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Originally Posted by Lalwendë
The world is full of pedants these days and I'd rather come down on the side of pleasure than that of being smugly correct. Mispronouncing the names in a book is hardly crime of the century anyway, and I think we only force ourselves to do it to 'fit in',...'
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I can't include myself in this 'we'. Heck, I don't know anyone within earshot who cares enough about Tolkien to talk about his tales, and nobody can hear you on the web (in these types of forums anyway).
Anyway, I would guess there are a number of people who simply want, or like, to get it right, perhaps because (externally) they know Tolkien put a lot of time and effort into creating nomenclature, and into creating the specific sounds of each language.
Also, to my mind it seems a way for readers to further engage with, and thus further enjoy, Middle-earth. If one likes Seleborn, that's obviously fine, if it enhances one's reading, fine again -- so too if it enhances one's reading to try to say Keleborn (assuming it's a change), simply because he or she 'knows' or imagines that that's how folks in the Secondary World said it.
I haven't met any smug correctors (yet). The matter seems to come up in threads on the web often enough, but there people are usually wondering how the names are supposed to be said and heard (which implies they might like some help), or are outright asking about proper pronunciation. And I can also understand the desire (at least) for good pronunciation at conventions for example, or Tolkien-related events -- for guests speakers, for instance. But at conventions or social events, one is probably not reading the book, especially aloud, in any case.
My cat used to react everytime I said
Túna. He must have approved of my pronunciation
