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HelpHarry Potter translation
The first Harry Potter book (Philosopher's Stone) appeared in an Afrikaans translation in 2000; the others soon followed. They were, I think, not reprinted and certainly have been out of print for a long while. Now they are appearing again in the nation's bookshops, with new jackets like the current UK ones, and with the same excellent translations but some name changes. I haven't seen a copy - not in the shops till month-end - but it seems that the original names have been used this time. Previously some names, notably Harry Potter, remained the same while others were tweaked to give a more Afrikaans look. Now, Dumbledore replaces Dompeldorius (which looks very Dutch and scholarly!) and Hermione is no longer Hermien (the local fem form of Herman, very familiar here). This raises all sorts of implications for translation, from Jesus and Mary to Joshua and Miriam for instance, where familiarity wins over accuracy: that's easy, but Harry Potter is much more recent and could presumably have kept the Afrikaans names just as it did with all the other words in the books. Interesting!
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Dompeldorius! If there was ever a more apt name for a Harry Potter character. I'm glad to have learned this today, it's absolutely darling! I agree, quite scholarly. It's delightfully whimsical and rhythmic, but still stays grounded with all those consonants. Just like Dumbledore, I can take the Dompeldorius name humorously and seriously at the same time, it has capacity for both.
I find localizations of Harry Potter names fascinating, it’s unfortunate but inevitable that they lose their significance in translation. However Dompeldorius really captures the essence of his character!
In Japanese Draco is ‘Dorako’, like the first syllable in Dracula, which I think gives him a much more sinister vibe.
In Japanese Draco is ‘Dorako’, like the first syllable in Dracula, which I think gives him a much more sinister vibe.
Dumbledore is named Silencio in the Italian translation possibly because of the “dumb” part (as in mute), Snape is called “Python “ because of the snake association, possibly other characters have different names (I’ve only read the books in English and I think saw one movie dubbed in Italian).
Silencio is hilarious for Dumbledore: the dear man never stops talking!
Those seem pretty heavy handed. I think something subtly like whatever an Italian word for "snap" or "snipe" is would fit better as a substitute for Snape.
This message was edited 3/14/2024, 12:04 PM
They also localized or not localized names fairly arbitrarily.
Dompeldorius is great lol.
Do you know what Tom Marvolo Riddle got changed to? I think that had to be changed for the all the translations so it fit an anagram. In the French version, his middle name is Elvis.
I think Harry Potter would be particularly hard to translate names for because the original name choices are so blatantly supposed to be character clues that double as vocab/history lessons. Dumbledore is supposed to seem bumbling (it has dumb in it and means bumblebee). Sirius is a pun for serious and is a clue for his animagus form (the grim, canis major) and astrology names are traditional in his family. Fawkes the phoenix is named after a traitor who has a holiday named after him; in some translations it is Felix, but that doesn't have nearly the same level of merry defiance imo. I think Hermione is supposed to have a difficult name in the English version; it's supposed be a bit awkward and erudite (her parents are doctors who apparently like Shakespeare) and the connection to Hermes probably hints at her acumen...a common name that comes from Herman really would give a different character impression!
I remember learning as a kid that Joshua and Jesus came from the same name. That was funny.
Do you know what Tom Marvolo Riddle got changed to? I think that had to be changed for the all the translations so it fit an anagram. In the French version, his middle name is Elvis.
I think Harry Potter would be particularly hard to translate names for because the original name choices are so blatantly supposed to be character clues that double as vocab/history lessons. Dumbledore is supposed to seem bumbling (it has dumb in it and means bumblebee). Sirius is a pun for serious and is a clue for his animagus form (the grim, canis major) and astrology names are traditional in his family. Fawkes the phoenix is named after a traitor who has a holiday named after him; in some translations it is Felix, but that doesn't have nearly the same level of merry defiance imo. I think Hermione is supposed to have a difficult name in the English version; it's supposed be a bit awkward and erudite (her parents are doctors who apparently like Shakespeare) and the connection to Hermes probably hints at her acumen...a common name that comes from Herman really would give a different character impression!
I remember learning as a kid that Joshua and Jesus came from the same name. That was funny.
This message was edited 3/14/2024, 12:07 PM
In one of the Scandinavian languages Tom is called Romeo something something.
Could that be more unsuitable? I think not! Anything goes when you're anagramming, no doubt, but still - no teenage sex object, he.