Harry Potter and the translator's nightmare

Accio Harry Potter translations!
Translating the Harry Potter books written by J.K. Rowling, in over 60 languages around the world, was not for the faint of heart or vocabulary.
Translators didn't have advanced copies of the books to get a headstart and these books could take months to adapt from English. They also had to be clever in their solutions because the books are filled with wordplays, invented words, puns, British culture references, riddles, and more.
The longest book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, at 870 pages was published June 21, 2003. The first translation of it was ready July 21, 2003. Translators had to work day and night to have them ready for eager readers. Even then, fans still banded together to create illegal translations of the series.
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[@nicoleee3358]

You know your book is popular when it is translated from english to english.

[@robenkhoury7079]

😂

[@usernameisallfull]

Ikr 😂

[@farzana_shampa]

Haha

[@Leyendlink]

​@@cbiaplus8218 'cause american english is only spoken in USA... of course. i just believe that a more neutral english is better for all us around the world. Read the original is greate, but for many no native speakers of english would be easy to understand a neutral english version.

[@Ryno_D1no]

@@cbiaplus8218 Lol you know what's funny? You. I mean your a walking joke bud🙃 They adapt books to cultures to make them more relatable. Americans can understand British English but don't relate to it. Someone says crisp we know those are chips but we call them chips. Only educated people can realize the hidden reasons and economics behind these changes.

[@shintapp]

In my country the translator simply gave up the "I am Voldemort" anagram and decided to just leave a footnote 😂

[@christinesitu7821]

Same because it just doesn’t work in Chinese 😂

[@kindesgedanke]

In Germany the translator changed his middle name to make it fit.

[@tosterka]

I find it totally ok and quite don't understand such efforts in changing his name in translations just to fit the anagramme. Like, really, the words "I am" are quite easy to get even for those who are not best in English. Practically in most countries of the world children nowadays learn it so it is not something exotic or not understable. Even more that it is constantly underlined in the series that the characters talk in English and most of the plot happens in the UK. In my Polish version of the book the anagramme is also left in original and no one ever had any problem with that.

[@DanielDia_s]

In brazilian portuguese: Tom Servolo Riddle = Eis Lord Voldemort (something like Here is Lord Voldemort)

[@bartvanesseveldt8623]

Tom Riddle is in Dutch "Marten (middlename) Villijn"

[@msdenise1234567]

I’ll never get over Americans needing an American translation of an ENGLISH BOOK

[@mantistoboggan5171]

their ignorance of everything outside the usa is astounding.

[@PopCornJamie]

it’s really not that hard to believe. if i asked you to “tic me a dart while i get my togs oi” you’d probably need a translation too even though im speaking english

[@msdenise1234567]

@@PopCornJamie That's probably because I'm Dutch

[@mantistoboggan5171]

@Yeah Itsme how is british culture irrelevant to americans in the 90's?.................. it's because of their ignorance!

[@hermionegranger7951]

Lots of Americans would understand most of the book, but there are a few phrases and words that mean totally different things to Americans. And the first few books were written for a younger audience that probably isn’t too familiar with British English.

[@lorenzsanjuan]

"Dumbledore asks calmly" I wonder where warner bros. got their translation for this

[@IDKidkidkidk-lz9mt]

Very underrated comment

[@IDKidkidkidk-lz9mt]

Wow saying this on a comment with almost 0 likes makes it blow up within days

[@somerandomasshole4561]

This comment is absolute golden 😂

[@CarpetHater]

It just works better for the movie, dumbledore in the movies is a lot more aggresive and stylish, while in the books he is soft but wise.

[@weee2861]

HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAAH

[@joojoobat]

I never knew that Quidditch stood for the names of the balls O_O.

[@atikahrockslikecrazy]

JuJuBat same!

[@HannahWoodardLockaby]

Me neither! I had to pause the video for a minute and have a Mind=Blown moment...

[@atikahrockslikecrazy]

Hannah Woodard you learn something new about harry potter everyday!

