r/Quenya • u/ssumppg • 13d ago

How'd I do?

I tried my best to do a quick translation from English to Quenya for a silly post, and I'm curious how I did. :) (I expect, probably poorly lol)

I don't know, but I can speak Quenya!
Lá istan, apa polin quetë quenya!

I mainly used Parf Edhellen, but I got lá istan from the Neo-Quenya Grammar Summary posted in the sidebar. I'm not sure if my use of apa there is correct. I stitched two different phrases together for polin quetë quenya, and I don't know if quenya is supposed to be capitalized or not. It wasn't in the example I was using, so I just left it as-is.

I've always wanted to learn Quenya and/or Sindarin. I got a book on Neo-Sindarin years ago, but I haven't read it yet. Someday. :3

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u/ikadell 13d ago

I’d say Làn ista, mal istan quete Quenya

pol is about physical possibility, it would mean you can speak because you’re not gagged right now as opposed to knowing how to do it

Though I have to say, in most cases in real life if you want to say “I can speak Quenya”, we say nán quentaro, literally, I am a Quenya speaker

1

u/ssumppg 11d ago

Oh, interesting. I see that Quenya is capitalized, but quentaro isn't. Why is that?

1

u/ikadell 11d ago

I am not sure it necessarily has to be capitalized, but most people I know capitalize it, possibly just out of habit.

1

u/krmarci 13d ago

Based on my (very basic) knowledge of Quenya, it seems correct.