Yep, they have a 'thing'. by
Huinesoron
on 2015-05-18 09:17:00 UTC
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But obviously it still varies within the species - I mean, humans have a 'thing' for, oh, let's go with telling stories - but some people do it much more, or much better, than others.
We know that the Noldor learnt Sindarin very quickly - they were speaking it by the time they had the Feast of Reuniting, when Maedhros was rescued. But they're a kind of biased sample - the 'Deep Elves' are all about wisdom and knowledge. The other races don't focus on it so much.
We also know that the Galadhrim don't all speak Westron, and that most elves don't speak Quenya. That's probably for the same reason: why would they? Quenya is a dead language in Middle-earth from... er... the moment Thingol found out about the Kinslaying. Westron isn't spoken in Lorien.
Elves are good at languages, and as a general comment, they enjoy learning them. But that doesn't mean every elf does.
hS
(PS: Also, cultural reasons. An elf of Doriath wouldn't learn Quenya, because their king banned it, for instance.)