[@thomassmells]

JuJuBat Actually the balls names came from the sport. Rowling has said on a documentary, I think, before that she was writing random words down on paper to get it. she knew she wanted it to start with q though

[@Visocacas]

Yeah, I bet you didn't notice that the pokémon Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres have the Spanish numbers _uno_, _dos_, and _tres_ in their names either.

[@lounesz.5156]

In the French translation "Sorting Hat" is "Choixpeau". "Chapeau" means "hat" but he added "choix" which means "choice" I always thought it was very clever ^^

[@nady2296]

Yes ! On that word, I always thought that the french word was better than the original one

[@robertofontiglia4148]

Also worth a mention : in the original English, the emblem of the house of Ravenclaw is an Eagle, which I never thought of as confusing at all, because in the French that I first read, the house is translated into "Serdaigle" -- litterally Eagle's Claw. When I saw people complaining that the emblem of Ravenclaw should be a raven, I was like "but why a Raven when there's eagle in the name... Oh wait..."

[@nae-yf2hl]

Me too lol

[@AlexisMaria]

Interesting!

[@CarolineeHammer]

The Norwegian translation did the same - Valghatten. "Valg" meaning choice or election, and "hatten" meaning the hat, lit. the choice hat.

[@s8x2n6]

As a translator I can tell you these problems are extremely wide-spread and far from unique to Harry Potter. So even if HP is a great example of the struggles translators face, other books have similar aspects. Espcially the "translating this from a culture to another"... that is literally an aspect of every single translation ever. Lastly: thanks for showing the hardships of translation, transaltors are way too often forgotten about and when we're not, we're being criticised. This made me happy :)

[@Blaqjaqshellaq]

Translation is the most underappreciated craft in literature. (The most important books have more readers in translation than in their original language!)

[@krystal3721]

Are you a spoken translator or do you stick to written? I'm learning French and am curious about becoming a translator so its really cool you have experience

[@schmules101]

@@krystal3721 spoken translation is interpretation (it's a different discipline/skillset entirely)

[@idek7438]

Being a literary translator is my dream job and I actually like translating books as a hobby. I've been working on my translation of A song of Ice and Fire into Italian for like three years now.

[@imokin86]

@@krystal3721 these are two different jobs and skill sets. I do both, but that's rather odd I must say. These skills overlap, but very little. It's like playing harp in an orchestra and moonlighting as a metal drummer.

[@petra317]

In hungarian they changed Voldemort’s name to “Tom Denem” (for the anagram in chamber of secrets) and we can broke it down to “Tom de nem” which means “Tom but not” and i just find it brilliant considering his past and how he never wanted to be known as Tom

[@user-dh1yq5cz9v]

ooh that's super cool!! i love tom's history and story, that's a genius way of going about that conundrum

[@thequeertelope7941]

- are you tom? - well yes, but actually no

[@funnythehaha]

“What’s your name?” “Tom But Not”

[@TheSilverwing999]

That's very cool!

[@disappointedbutnotsurprised17]

And then there's the hindi dub with "pitradev sanrakshanam"

[@danielmorgan104dm]

what was the point in america translating it from english to english. like what the hell

[@liviuvelichi6847]

Because 'Murica

[@eleanorburnham3713]

BECAUSE FREEDOM

[@aminatabi]

XdanielZ99 Because they stole our language and left all the Us behind

[@londynharris6438]

XdanielZ99 there's a cultural difference between America and England. Like they changed loo to bathroom, crisps to chips, and philosopher's to sorcerer's. There weren't any story changes tho, just a few word changed to cater to an American audience

[@aminatabi]

Londyn Harris Oh thanks, I get that

[@nickzardiashvili624]

Harry Potter translators: Boy, this is more difficult than I thought. Alice in Wonderland translators: Well, I have to rewrite an entire book.

[@alyssahayes1716]

Nick Zardiashvili XD

[@sorestedhebytheTumtumtree]

'twas brillig and slithy toves

[@gregoireduplanil-weill4180]

Meanwhile, Perec translators feel like reinventing their own languages

[@terezacervenakova3512]

Terry Pratchett translators: loosing their will to live in distance

[@icecreamsandwich7522]

1984 translators: literally have to create a different language

[@mariazapata1606]

I remember the a joke from a translator post saying something like '' If the book sell well, all the credits goes to the author. But if the book doesn't sell well, all the blamed goes to the translator " ouch.

