Writing using Tengwar characters

[Earniel]

I'm certainly going to try tengwar, RÃ*an. It's indeed a very pretty alfabet. I'm from the Flemish part of Belgium though, so French isn't my mothertongue. But it's supposed to be my second language, so I can read and speak it reasonably well (although my English is better ) Living in a country with Dutch, French and German as official country languages has it advantages as you get keyboards with the accents needed in all three languages. And we have visa around here.

I haven't posted in the Athrabeth thread because I haven't read Morgoth's Ring yet and can't really participate. I also try to avoid making meaningless posts. But I still follow it and if I have something more or less sensible to add, I will.

[Sminty_Smeagol]

I'm hopefully going to have a total of 9 characters learnt by the end of today. I'm trying to do 3 a day...


-~*Smintz*~-

PS- it's going pretty well except I always find myself getting "r" and "n" mixed up.

[Rían]

Originally posted by Sminty_Smeagol
PS- it's going pretty well except I always find myself getting "r" and "n" mixed up.

I just use the "y"-looking character (#25) for "r" (like in my avatar) because I think it's prettier and there's so many of the other type that I like to use the different looking letters, too. (The first 24 are all of the bow/stem type, with various open/closed bows and short/long, up/down stems.) My favorite letter to draw is the "L" (#27). I make it nice and swoop-y.

[Rían]

Originally posted by Eärniel
I'm certainly going to try tengwar, RÃ*an. It's indeed a very pretty alfabet. I'm from the Flemish part of Belgium though, so French isn't my mothertongue. But it's supposed to be my second language, so I can read and speak it reasonably well (although my English is better ) ... And we have visa around here.

Good! I hope you like it. I know there is a German mode for Tengwar out there, too, if that is helpful. Keep us posted on your progress.
I thought you probably had visa, but wasn't sure. They're going to take over the world!!! OH NO!!

I haven't posted in the Athrabeth thread because I haven't read Morgoth's Ring yet and can't really participate. I also try to avoid making meaningless posts. But I still follow it and if I have something more or less sensible to add, I will.

Hope you can get a copy soon. The whole book is good, not just the Athrabeth part (though that part is my favorite!)

[katya]

Originally posted by RÃ*an


katya - do you use the s-curl at the end of a word to show plurals? I do - I think it looks better than just the "S" tengwa, and I usually write it with a big flourish to make it look pretty.

actually i am not really sure what the s curl is. i will find out though. i have been using the s tengwa bu ti thought it could use a change. (really, today i was thinking that and was on the verge of making up my own s)

Originally posted by RÃ*an


Katya, is that how you do X and Q? Sminty, how goes it?

i make my x like the k tengwa then the s tengwa, but as i said, i dont know the s curl. i make my q like a q but with just a q and no u after it. i kind of did what it appears that christopher tolkien did according to previous posts and basically write it however i want. i switch some things and make up my own symbols.

[Rían]

The s-curl is referred to in about the third paragraph after the big letter chart in the first link that I gave. It's an easy way to make plurals, and it gives kind of a more interesting look than just a final, seperate 'S' (IMHO ) because you can make the curl branch right off the end of the last letter in all sorts of interesting ways (check Tolkien's letter #118 where he wrote a letter to a friend using Tengwar - his curls go all sorts of different directions! I especially like the one at the end of the word "explanations".) Try it!

I try to use the tilde symbol (described in the same paragraph) to indicate "preceded by a nasal of the same column" (like nt, nd, mp or mb), but I usually remember too late, and since those combinations are usually preceded by a vowel, I get a stack of three symbols and it ends up too low! I always use the tilde below, though, for indicating doubled consonants.

Note to people learning Tengwar - This all sounds harder than it really is - keep at it, it is very enjoyable

[Rían]

whoops, Sminty - missed your post of a few days ago - yes, you think you've got it, then you try to write something and find you have to pause and think for certain letters. It will get better, just keep writing, writing, writing!

Ñólendil and Sminty - I am getting so frustrated with those special characters - I was all set to type in some Quenyan names, and only some of the codes work. If there is a 5, 6, 7 or 8 in the code, it brings up menus! (5 brings up the edit menu, 6 brings up the file menu, etc.). Drat my snarky computer! I tried using the numbers above the letters, but none of those work. I guess I'll have to go back to copy-and-paste-and-edit for most of the characters, or just forget it. (But the names look so much better with the marks!!)

