Hello! I would like to read the LOTR books, but I'm Dutch. I am wondering if I should read the translation or the original. So my question is: are the english books very difficult to read? Would you recommend it to people who don't have English as their motherlanguage? English is my second language.

I get the feeling that you would be able to read them in English without too much trouble— maybe you’d have to look up a word or phrase occasionally, but it shouldn’t be too challenging? 

I’m gonna open this one up to the followers as well. Do we have anyone who has English as their second language but has read LOTR in English? How did you find it?

15 January 18 pindos

Notes

1. andregg said: I did! I’m also Dutch, I’m from Belgium and I have read them in Dutch and English. As you said, some sentences aren’t very clear but it’s certainly reasonable…
2. heatherly-hash said: English is my first language and I had to force myself through the books. I think it would be really hard to understand with his style of writing.
3. forumgamer said: Reading LOTR in English was ok, but I am rather good at reading English, better than in speaking it. I think most translations are quite alright, too, especially the older ones. The German translation is good, and was supervised by Tolkien himself.
4. commanderkrisp liked this
5. cloudsandstuff said: Read them in English :D
6. the-girl-from-prague said: i read it in english and it was fine. You usually find out quite easy what does some specific word mean. Specially if you know the movies.
7. kelseym liked this
8. latibulefizzgig liked this
9. ifthefutureisreal said: It kind of irritated me that, for example, also the names are translated (so Baggins is ‘Balings’ and Hobbiton becomes ‘Hobbitstee’. I get why they do that, but it’s just not the way that Tolkien intended it to be and sound.
10. sai-cotic said: If he/she can write English that well, LOTR shouldn’t be too tough. I’ve read it in German and French, and there is some lost in translation. Keep google nearby, just in case. XD
11. lifeisavapour said: Depending on how well you understand English, it can be hard to follow at times because Tolkien uses a lot of more old-fashioned English. It’s amazing though, and I recommend reading the English versions.
12. mediumtrip said: I read the books in English for the first time at age 13, after reading them in Finnish once or twice. I must have missed some nuances, but all in all I recall it wasn’t overwhelmingly difficult.
13. invinciblepasta said: Yeah I’ve read LOTR and The Hobbit in English and I’m Dutch too! It’s way easier than you might think :) It may be a bit hard in the beginning but with some practice I’m sure you’ll do fine.
14. quixoticandabsurd said: Personally, I think they’re really dense books for someone who doesn’t have a mastery of the English language. If you only consider yourself “mostly fluent” I wouldn’t attempt it. But if you’re fluent it’s fine. Most of my friends read them at age 13
15. moonshoestessa said: I’m Portuguese and a fluent English speaker and I think it depends on the book. I have “The Hobbit” in English and it’s easy to read. However, “The Silmarillion”, while readable, becomes tiring a bit easily. I don’t know about LotR though =/
16. bethbobby said: My friend from university is Swedish with english as her second language and she had no trouble with the books - a few words she didn’t get, but she loves them :) x
17. fuckyeahlordoftherings posted this