saxon annunciation which connects to his deep affinity for the epic novel Beowulf and all Anglo Saxon literature for that matter. Sir Tolkien was purely a genius in more ways than one.

Sam: I made a promise, Mr. Frodo, a promise! Don't you leave him Samwise Gamgee! And I don't mean to....I don't mean to.

[Guinevere]

Hooray, I have just bought the "Tolkien Audio Collecion " that Davem gave a link to. (Though not through Amazon - I found it even in my English bookstore in Zürich !!)
It really was worth the price - there are 4 CD's , 2 with Tolkien reading exerpts from the Hobbit and LotR . It's very funny the way Tolkien reads Gollum's part! One of my favourites was "the Ride of the Rohirrim". The only drawback is that Tolkien reads some of the poems too fast (for me). The 2 other CDs are Christopher Tolkien reading from the Silmarillion. I've listened to the whole tale of Luthien and Beren today and loved it! (BtW Did you know that the stress in "Finarfin" is on the -ar- ? that was news for me!))

[Mariska Greenleaf]

For some reason I never took the effort to read this thread, and now that I have, I'm very happy about it.

Some comments on how Tolkien's reading is not very magical I found a bit strange, because the Professor invented the language, so if anyone should know how it sounds, it would be him. I enjoyed hearing his voice very much, although I imagined it a bit differently.

BtW Did you know that the stress in "Finarfin" is on the -ar- ? that was news for me!))

Yes, for me too. I would always automatically pronounce it with the stress on the last -in.

Joy, I liked hearing your pronounciation too. I've never been interested myself in actually learning to speak Elvish, but I admire those who do and can. Respect!

[wilwarin538]

Originally Posted by Bombadil

It's weird, I alywas thought Namarië was pronounced: (Nah-Mar-ee-uh) But as Tolkien speaks it, he pronounces it: (Nah-Mar-ee- ay) Now I thought that ë at the end gave an "uh" sound? I suppose I'm wrong, but I thought "é" was the only form to give the "ay" sound. Does this mean Manwë is pronounced: (Man-way) ?

"ë" does give"ay" sound Bombadil so Manwë would be pronounced (Man-way)
or atleast thats what I always thought. In French its "ay" so Im sure it must be in any other launguage.

[Bombadil]

Haha, it seems i have been corrupted in learning French. Thanks for clarifying! When I first started reading the Sil that's how I pronounced them, but my second time through I developed the idea that "ë" gave an "uh." Don't know how...

[Joy]

Thanks all.

Actually, and this is what amazes even me. I made that recording before ever hearing Tolkien's version. I just didn't post it for so long for 2 reasons (I was embarrased and 2nd I didn't have a server that would host .wav files). And what is even stranger is that I have a pronounced hearing loss in both ears (about 40 to 50%).

I have been a student of languages since I was 13. I started taking Latin then.

The only name in the Sil that I really have a hard time with is Aulë. Is this pronounced Ah-ooh-lay or A-ooh-lay or Oww-lay?

[Maerbenn]

I think it should be pronounced like in this recording.

Originally Posted by Maerbenn

I think it should be pronounced like in this recording.

Do you know who is the person speaking at this recording and where is he from?
I coud swear that he's Finnish. I myself am too, and I would talk excactly like the person at the tape. Though, it's just one word, but still..!

[Encaitare]

Very beautiful, Joy -- it sounds so much different with a woman's voice!

[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.