Meditations on Harry Potter translations

[Muireann Maguire]

Dear all,

The mention of Harry Potter translations in Nola's post tempts me to 
mention my own experience of reading Harry Potter in Russian translation 
('Garri Potter i dari smerti', if I recall correctly, is the Russian title 
of the last book, 'HP and the Deathly Hallows'). I found the overall 
quality of the translation to be more than adequate. I was disappointed, 
however, by the hit-and-miss translation of characters' names: there seemed 
to be no standard policy. Some were transliterated, some were translated, 
others suffered the worst of both worlds. Harry's daffy friend Luna 
Lovegood re-emerged as 'Polumna Lavgud' - a forename which retained the 
goofy associations of her first name, while losing the mystical ones. A 
certain lack of global knowledge, on the translators' part, was also 
evident. I spent some time wondering who Симус (Simus), apparently a major 
character, might be, before realizing that this was an endearingly inept 
transliteration of Seamus [Finnegan], one of the good guys.

I was also intrigued that 'Garri Potter i dari smerti' was translated by 
three different people - I wonder how effective and amicable team 
translation can be?

Best

Muireann
>
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-- 
Dr Muireann Maguire        
Jesus College, Cambridge       

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