There's no way Tolkien was speaking English here

[@dryden0100]

"Let me say at once that owing to the casualties in the war and various other things, there were very few people to elect. It's a pity you couldn't be here in the springtime when that tree there wouldn't look sad, but it'd be covered with leaves, you see. It would look old but not sad. And these, with all the limes obviously, however old they are, they're a lovely green in spring. I suppose. I have actually, in some simple-minded form of longing, actually would like to. I should've liked to be be able to make contact with a tree and find out what it feels about things. "I first began to seriously invent languages about when I was 13 or 14. I've never stopped really."

[@purplefishy8164]

"with leaves, you see" sounded more like "with leaves n shiet"

[@nathangamble125]

" I should've liked to be be able to make contact with a tree and find out what it feels about things." So what I'm getting from this is that Tolkien wanted to f**k an ent?

[@muhammadHassan-kj1jy]

Ty for this😊

[@Xezlec]

How did you figure all that out? He's worse than Churchill! Did the Kaiser raid England and steal all its consonants or something?

[@mothiurNCL]

Guess who liked to make it 1k? yw

[@DougWIngate]

He is speaking perfect English. When Tolkien mutters something, it automatically becomes an official part of the Oxford Dictionary

[@miketackabery7521]

🤣

[@plebisMaximus]

I mean, he did teach English at Oxford. If anyone's the authority on what's Oxford English, it'd be him lol.

[@JoeMama410]

@@plebisMaximusHe also contributed to the Oxford English Dictionary.

[@manjensen1710]

The funny thing is that this happened a bit with Shakespeare, some of the words that he wrote in his works, officially became part of English.

[@mwvidz324]

This but unironically.

[@Guyledouche4106]

A writer is never wrong, nor does he mumble. He says precisely what he means to.

[@celebrim1]

You win the thread.

[@umurkaragoz]

I seer what yew don thar

[@nelsonbernardi1072]

Tolkien the grey

[@MasterArchfiend]

I mumble all the time. I just don’t do it in writing.

[@ocarinagirlandthestories648]

Me, an aspiring writer reading this: yeah, no pressure or anything 😅

[@DamianSzajnowski]

Having worked at a pub in the UK, I assure you, he is more understandable here than 90% of my clients; drunk or sober.

[@Foxikaze]

Are you Polish?

[@xannyboofer7029]

@@Foxikazewith a name like that, i’d be surprised if he wasn’t

[@deeznuts23yearsago]

Have you heard Devonshire farmers? Those guys you couldn’t understand even living here your whole life I still struggle sometimes but when they’re drunk they aren’t speaking human

[@sasukesarutobi3862]

"Of course, I was very, very drunk at the time."

[@jhsevs]

«Clients» 💀

[@calebgilbreath6116]

He sounds like the sweetest jolly old man ever. I could listen to him talk for hours.

[@MetalheadBen89]

Yes and listen to him talk about trees. His appreciation for trees is so charming. What a marvelous person

[@xexyz0xexyl]

@@MetalheadBen89 He did some drawings of trees if you didn't know. Did you know that when Treebeard was first discovered (he had ceased to 'invent' things - or often enough he just learnt about them and with Treebeard he was just as surprised as the rest of us) he was a Stone Giant? Treebeard was in league with the Enemy and it was the first version of Gandalf's delay! (There were other reasons before it became being prisoner at Orthanc.) The first Hobbit that encountered Treebeard was Frodo (though in the beginning Frodo was a different Hobbit). And Ent comes from eoten: OE for giant. This caused having to rename a place due to a similar name (perhaps you know what I refer to but if not sorry - I must leave now). This info btw is in The Return of the Shadow (one of the possible names that Tolkien decided against), HoMe VI (History of Middle-earth, VI, the first part of the history of The Lord of the Rings.) But yes he loved trees very much. And they're so wonderful.

[@lookfat]

He sounds like Ozzy Osbourne

[@cranialfluids09]

-and not understand a single word. (There, finished your sentence for you) 😂

[@danmark2824]

@@lookfat because Ozzy and JRRT are all from birmingham, as someone from birmingham and reguarly drives past his old house on wake green road, the accent can be hard to understand especially in the older videos when the accent was a lot thicker

[@tonywhitburn]

Perchance

[@lordhelmchen3154]

But for a true language exam you have to sample that through a recording of an airport terminal or a subway station and make sure the background noises are five times as loud as the dialogue. Oh and also play the whole thing through a barely functioning speaker from the 1900s and then rerecord that so that the quality is the lowest you will ever hear in your whole life.

[@tylersaurusakro]

​@@lordhelmchen3154 and after all that stand 30 feet from the speaker, Gavin away from it, while you must read something other than what you're supposed to be listening to

[@connoisseurdumbass1863]

And adele 😭

[@godofgamingnos]

Ever been to Glasgow? Or Belfast?

[@hisss]

*He.

[@DSprich]

I worked at a pharmacy before and got to read doctors' handwriting, but this is the first time I've heard it.

[@triggeredbyeverything2580]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@John-ns9oy]

Best coment !

