Does LotR have cross-cultural appeal?

[Formendacil]

Culture...

That is an interesting term.

My own opinion- quite possibly a faulty one- is that while Tolkien's work heavily and deliberately draws off of his Catholic faith, seems to appeal to people of all faiths, although Christians like to claim it as their own.

However, as far as language-culture goes, I would say that you are correct in that it is limited to the speakers of the Germanic and Norse languages for its main appeal. Which would seem to be a natural extension of how it was written. it was, after all, originally a legendarium for the English- and it draws heavily off of the Norse and Germanic traditions.

I also have to wonder what role the translation plays in this... After all, the idiom and such would naturally translate more readily to another Germanic language than it would to a, for example, Latin tongue.

You mentioned that Tolkien seems to have a greater following in Spanish than in French. I wonder if this might have to do with the translators? Maybe they did a better job with Spanish...