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Listen to rare recordings of J.R.R. Tolkien reading ‘The Lord of the Rings’
- mavhc 10y agohttps://www.brainpickings.org/2016/01/15/j-r-r-tolkien-reads-from-lotr/ https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/01/15/j-r-r-tolkien-reads... is the real url
- bencollier49 10y agoSpeaking as a modern Brit, it seems that Edwardian English is fast becoming indecipherable. I certainly needed to shift gear to get all the words. I wonder how many generations it will take before people are unable to recognise what he's saying?
- iagooar 10y agoWhile it's more difficult to understand, I, as a non-native speaker can understand him pretty well. I think it's just lack of being used to a certain dialect (present or past).
- simonh 10y agoI think some of the phrasing is mimicking Old English pronunciation. Combined with his natural 'posh' accent and the poor quality of the recording it does make it a little hard to make some of it out.
- bshimmin 10y agoYeah; I didn't have trouble with it particularly, but two things I noted: 1) He has a very strong trill to his rhotic "r", which I think must be put on for effect. 2) Does he have a slightly South African accent? I think he left South Africa at a young age (three, maybe?) so it seems odd that he still would at 60, but I'm not sure.
- bencollier49 10y agoYes, I wasn't sure about the rolled r. I could certainly make it out once I had shifted gear, but I have extremely received pronunciation myself; I wonder what someone with a more modern ear would make of it.