[@grandmasgopnik9642]

I was like I understand him regardless of the different accent. I don’t know why. Now I understand 😂 we’ve had to

[@erilaz7]

Speaking of handwriting, Tolkien's ranged from gorgeous calligraphy to impenetrable chicken scratch. When the ideas were coming fast and furious, his handwriting sometimes became so bad that even he couldn't completely decipher it later.

[@gerardtimings5625]

lol

[@coolhandluke212]

Tolkien was known to be difficult to understand even among his friends. Biographies of him mention that this was likely a reason his lectures were not well attended. Also, it is the reason why his son Christopher, when he was old enough, would attend meetings of the Inklings so that he could read excerpts of the Lord of the Rings to the group. He was much easier for them all to understand.

[@Jim-Mc]

His recorded excerpts of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings which can be found on KZbin are beautiful though. Maybe it was possible in short bursts.

[@saber2802]

I partly wonder if it's a scar from the war

[@TheNapster153]

@@saber2802 I'm fairly certain a lot of people had thick accents back then. I had grandparents too who spoke in thick dialect and had peculiar wordings that I could only nod and smile. We as a species are more interconnected than ever before, so the need for clear communication has pushed us to further refine our speech.

[@intjdragon8227]

When you've become such a connoisseur of Old English that you forget how to speak regular modern English.

[@SCARRIOR]

Define modern English? English changes every few decades. Unfortunately we have generations that would suffice 'bruh' 'bro' for brother etc.

[@hoarder1919]

@@SCARRIOR there's no such thing as "unfortunately" when it comes to language. As you said yourself, "English changes". Changes constantly, and there is nothing good or bad about that. "bruh" is just a part of that change, just like "you" instead of "thou" was a part of some older change.

[@lukeboyd3226]

​@@SCARRIOR Modern English is the form of English that emerged roughly around 1500 and can be pretty well understood by people today. There have been times of rapid change while the last two hundred years of standard English have been pretty still.

[@Wveth]

Modern English started 600 years ago, dude. If you think THIS is hard to understand, look up what actual Middle English and Old English sounded like. They're so different they sound like an entirely different language.

[@spencerfrankclayton4348]

Forget how to speak modern English?? No, it's just how quickly or mumbling he does it; he otherwise has perfect speech. He'd be appalled at how much language has regressed today.

[@paulpenfold867]

"Let me say at once, that errr... due to the casualties in the war and various other things there were very few people to elect [to the professorial chair]" - "It's a pity you couldn't be here in the springtime then that tree there wouldn't look sad, it'd be covered with leaves you see, it'd look old but not sad, and these errr [cut-off mid-sentence]" - "In 1972, however old they are, they're a lovely green in the spring" - "I s'pose... I have actually in some simple-minded form of longing, actually would like to... I should've liked to make contact with a tree and find out what it feels about things!" - "I first began seriously to invent languages... about when I was 13 or 14, I've never stopped really". Tolkien was renowned for mumbling lol.

[@arturomorales966]

Owing to , not due to

[@paulpenfold867]

@@arturomorales966 well spotted.

[@arturomorales966]

@@paulpenfold867 it’s cool, man. It’s kinda fun. I think old Irish people from the country are a tougher nut to crack.

[@eliotreader8220]

because my mind is different from my brother's I some times have trouble getting my words out

[@MrAgamble]

His writing, too, was sometimes illegible.

[@prot07ype87]

This man's word choice and his way of speaking are very eloquent. He should write a book.

[@arrow2knee385]

He did. It's called the silmarillion

[@samdobie6748]

​@@arrow2knee385He is clearly joking...

[@IncensedAgitator]

Sadly he is dead

[@Wockes]

@@IncensedAgitator Sadly, no books to be written when you're dead

[@Featherfinder]

@@Lich___ Giving you a thumbs up, Lich! Good one!

[@SnakeWasRight]

It seems incredible that this man is captured on film, he seems like a primordial legend to me, from a time before technology.

[@scottanderson2458]

Came across a lovely old gentleman in emergency work a few years back. A 999 call which was coded as a stroke and that patient is stuck somewhere. On arriving at scene it soon became apparent that this posh speech pattern had been misinterpreted as stroke symptoms and that he was simply caught up in his own clothing and too weak to remove the offending jumper, hence " I'm stuck ". He'd correctly used his community alarm to ask for assistance but this is Perthshire in Scotland and that way of speaking is quite rare. A replicated call some weeks later had me radio our control to tell them he's not having a stroke he just speaks like Rex Harrison. He was again caught in cardie 😅

[@madwhitehare3635]

Scott…..great story! 🤭

[@vlnow]

More needs to be done to protect our old folk from cardigans. Thank you for your service.

[@hamishanderson6738]

Woolly thinking. 🧥

[@alastairdouglas6302]

Sitting reading this in Perthshire Scotland 😂

[@warriorofthewest3340]

So 999 is the emergency number in the UK? I'll have to remember that next time I go back, just in case. (Obviously I'm an American of British descent)

[@Dave-ks9fi]

That's how most old people talked when I was a kid, he's perfectly understandable.