[@SlimTakesYou]

In the Norwegian translation, all names, places, spells etc. (2000 names) have been translated into Norwegian. The translator, an expert in classic English, did not want Norwegian kids to miss out on the many puns and wordplays of the various names, so he made Norwegian equivalents

[@avantika_singh]

That's wonderful

[@ZackRekeSkjell]

The Norwegian translation is simply brilliant! I hear many people complain about being confused by all the names, but reading them as a child they definitely give you a much better context.

[@ipotato7664]

@@ZackRekeSkjell Still kinda upset about "Rumpledunk" tho-

[@ZackRekeSkjell]

@@ipotato7664 I love how rumpeldunk sounds!

[@ipotato7664]

@@ZackRekeSkjell HOW

[@TheJuhi90]

The finnish translator even won an award for her excellent job at translating the books and you don't even mention her? smh...

[@poromega6698]

Yeah, I think that the Finnish translator Jaana Kapari did an excellent job by translating the wizarding words in Finnish...

[@mrmoi9838]

Suomi mainittu torilla tavataan

[@ngvot]

same, I was waiting for them to mention Finnish translations :((

[@ollum1]

@Expert Sleepers if it is about the translation, it should be noted that the TRANSLATION was so good it got a prize

[@ljooni]

Then there'd be lots of us here, complaining about the butchered spelling so idk, seems like a smart choice to skip.

[@daffo595]

Meaning that every translated book you've read has been written twice, you're not just reading the original author but the translator's take on the original author. It makes me wonder how much we actually miss when not reading the original text. I have such huge respect for translators, they have such huge challenges when translating a book, trying to retain the original nuance of the book.

[@Maxwaehrens]

Daph Duck this is why I only read literature in English now days, not only do I enjoy language more, but the text most likely won't be translated compared if I were to read only translated to Danish.

[@jacobyamamoto856]

Maxwaehrens

[@suhashoysala3807]

There was a writer (his name escapes me right now) who read Don Quixote in English and absolutely LOVED the translation. So much so that he learned Spanish just so he could read the book in the original language... and thought that it was poorly written. Point is, you can look at it in the other direction as well, that translators sometimes open up a world far more beautiful than the original creators.

[@TheGeneralJos]

And hence is a problem with the modern Christian and Catholic Bible

[@theguythatcoment]

That's a big reason on why one must learn several languages. "Brave new World" is not the same book as "Un Mundo Feliz", "Die Verwandlung" is not the same book as "The Metamorphosis" and "Cien Años de Soledad" is not the same book as "Hundert Jahre Einsamkeit"

[@GeaForce]

If Harry Potter was a transator's nightmare, Shakespeare was a translator's night terror

[@mishmishstudio]

@@milo8871 They are two different things. They happen in different sleep cycles, they are experienced differently physically, especially as you don't wake up from night terrors but you do from a nightmares

[@NapaCat]

@@insulam821 not always

[@Padfoot04]

Imagine calling Voldemort "Romeo"?

[@luisagf1385]

Juliet be like: I'd poison myself for the Dark Lord

[@vignotum132]

Juliet Lestrange

[@utkarsh3708]

@@luisagf1385 🤣

[@_se3_thru9h_9]

In french, his middle name is Elvis.

[@ShankarSivarajan]

The concept of philosophy is more alien to Americans than sorcery?!

[@banaroklionrage9536]

i guess so wizardry and sorcery come up every year around Halloween nobody care for philosophy ever.

[@JasonHook9]

Shankar Sivarajan The concept of philosophy in relation to magic is definitely not prevalent in America. So when you're trying to sell a book about magic to an American audience, using the term sorcerer over philosopher gives the buyer a better idea what the book is about, therefore generating more sales. Americans know what philosophy is, we're just less likely to buy a book on it for our children.

