What languages are used in the movie?
Sindarin, the everyday spoken language of the Elves, is the only language that is subtitled; it is spoken by Aragorn and Arwen, and it is Legolas’s native tongue. Sindarin and Quenya, the ceremonial language of the Elves, can be heard both spoken and in the soundtrack. Black Speech, the language of Mordor, is whispered by the One Ring. Khuzdul, the language of the Dwarves, can be heard on the soundtrack only. It should be noted that published material on these languages is extremely sketchy, so their use in the movie betokens considerably more pure invention than with either of the Elvish langugaes. (dos) Khuzdul can also be seen written on the walls of the chamber of Mazarbul in a dwarvish mode of runes (Angerthas Moria). The Angerthas are also used to write English in the leaves seen of the Book of Mazarbul; these are based on Tolkien’s own designs. Some runes are also seen in the manuscript of Bilbo’s book. A tengwar mode is used on the pages of Saruman’s book. [I never got a long e
Sindarin, the everyday spoken language of the Elves, is the only language that is subtitled; it is spoken by Aragorn and Arwen, and it is Legolas’s native tongue. Sindarin and Quenya, the ceremonial language of the Elves, can be heard both spoken and in the soundtrack. Black Speech, the language of Mordor, is whispered by the One Ring. Khuzdul, the language of the Dwarves, can be heard on the soundtrack only. It should be noted that published material on these languages is extremely sketchy, so their use in the movie betokens considerably more pure invention than with either of the Elvish langugaes. (dos) Khuzdul can also be seen written on the walls of the chamber of Mazarbul in a dwarvish mode of runes (Angerthas Moria). The Angerthas are also used to write English in the leaves seen of the Book of Mazarbul; these are based on Tolkien’s own designs. Some runes are also seen in the manuscript of Bilbo’s book. A tengwar mode is used on the pages of Saruman’s book.