[@arturomorales966]

I think you nailed it. Kissing ass aside (as most people in the comments are), he was mumbling a bit and I think that other old folks do the same where I live (and in Spanish!). Perhaps he was tired, perhaps he wasn’t used to speaking in front of a camera 🤷🏽‍♂️

[@lukea136]

Dat ain't how dey speak now though innit...

[@DeclanMBrennan]

And now we are old as well. Mumble mutter, where's the butter?

[@boxlessone1046]

@@DeclanMBrennan *in a voice filled with childish malice*: “it’s up ya arse, old man!” The leader of the gang of bike-riding children proclaims. As they peddle away, the sound of snickering laughter carries down to you, upon the wind.

[@DeclanMBrennan]

@@boxlessone1046 🤣 Who is next to add to this story chain? I can't wait to see what happens next.

[@psychonaut689]

"... but I'm afraid I was very, very drunk."

[@Fricasso79]

Came for the Rowley Birkin QC reference, was not disappointed.

[@MrAnwer96]

it s some form of elvish

[@andylikesstuffchannel]

😂😂😂 Awesome 💯💯👍 fast show

[@anteaterattack]

CAIRO!

[@MrGoldenV]

@@anteaterattack and I cracked my head very sharply

[@chronikhiles]

His speech is fluent, his choice of pauses is just very unusual.

[@DrihunGaming]

i'ts not the pauses, it's the mumbling

[@Doctor_Smith]

it’s not the mumbling, it’s the bumbling.

[@Mightybigfart]

It's not the bumbling, it's the humbling.

[@noiseisgold3n42]

its not the bumbling, its the fumbling

[@Mightybigfart]

it's not the bumbling, its the humbling

[@vytas5584]

I’m Australian and I can understand him fine. He just speaks in fragments because his mind moves faster than his words.

[@blazednlovinit]

@@NoName-fv5oo Strange thing to declare about someone you know nothing about.

[@WholesomeMemes]

​@@blazednlovinit Nonsense. He's European now. No name said so; The arbiter of reality.

[@IlIBonesIlI]

@@NoName-fv5oo see, it's funny how Australians get told they're not really Australians, but as an American who's lineage is entirely British, I'll never be welcome in, or seen as a member of Britain. Source: lived in the UK 28 years, still treated like an n'wah and a s'wit, asked when I'm going back home all the time by perfect strangers.

[@Dushmann_]

​@@blazednlovinit Australians are descendents of British settlers and therefore European. Australians are literally just tanned British people. European is a race. It doesn't matter what continent you're born in, you're still a European if you're white. Likewise, a black man born in Europe is not a European, he is an African living in Europe. That's what he was trying to say.

[@blazednlovinit]

@@Dushmann_ When Australia was formed it was Brits and aboriginals, so that's two ethnicities there, and then afterwards many people will have emigrated there, it's rather close to the far east so I imagine a bunch of immigration comes from Eastern and Southern Asia.

[@thefairhairedboywiththered2951]

He sounds fine. He just sounds like a very intelligent man sometimes struggling to articulate his thoughts in a clear way.

[@spencerallison3196]

He is British, and the accent isn't helping.

[@Alfred5555]

@@spencerallison3196 Specifically English, if we had a Welsh or Scottish accent on top of that scholars ramble we'd have no chance.

[@plebisMaximus]

@@Alfred5555 We should all be thankful Tolkien wasn't a proper highland Scot, we would've never gotten anything out of his interviews.

[@AroAceGamer]

Same. My autism makes it very hard to articulate.

[@ukoronje]

As a non native speaker, to me it sounds like complete gibberish.

[@alpacaofthemountain8760]

It’s hard to not mix up languages when you make new ones every year

[@Ana_crusis]

He's speaking English perfectly clearly in the main it may be difficult for Americans and others to understand perhaps as they are not tuned into it. he's got an RP oxford-educated accent. Slightly old school nowadays, a bit mumbly but perfectly intelligible

[@mrkilowatt1811]

​@@Ana_crusis it was ironic man

[@Ana_crusis]

@@mrkilowatt1811 what was?

[@CarbonDioxide.]

@@Ana_crusis Tolkien created new languages for his books. That's the joke.

[@glenhoddle9]

@@Ana_crusis He´s not speaking perfectly clearly though! Some of these posh people look down their noses at others such as the working classes re their speech and other habits - OK, they´ve got a point - but at times their speech is also very unclear!!

[@lizziewicked]

He’s definitely speaking English. It’s just British English. I understand every word

[@Qwerty-g1b2o]

​@@labakanurzidil2464ironically I didn't understand a single word of this comment

[@SilvanaSerra-lt3yc]

yeah shitty language and worst version of English, thank god the English spoken in the world is based on the American one

[@HansWurst1569]

I’m Dutch and I also understood every word. The person who made the video is probably a uncultured american 😂

[@101steel4]

Not British English, just English 😉

[@Qwerty-g1b2o]

For people in the future, the person I was replying to in that first comment deleted it. It was an incoherent mess filled with random nouns commas and ellipses, idk what he was even waffling about, he managed to mention Joe biden and n*zis somehow too 😂 Just thought I should save that moment

[@foxygramp_1973]

being british gives you the power to understand even the most convoluted of english dialects

[@gunkulator1]

Of which there are dozens. How does such a relatively small landmass give rise to so many and so varied modes of speaking English?

