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Off topic: Do any of you own Harry Potter books in multiple languages?
Thread poster: Lucinda Hollenberg
Stephanie Wloch
Stephanie Wloch  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 09:58
Member (2003)
Dutch to German
How do you read the books then? Aug 9, 2007

Anne Patteet wrote:
I tried once to read the firt page, as people were telling me: "You're going to see, it's amazing, kids and adults love it juste the same".
Well, I didn't get to the end of the third page.

The same with me. There are more exciting and better written children books imho..
But I am very curious:
HOW do you guys read the books?
1. First in the foreign language then in your native language?
2. Or left side Italian right side English and then hopping and switching the whole time?
3. Or do you read some sentences to your kids in English and they must find it in Portuguese?
There are a lot of possibilites! I like the idea.

Just curious Steffi


 
Monika Rozwarzewska
Monika Rozwarzewska  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:58
Member (2006)
English to Polish
+ ...
English first Aug 9, 2007

Tuliparola wrote:
HOW do you guys read the books?
1. First in the foreign language then in your native language?


yes.


 
Lucinda Hollenberg
Lucinda Hollenberg  Identity Verified
Local time: 05:58
Dutch to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Harry Potter in different languages Aug 9, 2007

This is great! Thanks for carrying the thread on. I first read it in English because I cannot wait to know the rest of the story and then I read them in Dutch to get a feel of the translation. You know, kind of back translating as I read to see how well the translation is done.

Just for fun, nothing serious!

Now I ordered a couple in French. My French is no way that good to do a translation. I am just reading it in French to practice my reading in the language.
... See more
This is great! Thanks for carrying the thread on. I first read it in English because I cannot wait to know the rest of the story and then I read them in Dutch to get a feel of the translation. You know, kind of back translating as I read to see how well the translation is done.

Just for fun, nothing serious!

Now I ordered a couple in French. My French is no way that good to do a translation. I am just reading it in French to practice my reading in the language.

I hope one day to go through the Latin one.

Lucinda
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Katrin Lueke
Katrin Lueke  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 09:58
English to German
What do you think of the translations? Aug 10, 2007

I wonder what you all think of the translations of Harry Potter into your native languages?
The German translations are very good, I think.


 
Deborah do Carmo
Deborah do Carmo  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 08:58
Dutch to English
+ ...
Just a tool in my case Aug 10, 2007

Tuliparola wrote:

Anne Patteet wrote:
I tried once to read the firt page, as people were telling me: "You're going to see, it's amazing, kids and adults love it juste the same".
Well, I didn't get to the end of the third page.

The same with me. There are more exciting and better written children books imho..
But I am very curious:
HOW do you guys read the books?
1. First in the foreign language then in your native language?
2. Or left side Italian right side English and then hopping and switching the whole time?
3. Or do you read some sentences to your kids in English and they must find it in Portuguese?
There are a lot of possibilites! I like the idea.

Just curious Steffi


My daughters are both teenagers (14 and 15), so I use it mainly as a tool - especially during the three-month summer holiday here - for them to keep up their written English (because they go to Portuguese schools).

Yes, there are far better written books, but it works here and that's the main thing for me.

We have a "rule" in the house that a least an hour a day has to be spent reading or writing in English in the school holidays - they basically do whatever else they want otherwise. The older one chooses to keep up her German and Maths as well, the younger one prefers lazing by the pool. But they both read a lot, in both Portuguese and English, and that's important.

One approach is to take a specific passage from either the Portuguese or Afrikaans version and translate that into English, half a page, a page - whatever takes their fancy, no pressure - and then I "revise" the translations and we compare it to the English version to see where improvements could be made and/or how the Portuguese/Afrikaans versions strayed from the originals.

Neither of them are planning on becoming translators, but understand the need to keep up their English writing skills.

Watching episodes of Friends (for example) in English with the English subtitles switched on for reading/spelling exercise, or one of the masses of books I buy for them, or writing short stories, e-mails/letters in English, which I check for them - whatever it takes to keep their English up.

I even have famous pop songs transcribed with exercises built around that.

Far more interesting than sitting with traditional textbooks.

[Edited at 2007-08-10 12:14]


 
Beatrice T
Beatrice T  Identity Verified
Italy
Member (2010)
German to Italian
+ ...
1: EN, German, Spanish, 2: EN, French, 3: EN, 4: Italian, 5: English, 6: EN, Italian, 7: EN Aug 10, 2007

I started reading HP in English. I finished the first book when I was in France, so I bought the second in French. It was very hard to read the second book, because so many names were translated into French (many more than in Italian). So at the beginning I just could not understand who the characters were.
Then I bought the third in English. Afterwards I bought the language I could find when I had finished a book - so now I have a mix of languages ed editions and no complete series.
... See more
I started reading HP in English. I finished the first book when I was in France, so I bought the second in French. It was very hard to read the second book, because so many names were translated into French (many more than in Italian). So at the beginning I just could not understand who the characters were.
Then I bought the third in English. Afterwards I bought the language I could find when I had finished a book - so now I have a mix of languages ed editions and no complete series.
I bought the first also in German and in Spanish, although I do not speak Spanish - I meant to read it all comparing with the English, but I haven't managed to finish yet.

I am currently reading the 7th book, obviously in English - the translation into Italian will be available in January 2008 I heard.

It must be exciting and terrible at the same time to translate Harry Potter, with so many people reading, comparing, criticizing and blaming you for not translating faster!
I think the Italian translations are generally very good, nonetheless I prefer reading it in the the original language.
I find it very interesting to compare the translations of names and specific terms like charm names. It must have been the hardest part for translators and editors.
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Lidia Sagalchik
Lidia Sagalchik
Local time: 11:58
English to Russian
+ ...
1-7 in English, 1-6 in Russian Oct 4, 2007

I am a big Harry Potter fan but I think I would not have become one had I been reading the series in Russian first. The official Russian version is no good, Rowling's peculiar language is part of the book's charm (imho) and it is completely lost in Russian. However there can be found an alternative translation into Russian in the Internet authored by Masha Spivak.This translation is terrific

 
Lincoln Hui
Lincoln Hui  Identity Verified
Hong Kong
Local time: 16:58
Member
Chinese to English
+ ...
Only the English Feb 21, 2021

Started in English and never interested in the other languages. It does make things harder when you see people referring to stuff in the books using their Chinese names.

These books must have been a major pain to translate, but apart from the devilish spell names, I've heard that both the Chinese and Japanese versions contain quite a number of errors.


 
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