Rating: 
Summary: Languages of Tolkien's Middle-Earth
Review: This author tried, but I'm afraid the book is now somewhat obsolete with the publication of new linguistic information in Christopher Tolkien's editions.I faithfully copied down the tengwar (in my rather bad handwriting) and the Quenya conjugations, though I have no conception if the latter are really right. I noticed that mutation (the change of an initial letter, as Balrog -- i Malrog) isn't ever mentioned, that I could find. In addition, of Elvish languages, only Quenya and Sindarin really get mentioned -- again, some of the more obscure languages were unknown to the public until the History of Middle-Earth was published. Interesting issues, such as the existence of Exilic Noldorin (I'm a believer in this!) weren't available yet for the author to discuss. I was interested to find that the language of Rohan is really Anglo-Saxon letter for letter. Because it's dated, this is hard to recommend, though one has to appreciate the work the author did.
Rating: 
Summary: Caution: Dated Material Ahead!!
Review: This book contained some inaccuracies when it was published 23 years ago, and they have been fruitful and multiplied. In the years following its publication, almost all of the current information regarding Elvish has been released after that date (always excepting LOTR and The Hobbit). The Silmarillion, the History of Middle Earth (All 12 Volumes), and most of Tolkien's letters were published in the years following the publication of LoTME. Thus whatever value this book possessed with regards to Elvish at publication is virtually voided now. There is a small degree of merit in the categories of Dwarvish and Hobbit-tongue, but it is almost solely in the area of names and not linguistics. There are no comprehensive books on the Eldalambe (Tongues of the Elves) in publication...
Rating:
Summary: Caution: Dated Material Ahead!!
Review: This book contained some inaccuracies when it was published 23 years ago, and they have been fruitful and multiplied. In the years following its publication, almost all of the current information regarding Elvish has been released after that date (always excepting LOTR and The Hobbit). The Silmarillion, the History of Middle Earth (All 12 Volumes), and most of Tolkien's letters were published in the years following the publication of LoTME. Thus whatever value this book possessed with regards to Elvish at publication is virtually voided now. There is a small degree of merit in the categories of Dwarvish and Hobbit-tongue, but it is almost solely in the area of names and not linguistics. There are no comprehensive books on the Eldalambe (Tongues of the Elves) in publication...
Rating:
Summary: There's better books for both topics this book covers
Review: This book is a good attempt to catalogue the languages of Middle Earth, most notably the Elven tongues Quenya and Sindarin. However, since it's publication a lot of material has been released by Christopher Tolkien, including additional information on Tolkien's languages. As a result, the vocabulary in this book is very limited compared to what Tolkien linguists have discoverd and reconstructed. The grammer is even worse - much of it is oversimplified even for what was available at the time, and now there are even more glaring errors. For example, Sindarin consonant mutations, a very important part of Sindarin grammer, are given no treatment whatsoever. Do yourself a favor and stay away from this book. At best you'll be getting an incomplete picture; at worst, an incorrect one. If you want to learn Elvish in either form, I recommend Helge K. Fauskanger's "Ardalambion" site. It has some decent dictionaries (though there are better ones elsewhere on the net) and very exhaustive treatments of the grammer and syntax of Quenya and Sindarin. Best of all, it's free, and always up to date with what the latest research into Tolkien's languages has revealed.
Rating:
Summary: Good for when it was published, but very dated now
Review: This book is a good attempt to catalogue the languages of Middle Earth, most notably the Elven tongues Quenya and Sindarin. However, since it's publication a lot of material has been released by Christopher Tolkien, including additional information on Tolkien's languages. As a result, the vocabulary in this book is very limited compared to what Tolkien linguists have discoverd and reconstructed. The grammer is even worse - much of it is oversimplified even for what was available at the time, and now there are even more glaring errors. For example, Sindarin consonant mutations, a very important part of Sindarin grammer, are given no treatment whatsoever. Do yourself a favor and stay away from this book. At best you'll be getting an incomplete picture; at worst, an incorrect one. If you want to learn Elvish in either form, I recommend Helge K. Fauskanger's "Ardalambion" site. It has some decent dictionaries (though there are better ones elsewhere on the net) and very exhaustive treatments of the grammer and syntax of Quenya and Sindarin. Best of all, it's free, and always up to date with what the latest research into Tolkien's languages has revealed.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for Novice Elves
Review: This book is great for people who already know the basics of Elvish and want to improve (or complicate) their studies. It includes all languages of Middle-Earth, a small Elvish dictionary, the Elvish alphabet, and tips on its useage. For beginners, I recommend visiting a less complicated Elvish website and buy this book if you want to know more about Middle Earth and its languages and cultures.
Rating:
Summary: Outdated and innaccurate.
Review: This book is very outdated and not entirely accurate. It really contains only a fraction of the available Tolkien language material, and there are some languages that nobody even knew existed when this work was published.The chapters about Dwarven names and those of the Hobbits and Rohhirim are good, though. As for the rest of the book, if you want up to date, accurate info, I advise you to go to Helge Fauskanger's excellent web-page, Ardalmbion [online] the biggest and best resource on the net or in print.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Reference
Review: This book was probably never meant as a Teach Yourself Tolkien's Languages Like Elvish. (no, not Elvis) It is a reference book, but you can learn bits of various languages from it. I am slowly learning Elvish my self from it, and wrote a poem about some fair Elvish maiden..... Yeah, it is impractical as a source of education, but then again, none of Tolkien's languages were fully completed and documented.
Rating:
Summary: A horrible gloss on Tolkien's invented languages
Review: This is a horrible gloss of Tolkien's invented languages, rife with errors and inaccuracies. If you are interested in this subject you would be much better off with "The Lost Road" and other books in "The Histories of Middle Earth". Even Jim Allan's "An Introduction to Elvish" (which predates the publication of "The Silmarillion") provides better information that Noel's book.
Rating:
Summary: Well, we knew someone would do it . . .
Review: This is a thorough-going vocabulary list and (morphological) analysis of Tolkien's LOTR languages. A fun resource for fans, but also rather fascinating for anybody into conlangs (constructed languages), and anybody researching LOTR purely as a pop culture phenomenon. I was a little disappointed in the presentation of the script (the page is a bit blurry), and would have loved a little more info on the process of creation. But still just a neat book!
| 