[@vorynrosethorn903]

Centuries of settled living.

[@wyverncoch4430]

@@gunkulator1 Try hundreds. I could pick out more than a dozen within 50 miles of where i live

[@tonyg2554]

Except Geordie.

[@livedandletdie]

I'm not British and Tolkien is not hard at all to understand, a bit mumbly perhaps, but that's old age for you.

[@chezzyboy]

0:01 “Let my say it once, but uhh, dwosidkdmrmtnfndjsjemrrn” very inspirational

[@mlavik1]

Wouldn't mind if he said that twice actually.

[@KlaraL-_-]

Loved what he said about trees. If you´ve ever read Tolkien, you know that nature (and especially trees) has an important part in his works. ❤🌳 Love you Tolkien, you´ve given me the best fictional world ever.

[@jeremyfrost2636]

He was an environmentalist before it was cool.

[@pierreo33]

@@jeremyfrost2636 People aren't environmentalists because it's cool, Jeremy.

[@a_loyal_kiwi88]

@@pierreo33 If you truly believe that, then you have a very optimistic view on the ideological adoption behaviors of the modern person. Were it the popular belief to fell trees and set aflame forest worldwide, the Earth would be nothing but a ball of smoke and ash by years end.

[@tyrannosaur_rex]

So... Bob Ross counterpart, but through words?

[@enriquetaborda8521]

Thus were born the Ents ❤

[@Dnichols619]

As an American, this sounds like British Boomhauer

[@linkfan160]

It's hard to believe that there was an entire fantasy world living in this man's head at one time. How lucky are we that he chose to share it with us all.

[@xexyz0xexyl]

Ah but was it 'at one time'? It changed over time, some things more than others. You'd find this if you read HoMe (History of Middle-earth), the Letters and Unfinished Tales or UT (amongst others). Not for those who aren't heavily into Tolkien though.

[@ScienceDiscoverer]

It wasn't all at one time. Maybe general flow of events, but not EVERYTHING that is in the books.

[@Icetea-2000]

How is that hard to believe?

[@labakanurzidil2464]

maybe not only in his head, if naZi$$m was only in heads of anglo$$axons (Mordor), others wouldnt let them to rule the world on costs of others, right?

[@Icetea-2000]

@@labakanurzidil2464 ????????????????????????????????????????????

[@ltsch1671]

His flow of speech is unusual to many ears, like a stuttering car engine or a scratched CD. He reminds me of Winston Churchill or William Shatner. He stops or emphasizes where you don't normally, and then pick up the pace again, speaking quickly, almost swallowing words like French, then pausing again very briefly and so on. This way of speaking is rare and peculiar. I guess that's why it's not that easy for everyone to understand everything the first time.

[@EntirelyPointlessContent]

It's quite a common speech pattern in England for the older generations. He's just going a little faster than normal. The queen sounds like this except more calculated and so more intelligible

[@grandmasgopnik9642]

I used to listen to recordings of old radio shows, interviews and readings from Englishmen of an older generation so it doesn’t feel that odd. It’s like they just repeat until they get back unto what they meant. Southern Americans just have a different way about it.

[@francisdec1615]

English is my second language, and I understand 100%, although I DO think that he's mumbling when talking.

[@andrewg.carvill4596]

I don't think it was rare or peculiar in Oxford University in the 1960's.

[@AllMyWakingHours]

This is the Oxbridge affectation from the 1950s to maybe the 70s. It’s a quick, stuttering form of speech that British intellectuals (or those who aspired to that status) put on to give the impression that everything they say is just pure, uncalculated intelligence. Basically they are so smart that their words can’t keep up.

[@timopper5488]

I think that with the volume normalized for the times when he speaks a bit under his breath, he would be understood 100% clearly.

[@kentknightofcaelin4537]

For me as a non-native speaker, it was kinda difficult to understand him because his volume and tempo of speech fluctuates so much. His pronunciation is fine.

[@timopper5488]

@@kentknightofcaelin4537 Yes, volume and tempo, I agree.

[@rosemarymcbride3419]

He did after all grow up in an era with significantly less ambient industrial noise compared to more recently and as such many people didn't have the need to project.

[@OrangeCat1992]

I agree. I think the only issues I had were volume, not accent. I understood him perfectly except for a couple of words sprinkled here and there.

[@nicholass5621]

sounds more coherent than the US president

[@ramonfry9673]

He's speaking the same language as Winston Churchill.

[@Mr.deacle]

*Same conlang. Some form of elvish I think, I can't understand it.

[@punbug4721]

r/technicallythetruth

[@Somnogenesis]

@engery213 He mentions (well, mumbles) something about 1972 in the video. If it had been made in 1950ish Tolkien would've looked a lot younger and it wouldn't be in colour!

[@101steel4]

Yes, English.