[@user-gw6pv2ry5c]

philosophy is something American students are taught at 10 years of age and Rowling targeted a younger audience back then. I remember when in 3rd grade when my dad brought the original from Britain

[@catief1031]

I agree. I think most Americans are familiar with this definition "a person who offers views or theories on profound questions in ethics, metaphysics, logic, and other related fields". While in relations to the book, I think this definition fits better "an alchemist or occult scientist". ( source: dictionary.com )

[@qthoneydew]

Shankar Sivarajan precisely!

[@kaan732]

In my country "I AM LORD VOLDEMORT" was supposed to be "ADIM LORD VOLDEMORT" which means the translator needed an extra "D" so she changed Tom Marvolo Riddle's name to Tom Marvoldo Riddle which was brilliant in my opinion

[@evandrovoltolini8384]

In Brazilian Portuguese it was also simple to translate, but he became Tom Servolo Riddle, that becomes "Eu sou Lord Voldemort".

[@anielad8721]

Evandro Voltolini brilliant SERVOLO

[@ulasonal]

@@evandrovoltolini8384 lol

[@ulasonal]

TRTRTRTRTR

[@ravenvisser8680]

Sen ciddi misin??????

[@mindaraneras2679]

In Swedish "I am Lord Voldemort" is "Jag är Lord Voldemort". The ä was problematic so the translator changed the name to Tom Gus Mervolo Dolder, so that it could spell out "Ego sum Lord Voldemort", the latin phrase. Really clever if you ask me, especially since it still contains the pun (dold=hidden)!

[@mais_oui2301]

In Russia we got Tom Narvolo Reddle -> Lord Volan-de-Mort. Not bad at all huh? But wait for it, to make sure the reader DOES understand who are the bad guys here the translators also transformed poor Grindelwald into Grin-de-Wald lol -de- seems to be a typical villain sign!

[@marinamuller2385]

They could just have done it like it german, instead of saying „i am lord voldemort“ they used „is lord voldemort“, which required fewer letters. Quite clever. Using the latin version is pretty smart too, as it fits the latin magic system, but I think it might be hard for the kids to understand

[@joelthorstensson2772]

@@marinamuller2385 exactly, we don't get taught latin anymore, so that was kinda lost on us, I'll have to check the book.

[@Felixxxxxxxxx]

@@joelthorstensson2772 Latin has not really been taught since we changed from Catholicism in the 17th century, so no regular swedes would be expected to understand Latin unless they have studied medicine

[@hi-ve1cw]

Using latin was also a good idea cos that sounds wizardy and ancient and mysterious

[@ikweetgeennaam8839]

For the "Diagon Alley": In Dutch, they translated it to "Wegisweg". This is because the Dutch word 'weg' has two meanings: 'road' and 'gone'. So basically you can read it in several ways: the road is road, the road is gone, or gone is gone. I like it.

[@MydieLy]

This right there made my day! XD

[@franciscorendon2783]

killua

[@gildahobbs8829]

That would have worked in German as well, yet they just literally translated diagon alley as "Winkelgasse" :/ It's only nice that in the movie when Harry is travelling through the fireplace, his mumbled "Winkelgasse" actually sounds like "Ekelgasse" (disgusting alley), so it makes even more sense he ends up there :D

[@mikevisser2736]

Another (honestly more clumsy) alternative could have been Magi(e)straat, which is a word for magistrate, but also 'magic street'. I like Wegisweg though, it's more whimsical :-)

[@Dark_Aeon]

I’ve read the books both in polish and english and I must say that the translator did a FANTASTIC job translating the books. In each book he included a little dictionary at the end, thoroughly explaining origins of the english names and words created by Rowling and his thought process in translating them. I think he even contacted the author to get her approval on some stuff. His translations made the books easy to read and the dictionary was just additional info for the extra-curious. I used to love to read all the interesting details he’d included.

[@izabela6687]

Yeah, i love that he did it like that, it's much easier to just have many things original rather than changed

[@Schneeeulenwetter]

Dark Aeon this is great! would have been soo cool if they did the same in the German version

[@lenastorm6280]

@@Schneeeulenwetter Same!

[@leamalfoy35]

Palace of Brilliance Finde ich auch!

