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Old 02-20-2008, 11:43 AM   #67
Galin
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 1,031
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zxcvbn
'Blame David Salo for that. Only a tiny minority of Tokien fans study Middle-earth linguistsics, and I doubt there is anyone on this forum who has enough knowledge to distinguish between 'authentic' Sindarin and Salo's neo-Sindarin. I'm pretty sure Jackson also knows zip about Elvish, so he approached one of the most well-known Tolkien linguists out there, David Salo. Who, by the way, is respected and considered a credible source on Tolkien linguistics by MOST of the Tolkien fan community. It's only in hardcore linguistic circles, consisting of those who've studied Tolkien languages for years, that he's disliked for his inaccuracies.'
Whether the Neo-elvish is accurate enough is beside the point however. Nobody was needed to invent any; rather someone associated with the films decided more was 'needed' I guess. A claim that Jackson desired accuracy concerning the languages, which he probably did with respect to invented stuff, is one thing -- but then, since Jackson largely chooses fabricated Elvish over Tolkien's actual examples -- well this seems to be rather an odd choice with respect to accuracy to my mind.


Quote:
Originally Posted by zxcvbn
The LOTR books only contain about two to three dozen Elvish words, all in all. To properly study Elvish you need someone who's spent years reading Tolkien's unpublished texts.
The books contain more than just a scattering of words of course -- basically incorporate the Elvish that appears in the tale, and have a pronunciation coach maybe. See Carl Hostetter's previous quote (in my post) for why.

Quote:
(...) It would be logical. What else would they want? What proof is there that the filmmakers only wanted the Estate's official endorsement?
Back up the train here -- you wrote: 'Maybe New Line had that kind of attitude, but there's no doubt PJ and the folks at Wingnut Films and WETA only wanted the Estate's assistance to help create a more accurate, painstaking vision of Middle-earth. Notes on Tolkien linguistics, advice on costumes, architecture etc.'

I don't need positive proof that Jackson only wanted an official endorsement. I asked for proof because you appeared to claim there was no doubt concerning your statement. So far it appears (now) to be your opinion, but I thought the wording implied there was more in the way of some evidence I was unaware of.

Last edited by Galin; 02-20-2008 at 02:30 PM.
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