For those of you that don't know, Sindarin is Tolkein's artifical language of the Elves (not his only one, but the one most are familiar since is was used almost exclusively in the 3rd age). Its actualy a pretty complete language (once you assemble the varous parts form tons of different sources) and yet most people I know treat it (and my will to learn it) with dirision and scorn (granted, they're not renowned for their accepetence of such things) So am I wrong? Is Sindarin (and other artificial langauges*) just silly? If David Salo is out there somewhere, I love your work *I dont mean klingon (bless it) and that sort of stuff (langs made by fans, not learned linguists)...just hardcore stuff like Tolkein's
No, it's still silly. I mean, learning all about the Civil War is one kind of silly, the sort of silly where you get suckered into the arcane and little-known. But going so arcane as to learn a language that a dead guy wrote 50 years ago who a handful of people can speak? Why not make millions of dollars instead? Or learn a real langauge, or pick up a skill to pick up chicks? I'm being mildly ironic here. Please don't get distracted by my suggestions to make a million dollars or pick up chicks. It's just that our culture sees most things outside of useful (making money or fucking) as worthless.
To some, collecting stamps is "silly", to others, wasting time watching sports is "silly". For that fact a lot of people play golf, and that's pretty silly. (after all, of what practical use is the ability to hit a small ball into a hole in the ground with the fewest strokes?) If you think you would enjoy it, go for it. It is no more silly than the multitude of hobbies others persue, and you'll probably exercise your brain muscles more than most of them in the process.
You know what they say about all work and no play... thats why we have hobbies, which is exactly what Elvish is for some (admittingly there are some pretty obsessed individuals out there). I think we can all rule sindarin out as a career choice, but its intellectual and academic value cant be ignored. The study of poetry and literature is widely accepted, yet serves no practical purpose outside of being an academic excercise. The study of sindarin, especialy the process of its creation, can certainly better one's understanding of language and the development of real languages plus, chicks dig elves
Its not silly at all. How many university professors get by, by teaching dead languages? Languages that only a hand full of people in the world can read, and from which only a hand full of text exist. Folks even learn Esperanto. Learning elfish is sort of cool... although less utilitarian than learning a real living language. Still, you never know when you might need a secret code to... well, communicate with other people who know elfish. Hmm... ok, it is a little silly. Still, the nerd cache is priceless, even mildly arousing. Klingon on the other hand is for complete irredeemable degenerates.
Don't be so quick to dismiss klingon as not being as hardcore. It shares alot more with sindarin than you might have guessed. That Tolkien's is the more "hard core" of the two, I'll agree with. But, don't think that learning Sindarin might not get you places in life. (Ok, so it probably won't, but...) Check this out. Might keep your spirits up or something.
Check this out. "...Klingon editions of Hamlet and the ancient Babylonian epic Gilgamesh..." Whats great about that is that 'Gilgamesh' was mentioned (and helped Picard communicate with an alien) is the episode "darmok" (The Next Generation)
On the whole it is less silly than spending the time to amass over 1000 posts on these forums. I tip my bow to you sir. Suillainad mellon
Hey wait a minute! I speak Esperanto! It's everything they say it is. Learn it fluently in a few weeks, suddenly you have access to all these people in other countries who are dying to be your pen pal, trade stuff from their country for stuff from your country, be your host when you come to their country on vacation. Admittedly it was a lot bigger thirty or forty years ago but it's a lot easier to learn than Sindarin and it's still out there. Nonetheless, the effort to learn Sindarin will be well spent. Tolkien was very good at channeling the various lines of bygone spirits of the British Isles, which represent a good portion of the collective unconscious of the English-speaking world. If you have Sindarin in your head, you're that much closer to Beowulf, King Arthur, the Celtic tribes who walked from the Caucasus across central Europe on their way to Albion, the Teutons who took the northern route through Scandinavia... even the builders of Stonehenge. Any of those groups might have been beset by Orcs along the way. For that matter, one of those groups might have been the others' Orcs... "Lord of the Rings" is a clever story written by one person that puts us in touch with the Ancients. Sindarin is a clever language invented by that same person, which does the same thing. Go for it.
If you research into Tolkein a bit more you will find out he considered himself a historian in regards to LOR. Tolkein had translated ancient manuscripts so the Elfin language would be suspect as a real language.
Am I to assume that by your use of Elvish ("suillainad mellon", which I assume means "greatings friend"), that you yourself are a fan of such things?