[@Indrea13]

That's amazing omg

[@XxMrDudexX]

Never understood why it was named Sorcerer's Stone in American. The real name for the mythical object is the Philosopher's Stone. no discussion. It's like calling the Holy Grail the Golden Cup.

[@zedxx]

It's dumbing down for US readers. It's also how Philip Pullman's Northern Lights was retitled to The Golden Compass for US readers lol.

[@DennisHou132]

After Scholastic has bought Harry Potter's rights to publish in America, they told Rowling that they'll swap "Philosopher" to "Sorcerer" in the American version because philosophy is associated with alchemy in Britain (not in American English), and Americans will not want to read a book with a "boring sounding name".

[@tsac1374]

Zed Adam Idris I didn't know that was the original title! But to my American ears, Northern Lights sounds like a non-fiction while Golden Compass seems more fantasy fiction. That and the large armored polar bear on the cover haha

[@Aiaisahorse123]

I've head that it's because many Americans don't know of the concept of the Philosopher's Stone, and Sorcerer's Stone would set the "magical" theme better for them.

[@HikariMichi42]

In that case, couldn't they just have titled the book "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" or "Harry Potter and the Stone of the Sorcerer" and then specified in the actual text that the object was really called the Philosopher's Stone? "Sorcerer's Stone" would have been like a kind of euphemism.

[@samixx6569]

I have to say, having read both the *british* version and the czech version (my native language), i always geek out over the translation. It is amazing, almost all the made up words were translated perfectly, even a lot of the puns retained their similiarity. I will forever be grateful for my language having propably one of the best translations.

[@kocotom]

Totally agreed! The Czech translation is outstanding. The only thing I don't like about Czech translation is that the name of Hermione's elfish society was translated as S.P.O.Ž.Ú.S., which does not have any meaning in Czech. Hermione was always angry when her friends called it 'spožús' instead of spelling each letter. I always wondered why she is so annoyed in such situations until I realized that the original name was 'S.P.E.W.'. Even Slovaks translated it as 'soploš', which I find fantastic.

[@romualdandrzejczak4093]

@@kocotom Polish version has W.E.S.Z(i.e. louse).

[@Ignisan_66]

And then we have Slovak translation which is one of the laziest and most half-assed of them all. As a Slovak I must say that Czech translation is one of the best. Fajné to máte bratia.

[@annayudelson]

In Russian translation Severus Snape turned into Severus Sneg because in Russian 'sever' means 'north' and 'sneg' sound close to a Russian word for snow. So the name didn't retain the original meaning but got another which is about Snape being a very cold, uncomfortable person. I think that works

[@moonlight19720]

это глупо на самом деле. не понимаю, почему все хейтят Спивак, если перевод Росмэн тоже оставляет желать лучшего

[@annayudelson]

@@moonlight19720 он не идеален, но всё же куда лучше Спивак. По крайней мере, в росмэн красивый язык. У Спивак он очень плохо адаптирован, как какой-то микс деревенского с высоким стилем. Люди так не говорят.

[@y.k.2143]

@@annayudelson с десяток раз перечитывал каждую книгу от РОСМЭН, и не замечал каких-то изъянов, можете рассказать что именно не понравилось в нем?

[@annayudelson]

@@y.k.2143 То, что он не идеален, не значит, что он мне не нравится) Очень хороший перевод. В нём есть минимальные недочёты. Например, в четвёртой части на Святочный балл в переводе надевали "мантии". Скорее всего, переводчики недопоняли, что gown на английском - это не только мантия, но и бальное платье. Это имеет куда больше смысла, на мой взгляд. Хотя, в волшебном сеттинге и мантия годится.

[@user-hy2dj1bh2l]

как раз хотела это написать!

[@booksbyleynes]

In the German translation, they translated „Exploding Snap“ to „Exploding Snape“. 😂😂

[@tina.InTheSkyWithDiamonds]

books by leynes YES! And nowadays, I always cringe at that 😅 But otherwise, I think they did a wonderful job with the German translation.