[@sturlamolden]

RP

[@joelogjam9163]

"Didn't feel a thing, because I was VERY, VERY drunk."

[@eleveneleven572]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hIHMeH14fbuUmqM

[@chrisshing8697]

THIS was the comment I was looking for 😂😂😂

[@ChemoTherapy87]

CAIRO!

[@d2vmusic]

"Lorry load of interesting cheeses".

[@JasonAllenSomerset]

"The whole thing was made entirely out of rubber..."

[@EatSleepEmpire]

A Tolkien never mumbles. He says precisely what he means to.

[@marendur]

I see you're a man of culture as well 😌

[@kotarojujo2737]

its also funny becuse this quote actually Peter Jackson's invention

[@alexanderSydneyOz]

Personally, to my ear, he was a serious mumbler.

[@LPJack02]

RIP J. R. R. Tolkien (January 3, 1892 - September 2, 1973), aged 81 You will be remembered as a legend.

[@Tasorius]

Currently 132 years old and still writing, wherever he is.

[@RobinTheMetaGod]

He is overly praised.

[@Tasorius]

@@RobinTheMetaGod He certainly is not. He deserves all the praise he gets.

[@RobinTheMetaGod]

@@Tasorius He is (or was) a religious person.

[@KA2HRO]

He ate cilantro every day and if he was still alive and living in the US, he would be getting his cilantro from Travis Heinze, the daily roamer.

[@OraProNobis97]

Yes, but keep in mind, this man knew more about the English language than anybody in the comments.

[@beastybacon199]

Not true I know all 24 letters of the alphabet

[@lambentlamprey]

@@beastybacon199 Wait, how do you count more than 20. My shoea are off and everything

[@arandomcommenter412]

Not true, I know English is like America and stuff

[@graham3673]

Can you put them together as brilliantly as Tolkein?@@beastybacon199

[@stettan1]

And still more about a shitload of other languages

[@Heartogold42]

What you meant to say is: "I'm not English enough to understand an Englishman speaking English."

[@iiiiiiiiiiiiii7192]

"covered with leaves and shit"

[@raantas946]

When you create so many languages that you forget which one to use

[@dabalma]

if Tolkien says a word that it's not in the Oxford Dictionary, it means that the Oxford Dictionary is not complete

[@jeremykraenzlein5975]

But I thought that he wrote the Oxford Dictionary. Shouldn't he have done something about that?

[@HO-bndk]

No, I think you must mean Shakespeare.

[@Digital111]

"Ash nazg durbatulûk, The casualties of the war, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi, a lovely green in spring krimpatul..." - Tolkien

[@neilwyatt3375]

This makes absolutely no sense - either to Tolkien or anyone well versed in either his works or in Old English, English or even Gibberish. Wtf were you smoking, and where in the name of the Edain can I get some?!

[@ulfdanielsen6009]

Judging by all the tulûk and tuls as well as the burzum something Turkish i presume....

[@dustingh]

@@ulfdanielsen6009 it's the inscription on The One Ring 💀

[@Nebuloid1]

"Krimpatul" is now my new favourite word.

[@HooDatDonDar]

But you have to remember, I was very very drunk. I love rowley birkin, QC

[@jackflannigan5749]

That's how to create the Elvish language. They made younglings listen to him speak and made them write what they heard.

[@midnightblue3285]

I don't think he created any new langauge, the langauge is allready existed, he was studied the ancient english and all the europe folklore and he is created a langage what was existed before too..

[@moritamikamikara3879]

@@midnightblue3285 Yeah uhhhh... No.

[@midnightblue3285]

@@moritamikamikara3879 He is a freemason

[@rad4924]

This is what English is supposed to sound like. It's everyone else who is failing to speak the language properly.

[@crashbash8549]

There is no proper accent, they're all valid

[@shogun7422]

Me: "Wait--there are sounds, it's some form of gibberish, I can't understand it." My friend: "There are few who can. The language is that of Tolkien, which I will not utter here."

[@HooDatDonDar]

Deserves way more upvotes. But you got a host heart, anyway.

[@shogun7422]

@@HooDatDonDar Thanks!

[@Plasmastorm73_n5evv]

He was speaking perfectly clear English to me.

[@thrgd9607]

English is my second language and I understood everything he said.

[@antebbing6588]

Do a transcript then

[@pauloamaral6069]

Me too, you nincompoops!!!

[@judbaker5752]

Top ten cappers revealed

[@internetual7350]

Bruh it's my first and I'm straining.

[@b.k.5667]

It's also my second language and i didn't understand like probably 50% of what he said

[@joshrichards9121]

Sounds like my dear Grandad, God rest his soul.

[@robertpearson8798]

Got virtually every word.

[@EtherealEmperor]

Seems pretty coherent to me

[@wallacewilliams535]

new school of English-speakers.... if it's not immediately and perfectly intelligible, it's gibberish. MY opinion/accusation carries more weight than the credibility of those whom I accuse.

[@folk-comrade]

@@wallacewilliams535New school of English? Please. Even in Tolkien's time he would not have been considered a clear speaker. The irony is that you are pulling Ben Shapiro arguments for the purposes of defending a man who does not need you defending him because you were offended by the mere notion that someone would find the excerpt above difficult to understand.

