2026 Tolkien Native Language Appreciation Fest - How to participate
And we are on year #2 of organizing this fest! Last year's edition went fairly smoothly, hopefully this year we will see more people participating!
As mentioned, this is an event aimed to celebrate the diversity in the Tolkien fandom, which takes inspiration both by Tolkien’s profession as a linguist and inventor of all the languages in his opus, and his own characters’ prowess in several languages.
Not only this, but diversity also in the fandom itself! The Tolkien fandom encompasses quite literally the entire world!
So here we are, on year two, organizing this fest as a celebration once again!
As per usual, here's the details!
The event will take place the week between the 16th June and the 22nd June.
To be able to participate, please follow the below steps.
Reblog this post and follow this blog.
Use #jrrtlanguagefest preferably in the first five tags, so I am able to reblog your creations
Mention the languages used in the caption of your post - a translation is encouraged so everyone can enjoy your creations
There is no limit per day, you can post as many creations as you wish.
You can submit any form of creation, from art, to writing, to music, even to crafts!
Please tag the language you are using. A translation is optional, but appreciated
For rules and guidelines, please see the FAQ post.
Please refer to the pinned post for all useful links!
Feel free to send me a message or an ask should you need further clarification!
2026 Tolkien Native Language Appreciation Fest - Almost there!
Hi everyone,
I hope you are doing well!
The 2026 edition of this fest will be up in a month from here! I am happy to present to you this event, and I hope you all are as excited as I am for this too!
I have posted the 2026 prompts, and do make sure you check how you can participate to the event!
The AO3 collection has been created, but it will be revealed starting June 16th!
The event will start on June 16th and finish on June 22nd, please make sure you sign down the dates!
I shall see you all on the 16th June! I hope you will have fun!
2026 Tolkien Native Language Appreciation Fest - Almost there!
Hi everyone,
I hope you are doing well!
The 2026 edition of this fest will be up in a month from here! I am happy to present to you this event, and I hope you all are as excited as I am for this too!
I have posted the 2026 prompts, and do make sure you check how you can participate to the event!
The AO3 collection has been created, but it will be revealed starting June 16th!
The event will start on June 16th and finish on June 22nd, please make sure you sign down the dates!
I shall see you all on the 16th June! I hope you will have fun!
2026 Tolkien Native Language Appreciation Fest - The Prompts
Just like last year, I would like to leave here a series of prompts, in case you need ideas!
Just like last year, the use of these prompts is not required, they are here in case you need inspiration. You can use as many of these prompts as you like. Please specify in your post if you are using any of these.
You can use the 2025 prompts if these ones do not inspire you.
2026 Tolkien Native Language Appreciation Fest - How to participate
And we are on year #2 of organizing this fest! Last year's edition went fairly smoothly, hopefully this year we will see more people participating!
As mentioned, this is an event aimed to celebrate the diversity in the Tolkien fandom, which takes inspiration both by Tolkien’s profession as a linguist and inventor of all the languages in his opus, and his own characters’ prowess in several languages.
Not only this, but diversity also in the fandom itself! The Tolkien fandom encompasses quite literally the entire world!
So here we are, on year two, organizing this fest as a celebration once again!
As per usual, here's the details!
The event will take place the week between the 16th June and the 22nd June.
To be able to participate, please follow the below steps.
Reblog this post and follow this blog.
Use #jrrtlanguagefest preferably in the first five tags, so I am able to reblog your creations
Mention the languages used in the caption of your post - a translation is encouraged so everyone can enjoy your creations
There is no limit per day, you can post as many creations as you wish.
You can submit any form of creation, from art, to writing, to music, even to crafts!
Please tag the language you are using. A translation is optional, but appreciated
For rules and guidelines, please see the FAQ post.
Please refer to the pinned post for all useful links!
Feel free to send me a message or an ask should you need further clarification!
A partir de entonces fue ella quien mandó en el pueblo. Restableció la misa dominical, suspendió el uso de los brazales rojos y descalificó los bandos atrabiliarios. Pero a despecho de su fortaleza, siguió llorando la desdicha de su destino.
---Cien Años de Soledad by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
eng:From that time on, she was the one who ruled in the town. She reestablished Sunday masses, suspended the use of red armbands, and abrogated the harebrained decrees. But in spite of her strength, she still wept over her unfortunate fate.
El mundo era tan reciente, que muchas cosas carecían de nombre, y para mencionarlas había que señalarlas con el dedo.
