A Guide to Sindarin

Chapter #3: Tools

Translators

Translators are great, don't get me wrong, but they have their faults. When you need a word or two to communicate quickly, these are wonderful! Just don't use them for super-specific phrases or a large string of words. It won't work well, trust me. It's really impossible for the translator to know the entire language, so, therefore, you will get holes in your sentences if the translator doesn't have that specific word in its arsenal. The worst problem is that a lot of translators only do very direct translations, so if you plug "My friend" into the English side, you will get "Nîn mellon" which is wrong. In Sindarin, the possessive goes second, so "My friend" would be "Mellon nîn". Translators will usually have a difficult time contemplating this and lead you to think that "My friend" is "Nîn Mellon" and you will just sound stupid. {I did this when first learning the language} The only translator I can really recommend is Fun Translations' Elvish Translators. They work fine when you need a few words but, as I said before, don't work for sentences.

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Dictionaries

These are great for filling the gaps that translators leave, but it can be tedious to hunt down the word you need, as with all dictionaries. As tedious as it is, a good English-Sindarin dictionary can be a great tool that you will be very thankful for. The one I use most is Parf Edhellen. It is digital, so you don't have to search through a book to find the word you need, you can just type it in, and you've got the translation! In addition to the word you searched for, they give you similar words and the best part is: if you type a word that doesn't have a Sindarin counterpart {because some don't}, they give synonyms that do have translations! So, for example, if you type in "Uncle", Parf Edhellen will say something along the lines of "That word doesn't have a Sindarin counterpart, but you could use 'Gwanur' which is any male family member that isn't your father." {Okay, it doesn't say exactly that, but you get the idea}

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Courses

There are a few Sindarin courses out there, and most of them are free and easily accessible to the population. They come in all forms, but my favourites have to be the PDFs that you can download and study on your own time. The one I started using and fell in love with is the Sindarin course from Sindarin Lessons Weebly.

I don't know if this counts as a course, but I'm gonna include it anyway: I love Parf Edhellen's flashcards! When you visit the homepage on the site, there is a menu bar at the top that lists the contents of the site, (ex. Dictionary, forum, etc.) and on this menu bar, you will find "Flashcards". It has a lot of different terms, some more common, and then some that you may never have thought you needed.

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Rough Translations

Rough translations are going to be your best friend! Hear me out, as I said, some English words don't have direct Sindarin counterparts, so phrases will have a lot of words that are still in English. A few are okay because they are pronounced differently and sound nothing like they do in English. {Yes, I'm aware it may be cheating; but do I care? Of course not} I use rough translations in all of my stories that work with Sindarin. Hell, I even sign my letters with a rough translation! I use "eternallui nev eternallui an cin" which translates roughly to "always here, always yours" which is how I sign letters in English. {The direct translation is "Eternally near, eternally for you"} It's easy enough to figure out what substitute word to use, just look up synonyms of the word that doesn't translate, choose one, plug it into the translator or dictionary, and if it doesn't work choose another until you find one that does.