[@wallacewilliams535]

@@folk-comrade ach, zo! ze furor raises it's grammar not-see head. cherry-picked decontextualized phrases do not a consensus make. good to see you going for the ad hominem right away. tells me that you have no argument. how Neo-colonial of you to not only claim the privilege of speaking for those of "Tolkien's time", but to show your intolerant anti-semitism as a first line of attack, aaannnd "white knight" one of your fellow Maoists. your staff is broken.

[@RuthvenMurgatroyd]

@@folk-comrade Ben Shapiro arguments?

[@hell1942]

​​@@RuthvenMurgatroyd yeah he just revealed that he watches Ben shapiro, since he would have to in order to know whatever that is,,,,, That's like an instant L right there

[@Nagoalc]

This man will never stop being an inspiration for me. Such, wisdom, with the experience to back it up. And, the ability to dream, in spite of it all. Rest in peace with your son and wife, professor. You earned it.

[@tavps]

he was a racist, a racist is an inspiration for you?

[@khakikohii]

​@@tavpsoh dear he we go again

[@susanrussell1422]

@@tavpshow was he racist?

[@tavps]

@@susanrussell1422 he hated black people and created the orcs based on them

[@NicholasHEADSHOT]

​@@susanrussell1422he liked to go very fast

[@Tribrachidiumheraldicum]

L video. He's just old and kind of mumbling, you can still understand 100% of what he's saying.

[@Showastatism4life]

God bless Tolkien, such a lovely man, truly the greatest fiction writer in history

[@frankgillet2752]

I once sat next to an old man on an airplane and he spoke exactly like this. He was such a sweet gentleman and was telling me about his son but I really struggled to understand what he was saying. The worst part is that I would answer and he'd look at me like I was crazy (because I probably didn't answer what he was actually asking me), which is really funny to me because he must have thought that I was the one that was making communication difficult. I think about him often, he probably thought I didn't' speak English very well, haha.

[@Moamanly]

He probably just thought you were American!😁

[@Urdatorn]

😂

[@NancyRode-u9i]

🪞

[@greatbriton8425]

You picked up his spirit, that is why you remember him. Our speech is infused with our spirit, and the rare heart which is purified is a pleasure to listen to and striking to the heart because it speaks of heaven.

[@kronk9418]

@@MoamanlyRent free.

[@Elongated_Muskrat]

He’s trying to cast a spell but forgot the words to it.

[@Parthuran]

This is the first time I've ever heard his voice and its exactly how I thought it would sound. Similar to what I thought Bilbo's would sound like too

[@marcinbednarski1207]

this is what english would sound to you if you didnt know it

[@professorakiba434]

Hard to believe that Ian McKellan developed his version of Gandalf from these videos of Tolkien. He wished to bring Tolkien to life as Gandalf and mimicked his speech patterns perfectly. Watching this archival footage, I can see Gandalf as I watch Tolkien speak. Wow!

[@Mithreniel]

Wow I didn't know that, that's cool.

[@guileniam]

They sound nothing alike

[@BitTheShed]

I've seen tons of behind the scenes, making of videos, cast interviews, etc., and I've never, ever heard that, and I don't believe it's true. You have a source or did you just make that up?

[@Masterofchodes]

​@@BitTheShed Source: Lol trust me bro

[@Powerhaus88]

That's not true.

[@bremCZ]

...I was very very drunk.

[@TAURON85]

I mean, I'm a Hungarian who lives in the UK for 10+ years now and can perfectly understand 98% of what he said. 😀

[@eeeh9693]

I got it all and I’ve never met an Englishman

[@TAURON85]

@@eeeh9693 Lol Ok, then you're lying. 😀

[@erynn9968]

After 10+ years you start your sentence with ‘I mean’ without a prior question XD

[@SenterSen]

​@@TAURON85 Well you seem like a big jerk

[@JustCoNa]

@@erynn9968 I mean, as a native I do that all the time

[@m1bl4n]

My primary language isn't even English and I perfectly understand what he's saying.

[@JJ-1866]

You can really see how Tolkien was inspired both by nature and of historical events when writing, just from the way he casually describes the trees here.

[@koneko-2562]

He is actually speaking normal sentences, it’s actually quite similar to a dialect you may hear in the Cotswolds and other rural areas. Generally in the older generations, if you want proof slow the play speed and turn the sound up.

[@rob.parsnips]

Where is Cotswolds in relation to Gondor?

[@Zuurkool1]

I did, and he skips words and talks gibberish here and there. I did flully understand him, but let's not act like he isn't speaking weirdly and just dropping words randomly.

[@mfaizsyahmi]

I wish there's the play speed button IRL just as I wish there's subtitles in Japan.

[@enurky297]

​@@Zuurkool1 yeah people are just trying to seem smart in the comments which makes them look stupid ironically enough. Tbh in my experience, regardless of the language, sometimes old people just talk like this.

[@CaptainButtonMasher]

I can't help but expect him to pause and then say "But you see I'm afraid I was very, very drunk!".

