Harry Potter in Translation

Given the week that’s in it, I couldn’t not post something about the phenomenon that is Harry Potter. I’ve enjoyed the series and the hype that surrounded the final book release, but am surprised at how few language and translation blogs have picked up on it. Although, come to think of it, this may be because there’ll be a lag of a couple of months before the official translations of book seven are released… maybe I’m ahead of the game then?

The Guardian does a great job of putting the work of the translator in mind-boggling perspective when it reports that, “of the 325 million Harry Potter books sold around the world, some 100 million copies don’t contain a single line of JK Rowling’s prose. They’re mediated by the work of other writers who set the tone, create suspense and humour, and give the characters their distinctive voices and accents.”

So, in celebration of this, here’s my little round up of interesting facts on Harry Potter in translation:

• Books from the Harry Potter series have been officially translated into 67 languages, including “localised” versions for the US market from the original British English, for both the Portuguese and Brazilian markets, and into both ancient and modern Greek (unofficial versions number many more).
• JK Rowling has been notoriously tight-lipped about the plot developments and has gone to great lengths to ensure that “spoilers” were not released prior to the book’s English language publication date. She has never publicly acknowledged that she made information about future plot twists available in advance to her translators, but given the clues that are sprinkled throughout the series, I can’t see how they could have translated the books without this information… (anyone willing to offer up a more detailed analysis, now all seven books have been released??)
• In some countries such as Italy, the first book was revised by the publishers and re-issued in an updated edition in response to feedback from readers.
• Translations sometimes became an interactive affair – a German fan site was set up to start work on collaboratively translating the books as soon as they were released in English, and the Polish translator ran an online competition to find a snappy translation for Ripper, Aunt Marge’s vicious hound.
• Food played a key role throughout the series, and Rowling herself cited this to be a strong element of her scene setting. Translators employed a range of techniques to reflect this. For example, cornflakes earned a footnote in the Chinese translation to indicate that they are eaten immersed in milk for breakfast. A former classmate of mine thought there was enough material like this to write her masters thesis on the translation of food in the Russian language Harry Potter! (She didn’t write it in the end – shame )
• Spanish readers will find most names and invented words unchanged, whereas those in Brazil will find themselves closer to the Harry Potter spirit if not the name, as the translator Lia Wyler set herself the task of coining over 400 new words (I guess she was paid by the hour )
• The spells and incantations also posed a particular challenge. Many of these were invented by Rowling and are based on Latin, so they have a certain resonance with English speakers. To create a similar effect in the Hindu version, Sanskrit was used, but translators were often forced to invent words or use transliteration.
• The environment of an English boarding school also proved difficult to translate across cultures. In the Ukrainian version, for example, the translator chose to evoke the atmosphere of an orphanage for poor children instead. The Hebrew translator however decided an Israeli audience would accept the English boarding school setting as it was, part and parcel of Harry’s fantasy world.
• Anagrams also played a key role in the novels but were not always successfully captured in other languages. Here’s an extract from Wikipedia explaining how translators dealt with the name of one of the main characters, who cropped up in several books under different guises:

Anagrams such as that of Tom Riddle’s name that appears in the second book also do not make the transition easily into other languages. Translators have sometimes altered the names in the book in order to make the anagram work in that language. Sometimes translators manage to alter only one part of the name: Tom Riddle’s middle name of Marvolo was changed to “Vandrolo” in the Hebrew edition, to “Marvoldo” in Turkish, to “Sorvolo” in Spanish, to “Marvoloso” in Slovak and to “Orvoloson” in Italian. In other languages, translators replaced the name entirely for the sake of preserving the anagram: in French, Riddle’s full name becomes “Tom Elvis Jedusor” an anagram of “Je suis Voldemort”; Dutch his name becomes “Marten Asmodom Vilijn”, an anagram of “Mijn naam is Voldemort” (My name is Voldemort); in Czech, his name is “Tom Rojvol Raddle”, an anagram of “Já, Lord Voldemort” (I, Lord Voldemort); in Icelandic his name becomes Trevor Delgome; in Swedish the name becomes “Tom Gus Mervolo Dolder”, an anagram of “Ego sum Lord Voldemort”, where “ego sum” is Latin, not Swedish, for “I am”. In Finnish his name is Tom Lomen Valedro (Ma olen Voldemort), in Hungarian the name is “Tom Rowle Denem”, which is the anagram of “Nevem Voldemort” – the ‘w’ in the name becomes two ‘v’s. These changes to the name created problems in later books: Tom Riddle should share his first name with Tom the Bartender, but this is not the case in all translations.

And finally, here’s where to start if you’re looking for more detailed information:

• Wikipedia has a great entry on HP in translation
• This site provides what appears to be a detailed comparison of Harry Potter in Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese translation, looking at the way chapter titles, fictitious book titles, and proper names have been translated, passages of verse and prose, and of course, the “inevitable” translation bloopers…
• An ambitious project to list key words and phrases from the Harry Potter books. This appears to include most languages and draws the terms directly from the books (other databases extract terms from unofficial fan pages and so are more unlikely to be unreliable) . It also contains a list of the official Harry Potter translators.
• An FT article from 2003 where the Ukrainian, Hebrew and Danish translators speak about the impact of Pottermania on their lives.
• Interesting little Guardian article by Daniel Hahn, a noted translator himself, on some of the translation challenges posed by the Harry Potter series. I’d love to see more articles like this out there – he does a fantastic job of putting the work of the translator firmly into perspective for the layman.
• Dr Jeremy Munday has also written a short article on the translation of Harry Potter, with some interesting examples of food differences.
• ITI’s Bulletin reproduced a particularly difficult passage from the fourth book in 13 different languages in its March – April 2003 issue.

I’d love to hear about any other sources of information on this topic. Happy Pottering.

About the author

Sarah Dillon is a qualified, accredited and experienced professional translator originally from Co. Clare in Ireland. She specialises in producing English-language texts that don't "sound" like translations, ensuring her clients' message has the desired impact in their overseas market. She is based in Brisbane, Australia and works with corporate clients, small businesses, agencies and nonprofit organisations all over the world. In her spare time, Sarah is also Marketing Director of eCPD Webinars.

Sarah Dillon has written 252 posts for There's Something About Translation.

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