Tolkien and the Welsh language.

[garynortheast]

This is absolutely fascinating in many ways.

https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/medieval-welsh

[Craig380]

Having tried and failed to read any of Tolkein's works, I can't really comment, but 5 or so years ago there was a cracking TV series called Y Gwyll (Hinterland), a Welsh-language crime drama set around the Aberystwyth area. It was brilliantly written and used the beauty and emptiness of the landscapes fantastically well**.

The interesting thing was that we first watched it the English version (it wasn't merely dubbed, most scenes were filmed twice, once in Welsh and then in English), and then went back and watched it in Welsh with subtitles. The Welsh-language version was far richer, more expressive and darker in tone. It underlined to me just how much language is not only a tool for communication, it also shapes feelings and thoughts too.

(** in our 2020 summer ride-out we passed one of the locations which was a focus of an episode, where a priest has been murdered. I nearly went off the road from doing double-takes when I recognised it)

[garynortheast]

Originally Posted by Craig380

It underlined to me just how much language is not only a tool for communication, it also shapes feelings and thoughts too.

I've tried to tell this to various people before. I've always regarded language as a vocal expression of a culture. Maybe the reason why Esperanto has never made it properly - it has no cultural underpinning.

Originally Posted by Craig380

in our 2020 summer ride-out we passed one of the locations which was a focus of an episode, where a priest has been murdered. I nearly went off the road from doing double-takes when I recognised it

I remember you being quite excited about that!

[Bibio]

i lasted about 5 min of that and about fell asleep. reminded me too much of uni. why do all lecturers sound the same, its like a bagpipe drone lol

its a pity coz i do like Tolkien.

[garynortheast]

Different strokes for different folks I guess.

I was transfixed by the talk, found it absolutely fascinating. I'm not the most intellectual of folks and I'm pretty rubbish at languages too. I guess I found it interesting because I like Tolkien and, as a partial Welsh speaker, I have a love of the language here.

[daktulos]

That was fascinating. I'm not much of a Tolkein fan, but you can't not admire the work put into it.

[garynortheast]

Originally Posted by daktulos

That was fascinating. I'm not much of a Tolkein fan, but you can't not admire the work put into it.

it was the meticulous way in which he built and researched the construction of the language which astounded me too.