[@Magrat_Knoblauch]

I wanted to write that comment! o^o But yes, it's pretty funny, but I remember being so confused as a kid. Did the students really hate Snape so much they decided to invent a game with the purpose of making him explode? That seemed a bit tough for me but also would have explained the mutual dislike both students and Snape had for each other xD And then a few books later they played instead of "Exploding Snape" "Zauberschnippschnapp" and I was even more confused where Exploding Snape went. Oh well. :D

[@femebel4856]

We always played that Game in school and instead of snape we put our teachers names

[@lawrencewei3583]

If only it was true... Maybe for the first few books

[@bumbleli3845]

Lmao

[@ColossalRay]

Does anyone else feel a bit annoyed by the American version needing a translation? We had to grow up learning your slang, your terms. Seems only fair you should do the same. And is "philosopher" really a word too difficult for Americans to understand? It seems insulting both to the British cultural eradication and to the intelligence of Americans, don't you think?

[@caitlyn7310]

I would have been fine with any version i was handed.

[@lahdeedah87]

RL Gill when I learned about the change as a kid I thought 'why'd they change it? I can figure out what that means. I'm not dumb.' So trust me, there were many people on this side of the ocean equally confused.

[@princediop8190]

I knew what a philosopher was at a young age. I thought it was kind of dumb that they used sorcerer, but i don't see how this is disrespectful to British phonetics.

[@sswpp8908]

I remember hearing the reasoning having to do with Americans not being familiar with the myth of the "philosopher's stone" and that a kids would think that a book with 'philosopher' in the title sounds boring. To me, "philosopher's stone" is just as mystical sounding as "sorcerer's stone".

[@Lostpanda123]

RL Gill i want you to take a look at the current US election, and then decide for yourself if Americans are stupid or not. For the reasonings sake! Over 50% don't belive in Evolution!!! Of course they need to translate English to "English"!!

[@bommerlunder90]

In Germany, Langenscheidt actually published a dictionary for the Harry Potter books that explained all the meanings behind the names and the invented words and the puns. It was great! I found it very interesting! I'm still amazed by how much thought JKR put into every detail.

[@TheSilverwing999]

In Denmark they changed the name of Tom Riddle in chamber of secrets to make it fit the anagram and they kept it for the rest of the series. I actually really liked it. It felt more personal I guess. I'm glad our translator didn't just leave a footnote or something. So instead of him being Tom Marvolo Riddle. His name for us is Romeo Gåde Detlev junior. Gåde means riddle so they probably wanted to keep that around. Then they could say "Jeg er Voldemort", which means I am voldemort in Danish. They explain the absence of letters by saying the anagram was based on Romeo G. Detlev Jr. Our translator did an amazing job in general. Like all the professor's names are in Danish too and it's so awesome for kids. Professor sprout becomes Spire. Horace slughorn is Horatio Schnobbevom (ours basically means snob + big belly, which i absolutely adore 😂) They kept other things around like Quirrel, avada kedavra, hagrid, Mcgonagall and so on. Hogsmeade is still hogsmeade. Hermione, Ron, Harry. Lupin becomes lupus. Gilderoy Lockhart is Glitterik Smørhår. Can roughly be translated to Glittering Butter Hair. It's absolutely perfect 😂 Our book titles are also literal translations from English. Harry Potter og de vises sten. Harry potter og hemmelighedernes kammer. Harry potter og fangen fra azkaban. Harry potter og flammernes pokal. Harry potter og fønixordenen. Harry potter og halvblodsprinsen. Harry potter og dødsregalierne.

[@gameywarrior777]

Glittering Butter Hair is amazing

[@kitkat_5425]

Omg glittering butter hair 😂😂😂

[@axreason]

fun to compare with the Norwegian version! Romeo Gåde Detlev junior = Tom Dredolo Venster (Jeg er Fyrst Voldemort) Professor Spire = Professor Stikling Horatio Schnobbevom = Horatsion Snilehorn Lupus = Remus Lupus Glitterik Smørhår = Gyldeprinz Gulmedal (Gulmedal could mean golden valley but also be a play on the word for golden medal) de vises sten = de vises stein hemmelighedernes kammer = mysteriekammeret fangen fra azkaban = fangen fra azkaban flammernes pokal = ildbegeret fønixordenen = føniksordenen halvblodsprinsen = halvblodsprinsen dødsregalierne = dødstalismanene i don't think any of the major names stayed the same as the English ones, except Harry ofc.

