"How does one pronounce Tolkien?"

[Laurinquë]

Originally Posted by TheGreatElvenWarrior

Ever since I first read about Eru, I've always pronounced it "Oo-Roo". I do not know whether that's how it's really pronounced, but it seemed to work for me and Laurinque. On second thought, when I looked at the spelling again, I read it as "Eh-roo". Does anyone know how it's supposed to be pronounced

TheGreatElvenWarrior taught me everything I know about Tolkien; therefore I pronounce it Oo-Roo as well. What ever she said, I said.

However, my mother has completely different ideas on the pronunciation matter. She read LotR back in the '60s (and cannot recall it all that well) and pronounces Saruman as Sir-ah-nam, like the country, and Sauron as Sar-Ron among other things. I don't know where she came up with these but personally I find this rather charming; it's just creative pronunciation and part of the fun of reading Tolkien. On the other hand, it would be most interesting to see if anyone has heard these pronounced this way before, my mother may not be as creative as I think!

But before I get too far I should mention that my open ideas about pronunciation most likely stem from my utter inability to understand the sound of a word without hearing it said. I have always had a hard time with that but it wasn't too apparent until I tried to start wrapping my tongue around The Fellowship of the Ring. I seem to remember that I was a great source of amusement to TGEW.