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A Fan's Guide to Neo-Sindarin - A Textbook for the Elvish of Middle-earth Hardcover – May 27, 2017

by Fiona Jallings (Author)

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Enchanted with Elvish? This is Neo-Sindarin, the language as it has flourished on the Internet using Tolkien's creation as a roadmap. This book functions as a friendly introduction to the Neo-Sindarin community. Included is the most current information available to fans. Within explore Neo-Sindarin academics, learn simple linguistic concepts, practice useful phrases while studying grammar, and look at the world through Elven eyes: from how they count on their fingers to how they organize the cosmos. Govano ven! (Join us!)

Print length

360 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Nemvus
Publication date

May 27, 2017
Dimensions

6 x 0.94 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0997432152
ISBN-13

978-0997432152
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Nemvus (May 27, 2017)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 360 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0997432152
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0997432152
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.5 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.94 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,198,323 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #103,451 in Schools & Teaching (Books)

Customer Reviews:
40 ratings

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5 star		73%
4 star		17%
3 star		6%
2 star		4%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

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Top reviews from the United States

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David

Learning new languages

Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2017

Verified Purchase

This is a great book, not just on Neo-Sindarin specifically, but also on linguistic general concepts and principles that you can take to multiple languages. Especially if you are a fan of Tolkien, definitely read this.

But if you are a fan of language learning in general, I would still encourage you read through this book.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

William Givens

A must for every serious Tolkien fan

Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2017

Verified Purchase

This book could be a bit better organized, and include a Sindarin-to-English dictionary, but it's good for explaining the grammar in a logical way.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Straelbora

Requisite reading for all travellers to Middle-earth

Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2017

Verified Purchase

As brilliant a linguist as Professor Tolkien made sure to invent languages that included every twist and turn imaginable. Fiona Jallings takes you by the hand and leads you expertly through the maze that is Sindarin.

2 people found this helpful

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Emily Marquardt

Good book

Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2020

Verified Purchase

Love it so much

Helpful

Ben

The most up-to-date book on Sindarin, but needs better organization

Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2018

First off, some background: J.R.R. Tolkien never finished the Elvish languages he created for his books, so fans have taken up the monumental task of filling the gaps with educated guesses and reconstructions. This fan-made form of the Sindarin language, termed "Neo-Sindarin", is what Jallings presents in this book.

Pros: This is simply the most up-to-date work on Tolkien's Elvish currently in print. It also contains some extremely insightful observations on Sindarin that can be found nowhere else. It is written in a friendly, approachable tone, and even includes exercises so readers can test their knowledge at the end of each section. Jallings does a good job of distinguishing between reconstructed forms and those that are attested in Tolkien's works, and explains the reasoning behind her hypotheses and reconstructions in some detail.

Cons: This book can't seem to decide if it wants to be a rigorous reference grammar of the language, or a tutorial for beginners. It ends up filling neither role very well. Several attributes of the book make it less than ideal for novices:

- Jallings introduces Sindarin pronunciation by first teaching the International Phonetic Alphabet, which makes no sense to me because it's just as hard to learn IPA as it is to learn the sounds of Sindarin. Even if you master the IPA symbols for English as the book suggests, pronouncing Sindarin won't be effortless, because Sindarin has sounds that don't exist in English!
- The book doesn't teach Sindarin's notorious consonant mutations until quite late in the course, which I think does a disservice to the reader. Rather than learning mutations as needed while building up from simple phrases to complex sentences, you're forced to rely on pre-mutated vocabulary words for the early exercises. This means that if you read only the first half of the book, you'll know a lot of grammar, but you won't be able to form sentences of your own unless someone does the mutation for you. I have a feeling this will discourage beginners who may not be sure if they want to make a huge investment in learning the language.
- The book uses more technical terms than strictly necessary. This might appeal to people who want to learn some linguistics while they study Elvish, but for those who just want to use the language, it might be a bit of a slog.

The organization of the book also makes it hard for more advanced learners to look up a particular grammar rule. The table of contents includes only the broadest headings, so it isn't much help if you want to find, say, the section on prepositions.

There is no section on tengwar (the Elvish alphabet).

Overall, I'd recommend this book to all students of Sindarin with the caveat that they will probably want to learn from other resources first and use this book to supplement their knowledge.

19 people found this helpful

Helpful

Darran

Author has a precise style

Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2018

I'm about halfway through this book, more in an attempt to just appreciate what Tolkien did (in a sense a new art form), rather than to fully learn the language.

The primary point I will make is that Jallings is a very clear writer, somehow she manages to distill explanations into a form as precisely as detailed as necessary. With a subject like this it would be easy to slip into overtly technical exposition or simplifications that remove interesting/necessary detail. Here every topic is explained as it is with no dressing up or dumbing down. It reads like talking informally to an expert, in that it is mostly everyday language with subject specific terms thrown in.

The language itself is difficult to a certain extent. The vocabulary is not as extensive as a true living language and there is less grammatical minutia. It can be learned quicker than most living languages by reason of being "smaller" in this sense. However the full details of mutations are complex to learn (I say this already being a speaker of an initial mutating Celtic language).

You're not going to get a clearer account of Sindarin anywhere. I hope the author someday tackles Quenya.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

James Magruder

A very approachable grammar and text for neo- sindarin.

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2017

This book is well written, with solid information presented in an approachable manner. It is not textbook dense, nor is it merely a phrasebook. It gives enough grammar to go on with while presenting a very good overview of neo-sindarin as it exists at this time.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Darran

Author has a precise style

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 30, 2018

Verified Purchase

I'm about halfway through this book, more in an attempt to just appreciate what Tolkien did (in a sense a new art form), rather than to fully learn the language.

The primary point I will make is that Jallings is a very clear writer, somehow she manages to distill explanations into a form as precisely as detailed as necessary. With a subject like this it would be easy to slip into overtly technical exposition or simplifications that remove interesting/necessary detail. Here every topic is explained as it is with no dressing up or dumbing down. It reads like talking informally to an expert, in that it is mostly everyday language with subject specific terms thrown in.

The language itself is difficult to a certain extent. The vocabulary is not as extensive as a true living language and there is less grammatical minutia. It can be learned quicker than most living languages by reason of being "smaller" in this sense. However the full details of mutations are complex to learn (I say this already being a speaker of an initial mutating Celtic language).

You're not going to get a clearer account of Sindarin anywhere. I hope the author someday tackles Quenya.

3 people found this helpful