Global InformationTranslation of The Lord of the Rings into Swedish information
The translation of The Lord of the Rings into Swedish has been the subject of controversy. The first version, by Åke Ohlmarks, was made in 1959–1961; it was the only one available in Swedish for forty years. Tolkien took issue with Ohlmarks' translation, identifying numerous errors and inconsistencies. In 1967, in response to Ohlmarks' Swedish and Max Schuchart's Dutch translations, Tolkien produced his "Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings"; it discusses how to translate The Lord of the Rings' personal names and place-names, giving multiple examples from Ohlmarks' Swedish of what not to do when translating. Ohlmarks rejected all criticism, stating that he had intentionally created an interpretation of Tolkien, not a straight translation. Swedish commentators took a wider range of positions on Ohlmarks' version: some admired it, while others thought it defective.
Ohlmarks' version was superseded in 2005 by Erik Andersson's more direct translation, with Tolkien's embedded poems translated by Lotta Olsson. Andersson followed Tolkien's instructions on translating names. Some of Ohlmarks' choices that were not in contradiction to these, such as Vidstige for Strider and Fylke for the Shire, were retained on the grounds that these were well established. The 2005 version attracted great interest in Sweden, and was on the whole well received.