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Many people enjoy Tolkien's works, especially the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and many also enjoy writing fan fiction based on his work. Elves are the subject of a number of these stories. I think this is great! Elves have a detailed and interesting history, vivid culture, and a beautiful language. The use of elven languages in fan fiction will be discussed.
Obviously, your story will be not be written completely in Sindarin, even if all the characters are Elves of Mirkwood. Dealing with characters who speak a different language that the one used to write the story can be tricky. However, I think two important assumptions can be made.
Firstly, readers of "Lord of the Rings" fan fiction are more than likely fans of "Lord of the Rings" themselves, and they will certainly know basic facts about Middle-earth. Secondly, you can assume readers will know your Elven characters speak Elvish with each other. You do not need to show this by replacing the word "father" with "adar", or "friend" with "mellon". This merely leads to awkward and jarring dialogue.
Let's examine one of the most common uses of Sindarin in fan fiction: "Ada, I am going to meet Aragorn," said Arwen.
This is probably the most innocent occurence. While Arwen does call Elrond "Ada" in the movies, this actually translates as "Daddy". Arwen is very much an adult; she would address her father more maturely, as "Adar", which means "father". However, Arwen is already speaking Sindarin to Elrond. It does not make sense that only one word of Sindarin would appear in a sentence that is actually entirely Sindarin. It is far more logical to stick to the language of the rest of the story, unless you wish to write all your dialogue in Sindarin.
While completely Sindarin dialogue makes sense, it raises two difficult issues. Sindarin grammar is difficult, and if you do not understand the mechanisms correctly, please do not abuse it in your story. This would be the equivalent of me writing dialogue in Finnish - I only know a few words in Finnish, and have no concept of the grammar. My Finnish dialogue would look appalling to a Finn. Would you like to subject Tolkien's finely honed languages to such torture? I didn't think you did. The other issue is that many of your readers will not speak Elvish, but they still want to read your story. It is not fair to them, and even inadvertently elitist, to force them to scroll down to the end of the chapter to read the translations.
There are also more extreme examples of Elvish appearing randomly in dialogue. Sometimes, half the sentence might be written in Elvish! This is the equivalent of, for example, me writing a phrase that is half Swedish, half English. Firstly, people switch languages mid-sentence only in rare instances. Secondly, well, does this make sense?
"Kan jag få ett kaffe och a cinnamon bun please?" If you speak Swedish, you can understand all the words, but the usage is much more awkward than necessary.
I am not trying to say that you should not use Elvish in dialogue. Tolkien himself did this, in ways that worked brilliantly. For example, when the Fellowship arrives in Lothlórien, they here a voice saying "Daro". This helps to show the confusion of the Fellowship in a new land, as well as the wariness of the Lothlórien Elves about strangers in their land. As a reader, it is not necessary to know "Daro" means "Halt" in Sindarin to understand the significance of this scene. Another example is in the Hall of Fire, Bilbo explains the significance of the word "Dúnadan" to Frodo. It makes perfect sense for Bilbo to be using Sindarin here.
I'm sure that in your story, situations will arise where it will be completely appropriate to have Elvish words in your story. If your character is in a new situation, possibly meeting Elves for the first time, Elvish dialogue can be used to express your character's fear and uncertainty of the situation. Elvish phrases whose meanings are helpful may not sound that way to an uncomprehending character.
Using Elvish in dialogue is a difficult business. Using too much bogs down the story with cumbersome translations, and using it inconsistently confuses the reader. However, including Elvish languages in suitable scenes will enrich your story. It is also important to spell the Elvish words correctly, and to use proper grammar. You don't need to be a scholar of Tolkien's languages; people will usually be respectful and helpful if you ask questions and do research about Elvish, and your story will benefit. Well-researched Elvish in the right places will serve to enhance your story and engage your readers.
Thanks to dreamingfifi at
Merin Essi ar Quenteli!
for editing this essay and helping me with Sindarin.
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