translations for middle-earth

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Æxylis
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translations for middle-earth

Postby Æxylis » 2010-12-19, 12:03

Hello all, I'm not too particularly interested in fiction books, but if they're in another language, that might be more motivation for me to read them :D
I've been getting more interested in Tolkien's books lately as they've been praised several times by others... so my questions are thus:
1. are there translations of these stories into Tolkien's languages (Quenya, Sindarin, etc.) and if not, are there translations into languages such as Finnish and Swedish (and if so, do you have any links for them?)
2. are there any graphic novel/manga versions of these books?
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Re: translations for middle-earth

Postby Varislintu » 2010-12-19, 13:20

邪悪歌 wrote:are there translations into languages such as Finnish and Swedish (and if so, do you have any links for them?)


Hehe, no, we don't read Tolkien up here in the North :D. Who's that anyway :P?

(Wikipedia is your friend.)

May I also remind that discussing how to acquire illegal copies of copyrighted material or linking directly to such files is not allowed on the forum. If that was what you were talking about :P.

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Re: translations for middle-earth

Postby Æxylis » 2010-12-19, 15:54

indeed, but like the Oz books I'm so fond of I figured that since they were written so long ago the copyright has probably expired so they'd be available freely as ebooks, as the case should be...
(besides, I don't believe in copyrights on written material anyway, but that's neither here nor there and is the topic of another discussion anyway :whistle: )
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Re: translations for middle-earth

Postby mōdgethanc » 2010-12-19, 15:58

are there any graphic novel/manga versions of these books?
Dear god no. I'd hate to see what the Japanese would do to the books if they got their hands upon them.

Boromir transforms into a giant robot and battles Mecha-Frodo while Sauron returns from the dead in the form of a many-tentacled creature which then proceeds to destroy cities.
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Re: translations for middle-earth

Postby Quevenois » 2010-12-19, 16:18

אַ שפראַך איז אַ דיאַלעקט מיט אַן אַרמײ און פֿלאָט

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Re: translations for middle-earth

Postby Æxylis » 2010-12-19, 16:33

Talib wrote:
are there any graphic novel/manga versions of these books?
Dear god no. I'd hate to see what the Japanese would do to the books if they got their hands upon them.

Boromir transforms into a giant robot and battles Mecha-Frodo while Sauron returns from the dead in the form of a many-tentacled creature which then proceeds to destroy cities.


:lol: that'd be awesome :D mecha-frodo ftw
hey, lighten up... I didn't get upset when I saw what they did to the wizard of Oz or the Shakespeare plays
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Re: translations for middle-earth

Postby Johanna » 2010-12-19, 18:54

Many of Tolkien's works are translated into Swedish, The Lord of the Rings even twice.

The one Quevenois linked to is the old one, and the entire trilogy in one book, if you want to buy them separately it's:

old translation - new translation - English
Sagan om ringen - Ringens brödraskap - The Fellowship of the Ring
Sagan om de två tornen - De två tornen - The Two Towers
Sagan om konungens återkomst - Konungens återkomst - The Return of the King

I haven't read the new translation, but the old one is full of mistakes; names of places can be translated in 4-5 different ways, it contains many mistakes when it comes to translating simple sentences, for example it's not Éowyn who kills the leader of the Nazgûls, it's Merry, and the translator apparently thought riven and river are the same thing, since Rivendell" is "Vattnadal" (water valley). Also, the language used is a lot... grander than the original English.

Yes, this was the translation that made Tolkien write a guide for how to translate The Lord of the Rings into other languages, especially the names.

The new one, on the other hand, has been accused of being simpler than in English, but that's hardly a bad thing for someone learning the language.

I think The Hobbit have been translated twice too, I've seen it called both "Bilbo" and "Hobbiten", but it's not that the old translation was bad, I think they just wanted all the names to be the same as in the new translation of The Lord of The Rings.
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Re: translations for middle-earth

Postby mōdgethanc » 2010-12-19, 23:11

I've heard about this legendarily bad translation; it essentially changed the entire meaning of certain passages, rearranged elements and outright invented stuff. And the characters were given new, totally nonsensical names. Apparently the only explanation is that the poor guy didn't have that good a grasp of English and shouldn't have been doing translations in the first place.

Still, if I were Tolkien, yeah, definitely not amused.
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Re: translations for middle-earth

Postby Johanna » 2010-12-20, 0:39

Another explanation is that he didn't so much translate it as he did interpret it, which wasn't that uncommon back then in Sweden, and in addition to that didn't care if he got names and events right, or even consistent.
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Re: translations for middle-earth

Postby księżycowy » 2011-01-02, 22:14

Talib wrote:
are there any graphic novel/manga versions of these books?
Dear god no. I'd hate to see what the Japanese would do to the books if they got their hands upon them.

Boromir transforms into a giant robot and battles Mecha-Frodo while Sauron returns from the dead in the form of a many-tentacled creature which then proceeds to destroy cities.

Reminds me of what they did to Star Wars! :lol:

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Re: translations for middle-earth

Postby mōdgethanc » 2011-01-02, 23:35

Oh god, I was trying to forget I ever saw that.
for example it's not Éowyn who kills the leader of the Nazgûls
It is in the movie. :D
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Re: translations for middle-earth

Postby hlysnan » 2011-01-02, 23:50

What did they do to Star Wars?

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Re: translations for middle-earth

Postby sa wulfs » 2011-01-03, 0:03

Tolkien's Letters contain many hilarious comments on that Swedish translation and other stuff like the animated LotR film.
http://ungelicisus.blogspot.com
Hrōþabaírhts sa Wulfs | Hrōðbeorht se Wulf | Hróðbjartr Úlfrinn | Hruodperaht der Wolf | Hrôthberht thê Wulf

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Re: translations for middle-earth

Postby księżycowy » 2011-01-03, 0:07

Yasha wrote:What did they do to Star Wars?

They made it into a manga. Don't know how close the manga for is to the original movies though.

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Re: translations for middle-earth

Postby mōdgethanc » 2011-01-03, 0:44

Star Wars was originally inspired by the films of Akira Kurosawa. The circle is complete.
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Re: translations for middle-earth

Postby evelyn512 » 2011-11-04, 13:40

Thanks for letting me know about other good stuff!


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