Writer Lacy Cooke at ThriveWire is sharing a bit of background on David Salo, a noted Tolkien translator most often remembered for his work on Peter Jackson’s movies, in a two-part article entitled Translating Tolkien: How David Salo Became One Of The World’s Foremost Tolkien Language Experts and Tales of the Official Tolkien Translator: Part II.
In fact, Middle-earth News consulted David Salo for our Runestone article!
If you’re at all familiar with the story of how Tolkien’s languages were brought to the screen in Peter Jackson’s films, you have probably heard of David Salo. Salo is a standout among Tolkien translators, having begun his linguistic journey as a boy reading The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.
Salo went on to major in linguistics, studying Tocharian, and later, Welsh. It was Welsh that pushed him to study Tolkien more closely, whereupon he quickly became an expert. After notable involvement in reviewing (and nearly re-writing) a Middle-earth role-playing game book, Salo sent a letter off to Peter Jackson, hoping to lend his services to the filmmaker.
It was during his work on The Lord of the Rings films that Salo turned into something of a language creator himself. Using the fragments of language that Tolkien had written, Salo invented additions to Tolkien’s languages that give the film-world of Middle-earth so much of its richness.
You can read more of the details of Salo’s story over on ThriveWire. Kudos to Lacy Cooke for sharing the story of David Salo with us!
