Does LotR have cross-cultural appeal?

[davem]

Originally Posted by Formendacil

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...

This is an interesting point, as in the latest Mallorn (Journal of the Tolkien Society) there's an article 'Traitors & Translators: three German translations of LotR'. Apparently the latest one, by Wolfgang Krege, has taken an approach of translating the work into a contemporary German idiom, so that, for example, Sam refers to Frodo as 'Boss', rather than 'Master', &, to give some examples, Galdriel's 'Like as not,' said the Lady with a gentle laugh.' becomes something like 'Sure!' said the Lady, giggling softly.', Faramir's 'It may even help the Master you love.' becomes equivalent to 'It may even be to the advantage of the Master you're so concerned for.' & Sam's 'O wake up Frodo, me dear, me dear.' is 'translated' as 'O wake up Frodo, damn it all, wake up!'

On the wider point, Tolkien was attempting to supply a mythology for England, to replace the one we had lost. I've said this before, but I've always been slightly surprised that non-English readers even get the story, as its always seemed so very English to me. A pleasant surprise, of course, but odd, to me, nonetheless....