[@HeeBeeGeeBee392]

He might have just been to The Eagle and Child (the preferred meeting place of The Inklings until 1962), The Lamb & Flag, or perhaps even The Mitre.

[@pmac5934]

He he he

[@archiemustachie3693]

I can understand him perfectly

[@vilentman111]

So bizarre that this man came up with every single little bit of detail that we know about middle earth, and he has that stored all in his head. Quite amazing what one human's brain is capable of

[@michi9955]

@aya-lq9on lol

[@samwallaceart288]

I like how his son looked at all his individual maps and doodles and took the liberty of combining it into the Middle-Earth world-map we all know now, and the old man was like "I had never thought of that" and stated using it himself

[@Somnogenesis]

There's one astoundingly apt reviewer's quote, reproduced I think on the covers of some editions of the books - specifically _The Silmarillion_ I believe - that perfectly sums this up. It goes something along these lines: "How did one man, given little over half a century, become the creative equivalent of a people?"

[@Somnogenesis]

@@samwallaceart288 Is that so, that Christopher (I presume) essentially spot-welded the familiar Middle-earth map together from bits JRR had only got separately until then? That's amazing if true!

[@HO-bndk]

Because he plagiarized it all from, Norse, Anglo-Saxon and Germanic mythology.

[@IlIBonesIlI]

I like to think this is exactly how conversations with Gandalf go sometimes. He'd be mid sentence, then pause, have a millenia old flashback, then resume on a new subject entirely, leaving the listener mildly exasperated

[@MitchellMeyer702]

“You went too deep, professor Tweed Pants. We don’t need the backstory on every fucking tree branch.”

[@MaxMusterman-wo9nu]

Directed by Christopher Nolan

[@redneckhippy2020]

Reminds me of my grandmother, who spoke seven languages. It was quite entertaining to listen to hear speak to one of her sisters on the phone. One paragraph of speech could have words or sentences from half a dozen languages.

[@L_back]

We should always speak it

[@pickledegg1989]

"I'm afraid, I was very... Very drunk."

[@SolidGoldCEO]

"There's no way Tolkien was speaking English here" Tolkien: proceeds to speak English.

[@Kain128]

Literally. I'm not even British and I can understand what he's saying.

[@jasonwaterfalls9]

"I freely admit...I was very, very drunk at the time."

[@chrisharding8770]

A rather fetching moustache!

[@HadoukenPotato]

i was just about to type this 😂

[@jarno.rajala]

Being so uncannily similar to the Fast Show sketch, one is inclined to believe this BBC programme to be their inspiration.

[@legion999]

How dare you

[@adam908]

Let me say at once that, er, owing to the casualties in the War and various other things, there were very few people to elect. / It's a pity you couldn't be here in the springtime when that tree there wouldn't look sad. It'd be covered with leaves, you see, it'd look old, um, but not sad. And these, with all the limes, obviously, however old they are, they're a lovely green in the, in spring. I suppose I have actually, in some simple-minded form of longing, actually would like to, I should've liked to be able to make contact with a tree and find out what it feels about things. / I first began seriously to invent languages about, um, when I was thirteen or fourteen. I've never stopped, really.

[@viviananas]

shame on you

[@fizwizzle1989]

I actually think it was a very fast “I should have liked to have been able to make contact…”

[@bringtheideas460]

00:17 "f-ing spring"

[@Franzzz_E]

This is what English sounds to people who dont speak English

[@OlMrEllis]

He speaking some form of old Tolkeinish I think

[@toast99bubbles]

He's definitely speaking English. I understand every word he said.

[@zaidlacksalastname4905]

I love Tolkien. My man made his best friend a talking tree (CS Lewis is Fangorn) as a show of appreciation and respect. Glad his legacy lives on.

[@gabrielesolletico6542]

What, really? CS Lewis is Fangorn/Treebeard?

[@neilwyatt3375]

Somebody has been smoking Old Toby a little too intensively.

[@zaidlacksalastname4905]

finest weed in the southfarthing@@neilwyatt3375

[@jzero4813]

If you can't understand this then it is more likely that it is YOU who does not understand English.

[@AdventuresinaMorris]

Just a typical example of the brain working faster than the tongue.

[@Ana_crusis]

Not at all

[@Ghost-gr2ym]

At least that's my excuse

[@Ghostly-00]

I would have loved to hear him and Ozzy Osbourne have a conversation lol

[@tomboz777]

Well, there from the same place lol.

[@phililpb]

@Том bloody yanks

[@JohannRosario1]

*My British-English wife once said to me (an American) "it is YOU who has the accent, not me, because the language is called ENGLISH".*

[@gigglehurtz3167]

i hope you slapped her

[@phutureproof]

British English? what?

[@Klausmaus5869]

I’m from America and I understand him fine. He does seem to swallow words here and there, but he actually speaks very eloquently.

[@almostatami]

He has one of those voices where I can catch what he said after a sentence instead of word by word.

[@Bebe-rn2fh]

His writing flies you to a new wonderful magical land. His speaking on the other hand flies you straight off a bridge.

