"How does one pronounce Tolkien?"

[Mnemosyne]

I only judge a pronunciation that doesn't match up with Tolkien's guidelines when the speaker is in a field that requires some attention to pronunciation.

I don't know how my reaction would be for a mispronunciation in, say, a lecture that's not about languages, but if it's an adaptation, say, or a musical performance...

Whenever you're performing something in a foreign language, the least you can do is respect said language enough to pronounce it right or as close to right as you can manage. Even if you don't say it that way in real life.

Now, what gets really interesting is when it appears that Tolkien does not follow his own rules. What's one to do then?

[Eönwë]

Originally Posted by Mnemosyne

Now, what gets really interesting is when it appears that Tolkien does not follow his own rules. What's one to do then?

Well, I think it depends on who you're talking to and it what context.

For example, if I talk to someone (especially someone who isn't as much of a fan as me) about one of Tolkien's characters, I'm less likely to pronounce it with a trilled "r", etc., because it would sound strange because I don't normally trill my "r"s.

However, if I'm reading the book aloud, or trying to pronounce something in Elvish, or talking to someone with more Tolkien expertise than me (I assume, I don't think I know anyone who has read more than TH, LOTR and the Silm), then I'd probably try my best to pronounce it right.

As well as this, one reason I've thought of for my preference of Sirdan over Kirdan could be that the "s" sound makes it more sibilant, which makes it more sea-ish, at least to me.

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

I really do make an effort to pronounce things correctly. Or at least how I think is the correct way of pronouncing. For the longest time I was pronouncing Feanor 'FEE-nor'.

[Mirkgirl]

Interesting thread... I first read the woks in Bulgarian and as it uses Cyrillic, my only chance was to trust the transliteration... which was Seleborn etc. Only years after did I understand my mistake... and Keleborn still sounds unnatural to me.

I think with books one is in their right to mispronounce or misinterpert their characters, so that they fit the inner sight better. I don't feel oblidged to follow the right pronounciation or to change the image I had in my head for some character or place, just because a second close read proved that it is wrong. A book is a personal experience (unless you are doing it for research) and if being right makes it less enjoyable, being wrong is the way to be.

With real people it is something else... althou I can say by personal experience, it is easier to agree with the majority of a country about how you say your name.

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

Instead of degrading my experience when I pronounce the names correctly, it enhances my reading. Then I know that that is the way to say something and I can really get my head into it. I guess that there are some things that I think don't sound right when pronounced correctly, such as Isengard. I don't think it's supposed to be pronounced the way I pronounce it, but I just can't get it into my head to say it any other way. So it stays how it is.

[davem]

The radical distinction between all art (including drama) that offers a
visible presentation and true literature is that it imposes one visible form. Literature works from mind to mind and is thus more progenitive. It is at once more universal and more poignantly particular. If it speaks of bread or wine or stone or tree, it appeals to the whole ofthese things, to their ideas; yet each hearer will give to them a peculiar personal embodimentin his imagination. Should the story say “he ate bread,” the dramatic producer or painter canonly show ”a piece of bread” according to his taste or fancy, but the hearer of the story willthink of bread in general and picture it in some form of his own. If a story says “he climbed a
hill and saw a river in the valley below,” the illustrator may catch, or nearly catch, his ownvision of such a scene; but every hearer of the words will have his own picture, and it willbe made out of all the hills and rivers and dales he has ever seen, but especially out of TheHill, The River, The Valley which were for him the first embodiment of the word.Tolkien: On Fairy Stories

This is the whole point, for me - the reader as 'co-creator' of the story, & this is the difference between drama & literature. Drama, whether on stage or film, is given to the viewer - the look, the sounds, the words & their pronunciation - the viewer is effectively a passive observer with no control or input into the experience. Literature on the other hand is a participatory event - the characters look & sound how the reader decides, their names are pronounced by the reader, not the writer. The writer must be aware of this too. And this personalises the experience of the story - the Lord of the Rings I experience when I read is different to the one you experience when you read it - because its full of my Hills, Rivers & Valleys. Pronunciation of names of people & places is part of that personal experience, & the more we attempt to achieve a 'proper' uniform pronunciation, or single, agreed picture of a place or character, the more detatched we become from that unique experience of the story. If it was possible to see the characters & places of Middle-earth exactly as Tolkien himself saw them should we all make ourselves see them in that way? In the excerpt I gave earlier from OFS Tolkien seems to argue that would actually be a mistake, because the reader would have no input into the experience of the Story & therefore it would not touch them in the same way. Why is the pronunciation of names different from the images of places & characters - Tolkien effectively states that the reader must be free to imagine the world & its inhabitants as they will for the story to work, & I can't see how the pronunciation of names & words is a different case.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Ha, brilliant point, davem. I consider myself knowing On Fairy Stories very well and basically remembering something from it all the time, even this particular part (I have always applied that one to criticise the movies ), but it never occured to me to apply it in this way. Once again a proof of how well can a company of people contribute while single person's thinking always remains limited.

Let me just note, I have never thought that Tolkien was so close in his thoughts to the reader-response criticism - in the light of this, this certainly is something related. Just, like, I never thought of that.

But anyway, that means, long live Tsirith Ungol! (As that's the one, of all of them, which I just cannot discard )

[davem]

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

I consider myself knowing On Fairy Stories very well and basically remembering something from it all the time, even this particular part (I have always applied that one to criticise the movies )

Its kind of odd to read reviews of the movies where people comment that 'Jacksons' Shire/Moria/Minas Tirith/....... (fill in the blank) was exactly/not at all as I imagined it', & are happy to accept that different people will 'see' Middle-earth in different ways, but when it comes to pronunciation of names & words people simply accept that because Jackson got in 'experts' to give cast & crew the correct pronunciations they must be accepted - I rarely if ever hear the comment 'The cast's pronunciation of 'Minas Tirith'/ Legolas/(fitb) was exactly/not at all as I imagined it'. Its almost as if some people are afraid to get it wrong (which seems to imply that reading the books is, or involves, a test of some kind, which the reader can either pass or fail).

My own position is that just as one is free to imagine (in fact, according to Tolkien quoted earlier, will both inevitably & rightly imagine) the world of the story in their own unique way, which will bring it alive for them in a way that no illustration or dramatisation could, so they must be free to 'hear' that world as they will - for the same reason. Of course, one is limited by the text to some degree - one may pronounce 'Feanor' as Fee-an-or, Fay-an-or or Fee-nor but one would not pronounce it 'Stephen'.

[Eönwë]

Originally Posted by davem

Tolkien effectively states that the reader must be free to imagine the world & its inhabitants as they will for the story to work, & I can't see how the pronunciation of names & words is a different case.

Not to mention the fact that the hobbits (even Frodo), who are the "authors" of the story, probably didn't pronounce the place names 100% correctly either. And what is correct anyway? Isn't the most commonly used pronunciation the accepted one after all?