[@sarahkieny2083]

Really love Vox and have always thought they have high quality content. But there's no excuse for that piss-poor excuse for calligraphy. It barely passes as cursive.

[@ProfessorSyndicateFranklai]

It barely passes for normal writing. I can't even read that.

[@ordinarytree4678]

Sarah Kieny NEEEEEERRRRRD

[@2dosochikano482]

Ordinary Tree whats wrong with being a nerd

[@christophermiller8381]

Because it means you're a weirdo with no friends. It doesn't mean you like Harry Potter or comic books, or whatever.

[@2dosochikano482]

***** and how would you know that

[@laurab247]

You know the game Exploding Snap from the books? In German it was mistranslated into "Snape Explodiert" meaning "Snape explodes" Once the translators realized that the game wasn't about blowing up the teacher they changed it to "Zauberschnippschnapp", but all books printed prior to 2004 still have the mistranslation.

[@winonadaphne6445]

S CH N I P P S C H A P P

[@jellyacw8751]

loll snape explodes

[@lumossk3657]

But seriously what the heck were they thinking. It's magic and all, but they were pretty ok with such gory meaning

[@cecilj1930]

I was really confused, cause my books 1 to 4 had 'Snape explodiert' and books 5 to 7 had 'Zauberschnippschnapp' I was like ' what the heck are they playing now?' until I realized it was the same. (Though in my head snape explodiert is still like tick tack bumm and Zauberschnippschnapp is a convoluted game of rock paper scissors)

[@DragonFang409]

SNAPE *E X P L O D E S*

[@cojamowie]

In Poland, we had a whole small section at the end of the books where the translator explained some od historia choices. That's why every kid reading was aware of his work. Always thought it was brilliant! :)

[@kinaadman7584]

In the Philippines, the translations.... does not exist.

[@Khatulistiwan]

Bcos Pinoys allowed English to replace their native languages

[@icecreamsandwich7522]

Impossible. Perhaps the archives are incomplete.

[@caoisekamay1175]

​@@Khatulistiwan If by 'allowed' you mean forced 'education' by American imperialists... And btw the Philippines still has 170+ native languages today. English has far from replaced them.

[@lahasainaypayaso3386]

There is a Filipino translation. but it was never published in public. for unknown reason EDIT: So I realized that i'm quite wrong, the Filipino translation of HP is already been available in MIBF. but it was only the first book (Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone) that was been translated. and unfortunately it's now rare to find. I think it gets out of stock now cause it's hard to find online and it was always 'unavaible'.

[@vinny9868]

Tagalog literature is a joke.

[@lunav8026]

One thing that bothers me is that in the spanish translation Snape never says his iconic " always". He simply awnsers to Dumbledore saying " yes, after all this time". Why on earth change that?

[@vagabaassassina3461]

I'm brazillian and didn't even know that

[@SieMiezekatze]

dunno I read the Spanish version and I don't feel rage, it was a great book, you never have the chance to compare phrase by phrase anyway

[@Ana-tk8iv]

Wow, I can't believe this. Like, it's understandable when there's no direct translation from one language to another, but they could've simply translated it to "siempre". It's not that hard, c'mon.

[@vagabaassassina3461]

@@Ana-tk8iv Yes 😭

[@Dyno_98]

"Always" was more iconic because of the way it was presented on the film, it wasn't such a special moment on the books

[@jackguin2352]

the french versions are my favorite because all the titles translate exactly into english...except for the first one, "harry potter à l'ecole des sorciers", or (directly) "harry potter at wizard school". also the french word for wand is "baguette magique" (baguette has a lot of meanings but generally means "stick" and is used to refer to things that are that shape) and they usually just say "baguette" so it's really funny to imagine everyone carrying around bread all the time

[@soIeils]

MAGICAL BREAD

[@tlotpwist3417]

@@soIeils Try this one Monsieur Poteur, 28 cm White flour Chocolate bar in its core (I called it Chocobaguettine) It is étrange that this baguette's sister is the one You Know Who used for his first breakfast at Hogwarts, years ago

[@joy7367]

I always see comments like that from non French speakers and it's funny how I never thought about bread, I mean, for me a "baguette magique" is just a wand. but now I can't unsee it 😂

[@mrpellagra2730]

MAGIC BREAD

[@shivermetimbers6128]

Didn't J.K. Rowling translate the first book into French herself?

