Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer
I've always been confused that some names would be "changed" while others were left alone, but I always assumed it was because of a perceived change in connotation (or lack thereof) that could be distracting or confusing.
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In case of LotR, I think it may be because of the fact that many names can be easily pronounced in Dutch. For example, one can just pronounce "Frodo" as if it was Dutch. The same is true for "Arwen", or "Elrond", and many other names as well.
Obviously, names such as Pippin, Merry, Brandybuck can be translated like Pepijn, Merijn, Brandebok, which are all proper Dutch names, actually (apart from the fact that they would be VERY old and out of fashion today).
However, there is no way to pronounce "Strider" or "Ranger" in Dutch, so they have to be translated. Still I deem it strange that they translate "Strider" literally, while they used a wrong translation for "Ranger".