Katya - tried those s-curls yet?

[katya]

oh ok i will go to the link sounds good. i learned to write in cyrillic. sweetness. they are both good. i am still working on my cyrillic. i just started today. it;s nice though because many of the letters are the same.

[Rían]

OMGoodness, katya, how can you keep all of that straight?? English and Tengwar are enough for me, I don't think I could learn any more without falling seriously behind in real life

I did learn German in high school and got pretty good, but at least the characters are the same (except the double-s, which looks like a capital "B" with a long tail, and some diacritical marks over the vowels).

My proudest non-native language moment: I was mistaken for a German by a Swiss shopkeeper in Zermatt! (this was only after a few words of greeting - she soon discovered her mistake. But I was very proud that my accent was good, because I had worked extremely hard on it. I think the accent is very important, as well as the words - some people think as long as you get the words right, the accent doesn't really matter, and they absolutely massacre the language!!)

[Ñólendil]

RÃ*an, I forgot to mention that the Num Lock has to be on for some of them. Leave it on for all to be safe. Sorry about that.

[Rían]

I've tried it with the num lock on, the num lock off, using the alt key to the left of the kbd, the alt key to the right of the kbd, and STILL no good. *sigh*

[Ñólendil]

Don't know what your problem is, then. Menus shouldn't be popping up if your Num Lock is on.

[Rían]

Oh well, now I guess I have a "valid" excuse to buy a new computer!

BTW, who is RÃ*el? Or is it just a Quenyan-type name, so you thought it should be written the preceding-consonant way?

p.s. - isn't that interesting about the Farsi three-dot symbol?

[katya]

oh? well actually i have always been good with memorization. i have most of the cyrillic down already. it helps that i have a couple books written in it (although since it is in russian i haven't a clue what it is saying!). i want to go to russian so bad...well anway i still havent gone to the links. i will though. anyway...that is about all i have to say. i wrote my litereature notes partially in the tengwar today. that made me happy.

[Rían]

katya - no big swoopy s-curls yet?? p.s. - do you have "Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien"? check out his letter 118 - really neat to see him write in Tengwar to his friend.

[katya]

no i dont. i want to get it though. still no s curls. i am lazy. i should get my ass in gear and jsut go to the stupid links. geez louise.

[Rían]

"wheeeee! wheeeeee!" *writes lots of lovely s-curls* "wheeeee!"

Can other people write all of those special vowels and things with their keyboards? Is it only MY snarky keyboard that isn't working??

[Snowdog]

Hai and well met RÃ*an! The thread on Tengwar caught my eye today, and I have to say I am quite rusty at it, but wish to pick it up again. When I was a senior in High School, a girlferiend and I would sit out by the flagpole and read and write tengwar to each other, and one day when they were putting in curbs we decided to cut class and we impressioned with our fingers 'Friends' in Tengwar in the side of the wet cement. We did pretty good under the conditions and looking out trying not to get caught, and only made one mistake. Sadly, the school is being rennovated, and when I went by there last winter the curb was still there, but this summer it was gone.

Another thing that caught my eye is your user name. RÃ*an was indeed a sad tale in the Silmarillion, however I had used the name for a character in a rather lengthy story I wrote.

Anyway, pleased to meey you!

Oh yes... on your keyboard where you are trying to type ú û Ã* é etc. Check to see if your keyboard character map is active. You wil find it under Start/ Programs/Accesories/System tools/Character map. I had some tutoral that would run when the Alt key was pushed and that prevented me from using the keypad for special characters. Anyway... hope that helps.

[Rían]

Hail and well met back to you, Snowdog! And thanks so much for trying to help me with my sad keyboard situation.

When I do Start/Programs ...etc. a window entitled "Character Map" comes up, with "TT Symbol" showing in the font box. Does that mean it's active? I don't see any type of "Make Active" button or other status indicator. ARGH! Any other hints?

How sad about the curb's no longer being there . That would have been fun to go back to over the years and check on.

Yes, RÃ*an's story is sad ... I always liked the look and sound of that name, though, so I chose it for Entmoot. One day I'll start a thread about Tuor, her son. I really like his character *beams with Entmootish motherly pride*.

Good luck re-picking-up Tengwar! Keep us posted...

[Shadowfax]

The other night I printed out that chart from one of the first links posted in this thread, and I've started memorizing it! It's kinda hard though, because I have so much homework from school (gr. 11...argh), so I can't really study my Tengwar that often.