Harry Potter Worldwide

[Beluka]

What I always propose is leaving the name as it is and give a comment in a footnote.

Mmmmm... i actually hate footnotes, they make the reading kind of heavy. And there would have to be MANY in these books!
The thing is translations should be good enough not to sound stupid or to lose meaning...

By the way... Dumbledore related to silence?? It is mostly said it is related to a bumblebee (as dumbledore is an old word for that) and that it has to do with his dreamy looks, like his humming songs or something.

[Galateia]

12th of March [three days ago] came the Order of the Phoenix in Finnish. It has 1050 pages and I'm on page 829. Soon I've read all the books in Finnish and in english I have read PS, PoA and OotP.

The Finnish translation sounds a bit too childish sometimes, but still I think that the translations are really, really good. Jaana Kapari (translator] has succeeded wery well. Although some names are bit odd, but that's because it's hard to find a word that has the same meaning and still sounds good.

Luna "Loony" Lovegood is Luna "Lööperi" Lovekiva. Luna is the same and in the last name, Kapari has translated only the second part. Kiva means 'nice' in english, but love doesn't mean anything in finnish [everyone here knows ehat love means, but still]. I was very worried before the translation came because I started to think what Loony would be, because it has to start with L but also mean crazy. I don't even know what Lööperi means, but it definitely don't sound like a nickname.

Uranus-jokes are not translated, because it's impossible to find the same meaning from a planet. I understand the joke only a few months ago, when someone else was talking about it on internet.

Some names are translated, but not all. Every students name is the same except Lovegood [Lovekiva]. Here's the teachers which are translated:

Sprout - Verso [means the same thing]
McGonagall - McGarmiwa [karmiva means something like frightening and scary.]
Sybill Trelawney - Sibylla Punurmio [puu means tree and nurmi or nurmikko means lawn.]
Filch - Voro [voro means thief.]
Flitwick - Lipetit [lipetit doesn't means anything.]
Grubbly-Plank - Matoisa-Lankku [matoisa means wormy and lankku is plank.]
Hooch - Huisku [huisku means whisk.]
Mad-Eye Moody - Villisilmä Vauhkomieli [Villi is wild, silmä is eye, vauhko is skittish and mieli is mind so it's Wildeye Skittishmind.]
Pince - Prilli [rillit is eyeglasses, but I don't know if it comes from that word.]
Quirrell - Orave [Orava means squirrel.]
Snape - Kalkaros [kalkkarokäärme means rattle snake.]
Umbridge - Pimento [pimento means dark or darkness.]

[Celeone]

I read the Dutch HP books and the English version from the Order of the Phoenix. The first 4 I'm getting next week. The English version is for me sometimes hard to understand, but I'm getting better in it! (I'm 14..) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix helped me a lot by English class...

[Plep]

Cool another Dutchy! Welcome to BoA!

[FairyTale]

I've tried reading the German version (I've been in German class for quite a long time) but my German still wasn't really good enough.
Although from what I did understand I didn't think that it was as good as the English ones.

[Fool on the hill]

I've read the German and the English books. The translation was very good for me when I was 9 or 10 years old and started reading HP

Well, no, I still buy the German books because I don't want to miss a single detail. The translation is quite good, what's to criticise is that there are a lot of, uhm, regional words. For example, "right old slob" (said by Tonks in OotP) is translated as "Pottsau", which is a (really ridiculous, he he) word only known in the north of Germany, but not in Bavaria, Austria or Switzerland.

The translator tried to imitate JKR's style and it didn't really work. Sometimes there are very exaggerated, old expressions and then again it seems pseudo-cool and slangy. Especially Ron's way too "offhand". The translation is not as bad as it now seems, but not a quarter as good as the original edition.

However, I like the translation of the names. Many names are not translated, only a few like the "Grubbly-Plank woman", who became "Raue-Pritsche" (pretty much the same meaning) and Hermione (Hermine). Hermione's translated because the pronunciation is very difficult - the meaning changes, but, so what, I for my part like Hermine.

[FairyTale]

Yeah, I also found the name Hermine alot easier to pronounce and such. It took me forever to actually find out the correct pronunciation of Hermione's name!

[Mr3d]

I have read the 5 books in spanish. However, I read the 5th one in english first, because I was in London the day they sold it for the 1st time! I nearly read it to the end on the journey back to Spain and I had no big problems. I understood the names of the people and words like Death Eater (mortífago) very well, because I think they were well translated. And I liked the original version better than the translation.
What I didn't understand was OWLs (TIMOS), SPEW (PEDDO) and nearly every invention of the Weasley (Fred, George) as well as many plants and animals whose names were translated as well.
That's why I made a list (specially for spanish people, obviously) to help people understand these words which were translated into a new word.
The list is here: http://www.broomsticksandowls.com/forum ... php?t=3257

[Evil Wizard Petting Zoo]

Galateia wrote:

Snape - Kalkaros [kalkkarokäärme means rattle snake.]

anyone else think Kalkaros sounds like Karkaroff? Maybe JKR knew that so Karkaroff is a rattle snake, which would definately suit his personality.

[Beluka]

What I didn't understand was OWLs (TIMOS), SPEW (PEDDO)

Why didn't you undertand it? It's supposed to mean something and be fun, mantaining the approximate meaning of the original acronym...

[Mr3d]

What I didn't understand was OWLs (TIMOS), SPEW (PEDDO)

Why didn't you undertand it? It's supposed to mean something and be fun, mantaining the approximate meaning of the original acronym...

When I read the english version of the 5th book (without reading the other ones in english first) I found "OWLs" written and didn't associate it with the spanish translation "TIMOS" until I realized they were talking about the exams.
I think it is a good translation, too. It only makes reading the original book a bit difficult. With the names of the people I didn't have any problem, since they are not translated

[Ferrus]

When I read PS in spanish I was aatounded how much the tranlation SUCKED!! I don´t know about the otherones because I haven´t bothered to read them...

[Beluka]

When I read PS in spanish I was aatounded how much the tranlation SUCKED!! I don´t know about the otherones because I haven´t bothered to read them...

I've been told that from CoS the rest of translations are not that bad... I agree, it REALLY sucks
But, how do you explain that people still like it so much, even though they're not reading the books "in all their esplendor"?? (perdón por la pedantería )
That proves they're the best books ever, doesn't it?

[Moonstone]

The swed translation isn´t that good either.. so i end up buying the english and the swedish book soi can see what goes and what stays..