---Cien Años de Soledad by Gabriel Garcia Marquz
only saw the @jrrt-native-languages-fest yesterday and was too late, because I think a year is too long to wait imma do these anyways
english translation(based on the official english translation for the book):The world was so recent that many things lacked names, and in order to indicate them it was necessary to point.
Tolkien Native Language Appreciation Week 2025 - Till next year
Hi all!
Hope everyone is doing well, and I hope you have enjoyed the first edition of the Tolkien Native Language Appreciation Week!
It is officially past midnight in my timezone, hence I am here to tell you a big THANK YOU for participating and making this week amazing!
I have seen many great creations in many languages, and I hope that next year you will be even more!
But if you still wish to post your works in your own language, I am tracking the #jrrtlanguagefest tag :) Feel free to post your works with this tag and I will reblog it asap!
You can still use the prompts - new ones will be added for the 2026 edition!
I shall see you soon, and hopefully next year as well, always in the week between the 16th June and the 22nd June!
Again, many compliments to all works and artists/writers/passionate people who participated!
Forgot it was @jrrt-native-languages-fest week until a couple of hours ago so have this humble last minute sketchbook offering: a scene from my Silm fic, Prayers to Broken Stone, set in Kerala, where a teenaged Elrond tells Maedhros that he wants to be a writer one day… translated into Malayalam, specifically the literary-poetic form (which this section is “meant” to be written as in the story).
Translations provided below, and the text in the image reads “my father let me swallow him whole”, and the dialogue reads “my Elrond will be a writer.”
ആ നിമിഷത്തിൽ, ഞാൻ മൈത്രോസിനോട് ഒരു ദിവസം പുസ്തകം എഴുതുമെന്ന് പറഞ്ഞപ്പോൾ, ഞാൻ അവനെ നോക്കി നിൽക്കുമ്പോൾ ആരെങ്കിലും എന്റെ ഒരു ചിത്രം എടുത്തിരുന്നെങ്കിൽ — എണ്ണവിലക്കിന്റെ തളംകെട്ടുന്ന വെളിച്ചം ബാബയുടെ മുഖത്തിന്റെ മൂലയിലേക്ക് പതിച്ചുകൊണ്ടിരുന്നു, ഒരു നിഴലുമില്ലാതെ, അവന്റെ ആനന്ദം തികച്ചും ഉജ്ജ്വലമായി കനലുന്ന പോലെ — അത് ഞാൻ തന്നെയാണെന്ന് ഞാൻ തിരിച്ചറിയുമായിരുന്നില്ല. മൈത്രോസിന്റെ മുഖഭാവം എങ്ങോ എന്റെ മുഖത്തിലേക്ക് പടർന്നിരുന്നത് പോലെ — കണ്ണാടിയിൽ കാണുന്ന തന്മാത്രം അല്ല, ഒരുതരം പ്രതിഫലനം — എൻ്റെ മുഖം തീർച്ചയായും അലസമായി തുറന്നിരുന്നു, കൂടുതൽ ഒരു ആശ്വാസം പോലെ, പതിയെ പൊങ്ങിച്ചെല്ലുന്നവിധം.
അയ്യോ, എനിക്ക് ഇങ്ങനെ പ്രകൃത്യാ സ്നേഹം കിട്ടുന്നുവല്ലോ.
Had anyone taken a photo of me as I looked at Maedhros, the moment I told him I would write a book one day, the flickering oil-lamp lighting up the corners of my father’s face, not a single shadow marring his sheer delight, I would not have recognised myself. Maedhros’ expression was cast onto my own, I'm certain, not a mirror-image but a refraction, turning my face almost slack with a newly-surfaced relief. Oh, I am loved so instinctively.
ഇങ്ങനെ നേരെത്തന്നെ പൊള്ളയായ മാതാപിതൃ സ്നേഹമെന്നും നിലനില്ക്കുമെന്നു ഞാൻ അത്ഭുതപ്പെട്ടു
എന്നിലും, പാതിയെങ്കിലും അതിന് അർഹതയില്ലാത്ത എന്നിലേക്കും. അതും ആശ്വാസമായിരുന്നു: ഏത് ലോകത്തിലായാലും, എൽറോസിന് സംഭവിച്ച പോലെ സംഭവങ്ങൾ നടന്നിട്ടും, മൈത്രോസ് ഫെനോറിയന്റെ മുഖം ഇങ്ങനെ രൂപപ്പെടുമ്പോൾ, അവന്റെ മകന്റെ ചെറുതായൊരൊരായ ഭാഷാ വിജയം മാത്രമാണ് അതിന് കാരണം എങ്കിൽ, എൽറോണ്ട് പെരെദെലിനും ഒരിക്കല് ഈ അർവെൻ വിടവാങ്ങിയ ലോകത്തും ജീവിക്കാൻ കഴിയുമായിരിക്കും.
