Talk:Translated names

From Tolkien Gateway

Number of Languages Tolkien has been translated into[edit source]

The number of 1198 is not the number of languages, but the number of translated titles. In some languages very many of Tolkien's works have been translated, and in some languages, one work has been entered more than once. The criterium for what constitutes a 'title' remain unclear, one-volume and three-volume editions of LotR are apparently regarded as separate titles, but also for e.g. Dutch, several different printings of e.g. LotR and Sprookjes (Small Tales) have been entered as separate titles, without apparent reason. For example, for LotR the printings that have been entered separately are not those that mark (major or minor) revisions of the text.

If you ask Index Translationum for a list of Tolkien's works sorted by target language, it lists 44 languages. But among them I miss 2 that I know Tolkien to have been translated in (although in one of the two, only one poem has so far been published). Thus the "at least". -- Mithrennaith 23:13, 3 June 2008 (EDT)

Interesting, thanks for the correction. I wonder what are the most popular languages which Tolkien has not been translated into. One of these days we'll have to see if we can find people to translate his works into those languages. Although, I suppose The Lord of the Rings in Klingon may not be the best use of our time... The Index Translationum is really interesting though, most of the top authors have produced far more separate works than Tolkien which explains their larger numbers. --Hyarion 00:51, 4 June 2008 (EDT)
Okay, my bad. I though the number was too big to be true... -- Ederchil 03:38, 4 June 2008 (EDT)
I have adjusted the number of languages from 44 to 45, as the linked search in Index Translationum now shows 45 languages. Chinese now shows up. The other one I was missing, Frisian, is still lacking, although in the meantime The Hobbit has been published in it. One can of course doubt whether "Serbian", "Croatian" and "Serbo-Croatian (to 1992)" should count as three separate languages, but against that there exist translations into two standards of Chinese, whereas only a general "Chinese" is shown. Also, I'm now missing more languages, as I know of at least translations into Belarussian and Thai. -- Mithrennaith 01:03, 18 November 2009 (UTC)Reply[reply]
As with all things concerning the Balkans, the question of languages is a complicated one. But based on the the Wikipedia article on it, I wouldn't count Serbo-Croatian as a seperate language as it was a umbrella term for both Serbian and Croatian fabricated out of political motives. ~ Earendilyon 21:37, 18 November 2009 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Well, I thought as much, thanks for confirming. But I think we can leave the number, considering Serbo-Croatian cancels out against the two Chinese standards and the fact further languages are missing. -- Mithrennaith 01:59, 20 November 2009 (UTC)Reply[reply]