[@joebob8713]

A lovely green

[@wmorris189]

Only if you’re an idiot or American. Or both.

[@chrislyne377]

"But then I was very, very drunk"

[@Milo_1368]

Understood him fine

[@ragingpagan8847]

Needless to say I was Very VERY….Drunk 😂

[@EnDungeoned]

Yea, hearing him speak always reminds me of that Fast Show sketch 😂

[@phily8093]

I was looking for this comment. Glad it's not just me. I had to think for a while who it reminded me of, and then a Paul Whitehouse character sprang to mind. The plummy tones, the laughing at nothing, the mumbling. It's uncanny!

[@_M_O_E_]

I was once asked by an American friend what language i was speaking (to an English friend), my response was "English"

[@CoolGobyFish]

well, you Brits have a very strange English)

[@Grizzlox]

You can really hear how Sir Ian McKellan took inspiration from Tolkien's voice for Gandalf

[@nunyanunya4147]

"The English. they invented the bloody damn language. would be nice if they spoke it now and then?'

[@BlackSalamander439]

This is what English sounds like to non-English speakers

[@magalivega8790]

"El listening va a estar fácil" El listening:

[@mikelpelaez-ei7bc]

mejor comentario

[@HasufelyArod]

Totally

[@arglebargle42]

There's a certain cadence that comes from years of lecturing and the bountiful vocabulary of a joyful writer. If you listen his emphasis is deliberate to make it understandable to the listener and allow the artist's flourish to exist without losing the interest of the less engaged.

[@jacobbaumgardner3406]

Someone please make an AI recreation of his voice and make him read LOTR and The Hobbit.

[@greyngreyer5]

You think he was a talented writer because of the language he used but it turns out... that was the way he spoke as well. Hilarious

[@chrisw6164]

Never thought I’d see Professor Tolkien speaking Old Entish on KZbin.

[@bokehintheussr5033]

He's like the "very drunk" character from the Fast Show

[@Haze1434]

"... but, of course, I was very, very drunk."

[@youtoobfarmer]

...I didn't hear any of it of course, I'm afraid, I was very, VERY drunk.

[@sasalele87]

Rowley Birkin Q.C.

[@SirEnVo]

Maybe this is just an outside of the UK thing because I pretty much understood 90% of that and could fill in the slightly more mumbled parts. Lots of older folk speak similar to this (obviously not the accent more the quick muttered words) so I'm used to hearing this.

[@aylen7062]

I understood like half of it, perhaps more, enough to get the topic but miss a few details, and my native language is Spanish and I always lived in a Spanish speaking country. I would compare it to listening to an old man from a rural area in Spanish. I can understand some parts, but I struggle. Probably if I was used to listen to old men from the UK talk it would've been much easier, but sadly I'm only used to the people I watch on youtube.

[@Ghost-gr2ym]

It's just Americans being Americans, probably confused by the lack of 'so', 'like', 'taddally' and 'oh my caaat'.

[@lurategh]

@@Ghost-gr2ym That was weak.

[@captaincool3329]

I understood all of it and it sounds completely normal; this from an Australian young adult. It's probably a thing with Americans using a different English to the rest of us (the U.S. aren't in the Commonwealth and deliberately created a distinct U.S. Eng. upon independence, spearheaded with the creation of the Webster dictionary; officially Aus. Eng. only differs from U.K. Eng. in regard to the adoption of geographically confined slang)- even young I could generally understand even stereotypical "hard" accents like Scottish or Irish English, but even now, certain American English speakers on TV confuse me due to unfamiliar vernacular, stresses on different words (or different parts of them) from what I generally hear, shifted vowels, and other esoteric features. And that's without mentioning differing written conventions.

[@kevinprzy4539]

wrong, American English outside of 2-3 dialects in the UK is closest to the way original English was spoken, and Australian English being close to UK English? not even close they are completely different and commonwealth has nothing to do with it, Canada is more of a commonwealth member to the UK than Australia and their speech pattern is so different compared to Australia.@@captaincool3329

[@pentherapy]

I'm English and every word of this was perfectly legible to me, it's fascinating to think how this might be difficult to interpret for English-speakers from elsewhere

[@Mrgoofyoops]

He doesn’t talk like a cowboy, or an American movie actor, but I found his speech to be wonderful.

[@sirsancti5504]

I'm portuguese and I understood, too. The guy has a very eloquent way of using words.. He should write a book, or something.

[@Mandragara]

He speaks like he's trying to hold his breath.

[@Samp759]

@bradleybrown8428I could understand him fine. Can’t speak on behalf of all my countrymen but he talks in a way not too dissimilar to some people in my area (Maine)

[@AnHebrewChild]

I'm an American. West coast. No trouble understand this at all

[@rudoludo]

That's Paul Whitehouse

[@dutch_asocialite]

Having lived with someone who mumbles quite badly, this is actually quite legible.

[@mattmichaela]

Speech is not legible. Legible refers to the written word. You probably mean intelligible.

[@buttholesurfer1266]

coal

[@dutch_asocialite]

@@buttholesurfer1266 I prefer coke.

[@Galidorquest]

That's crazy...