I had been amazed that such barefaced parental devotion could still exist, even for me, who did not deserve it by half. And yes, relief: for in a world where what happened to Elros had happened, if Maedhros Feanorian's face could still form such remarkable shapes, unprompted by anything other than his son's minor linguistic achievement, then maybe there was hope for Elrond Peredhel too, to survive in a post-Arwen world.
ഒരു നല്ല അച്ഛൻ എപ്പോഴും മക്കളുടെ വിശപ്പിനെയാണ് മുൻഗണന നൽകുന്നത്. എന്റെ അച്ഛന്മാർ ഇങ്ങനെ ആയിരുന്നവർ. എപ്പോഴും ഇങ്ങനെ തന്നെയായിരുന്നു.
ആ രാത്രി, മലിപ്പുറത്തുള്ള വരാന്തയിൽ, ഞാൻ മൈത്രോസിനോട് പറഞ്ഞു —
"ഞാൻ നമ്മുടെ കോഴിക്കോടിനെ കുറിച്ച് എഴുതണമെന്ന് ആഗ്രഹിക്കുന്നു, നമ്മുടെ നദികളെക്കുറിച്ച്."
അവൻ മനസ്സിലാക്കി, ഇത് ഒറ്റപ്പടി അതേപോലെ എഴുതാനല്ല, ഈ പുസ്തകത്തിൽ നദികൾ ഒന്നുമില്ലെന്ന് — നദികൾ വെറും പറക്കുന്ന മീനുകളുടെ മറ്റൊരു രൂപം മാത്രമാണ്,ബാബയ്ക്ക് ഞാൻ സമ്മാനിച്ച മറ്റൊരു വേഷം.
അവനും അവന്റെ സഹോദരനും ഞങ്ങൾക്ക് ഈ ഭാഷ പഠിപ്പിച്ചു, അതിലൂടെ ഞങ്ങൾ അവരുടെ ഒരു അംശം ഉൾക്കൊണ്ടു.
A good parent will always put their children’s hunger before their own. My fathers were like that. They have always been like that. That night on the porch, I told Maedhros I wanted to write about our Kozhikode, our rivers, and he had known even then that it was simply a way to write about the cliff-house. That this book, in truth, has no rivers at all. Rivers are but another species of flying fish, another disguise I have shoved onto my father.
“എന്റെ ബാബ, ഭീകരവാദി", എന്നെഴുതാൻ ഞാൻ നിർദ്ദേശിച്ചപ്പോൾ, അത് ഉപമയാക്കാനും വിരുദ്ധതയാക്കാനും, അവനെ ആഖ്യാനസാങ്കേതികതയാക്കി വിഭജിക്കാനും, അവന്റെ കഥയെ ഈ വാക്കുകളിലേക്കു മാറ്റാനുമൊക്കെ അവൻ എതിർവാദമൊന്നുമില്ലാതെ സമ്മതിച്ചു.
അവൻ ഇരുന്നു, പുതഞ്ഞു വരുന്ന കണ്ണീരോടെ, ഉറഞ്ഞ പുഞ്ചിരിയോടെ എന്നെ നോക്കി, പിന്നീട് പറഞ്ഞു:
"ഞാൻ ഓരോ വാക്കും നൂറ് തവണ വായിക്കും."
അവൻ എന്നെ അദ്ദേഹത്തെ മുഴുവനായി വിഴുങ്ങാൻ അനുവദിച്ചു. എൻ്റെ ഉള്ളിലിരുന്നത് ഇത്ര സ്നേഹപൂർവമായിരുന്ന മറ്റൊരു ധാന്യവുമില്ല.
He and his brother taught me and mine this language, and in doing so let us consume a part of them. He let me turn “my Baba, the terrorist” into metaphor, into juxtaposition, let me dismantle him into literary technique and cycle those words across these pages. He didn’t say a word against it. He sat there, smiling at me for so long that tears rose in his eyes, and told me he would “read each word I wrote a hundred times”.
My father let me swallow him whole. No other grain has sat so gently within me.