[tshaddox]

He was a philologist who oversaw translations during his lifetime and even wrote a guide for translators to use when translating fictional names. It sounds like he was picky and critical of translations, but not because he didn’t want them to exist.

[red_trumpet]

I didn't mean to imply that Tolkien opposed translations.

Maybe I'm being a bit naive, but intuitively I would think that most writers do not write a book with the explicit intention of the book being translated. The first intended audience is typically readers in the original language.

This is opposed by producing a series for Amazon, where it is mostly clear that the intended audience is world wide, talking many languages (in particular if it is about such a famous topic). And I wouldn't be surprised if this fact does impact the production of a work.

[tshaddox]

> intuitively I would think that most writers do not write a book with the explicit intention of the book being translated. The first intended audience is typically readers in the original language.

I don’t think so. I think most writers are only fluent in a very small number of languages and they choose one of those languages to write in.

[benwad]

Remember that English wasn't quite as dominant in Tolkien's day as it is today. In the 50s most people in e.g. France wouldn't speak English.