What is the difference between “Tolkien” Elvish and the “fake Elvish” I keep hearing about?
Lately, many members have been pointing the moderators of the Language Forum to websites where Elvish lessons are offered, or Elvish dictionaries. Before you start learning and memorizing, make sure you are learning Tolkien Elvish! (You can do this by asking one of the mods to check it out for you.) Many sites have made up, or “loosely based,” their Elvish on Tolkien’s Elvish. This means that what you are learning is an Elvish that has been changed from Tolkien’s original language. Avoid these sites if you want to learn the Elvish of Middle Earth! Many internet sites (mainly RPG-based websites) try to create their own language and label it Elvish as well (grey-company.org for example). If you have found a site and question if it is true Tolkien Elvish (i.e., the very detailed languages that Tolkien invented, which are used in his books as well as the LotR movies), please ask one of the moderators of the forum and they will investigate to see if it is true Elvish or not. Remember that t