[@mamagoosey]

As a hobbyist translator myself, the pains are REAL.

[@louiskarabum5936]

And also. They translated 'calmly' into 'angrily'

[@FFriday]

hahahah classic

[@ThePizza28]

In French, Gryffindor is translated to Gryffondor, which phonetically means "Gryphon d'or", Golden Griffin in English. Knowing that JK speaks French and created many names based on French (Voldemort means Death Theft/Flight, Lestrange means The Strange..) She most likely based Gryffindor's name on French aswell. Edit : Fixed some spelling and added some info.

[@lauramasini3428]

I think you are definetly right. By the way, in italian is the same as french: Grifondoro.

[@ingwerschorle_]

Voldemort = Death Theft is not confirmed I think

[@meganoldfield9365]

She based it on latin٫ so its closely linked to a lot of latin based languages٫ though I do doubt specific french reference.

[@Zavendea]

@@meganoldfield9365 The spell names are based on Latin. Some of the characters' names are based on Latin (Minerva, Severus, Albus, etc.) However, Griffindor is much more similar to "Gryphon d'or" than "Gryps aureus" (the Latin translation. Similarly, "Voldemort" is literally "vol de mort", which means flight/theft of death in French. Flight of death would be "Volatus mortis" and theft of death would be "Furtum mortis". Clearly, it looks like it's from French. Originally, Rowling wanted Voldemort to have a silent t. You can hear that in the first few audiobooks.

[@sassyantelope5622]

I know this is late but it’s Gryffindor, not Griffindor.

[@JesseLH88]

Okay, but the real question is: how would you translate grey poupon?

[@laketuna]

JesseLH88 Grey Poupon is a proper noun, and I don't think it's a wordplay. So, just the same?

[@priceless2353]

Youn Kim that joke just gave you a haircut by how it just flew over your head

[@noelmorelli]

lmao gray poupon , from last vox video

[@a.g9586]

Some Russian quirks: 1. Voldemort got changed to Volan-de-mort. the only explanation I have for such a change is to make a reference to Voland/Woland from The Master and Margarita, who is the literal Devil. 2. Gryffindor and Slytherin stay more or less the same but Hufflepuff becomes "Puffendui" and Ravenclaw "Kogtevran"(raven's claw) founded by Penelope Puffendui and Kandida Kogtevran. 3. Snape depending on which translation you read is "Severus Snegg"(Severus Snoww?) or "Zloteus Zlei"(Villainus Evil?).

[@l.n.3372]

For the Snape one, I'm guessing snow because he's "cold, harsh"

[@violetta698]

The most ridiculous part of this was that an "American English" translation exists lol But honestly I've never thought about how nightmarish it would be for translators to adapt it to different countries and cultures, the books are filled to the brim with so many word plays.

[@Rebecca-vg2ef]

The worst part is that they changed it to Sorcerer's stone which is not a thing (I mean, Philosopher's stones don't exist anyway but Alchemists were trying to make them)

[@violetta698]

@@Rebecca-vg2ef yeah that's such an unnecessary change, I always found that weird... Do Americans not know what a philosopher is or what 😭😭

[@queenjeski591]

@@violetta698 their worry was that americans wouldn’t know what it meant and that’s why they changed it. jk rowling has said that she deeply regrets letting them change the name for the us version.

[@agent_sus3273]

@@queenjeski591 Yeah, that really confused me when I first learned the original version had a different title... Even when I was 10 and first reading the book I would have understood that...

[@l.n.3372]

@@queenjeski591 That's not the reason I read. I heard it was because they feared the book would be less popular because philosopher doesn't sound as "cool" as a sorcerer. But in the modern day, Full Metal Alchemist has popularized philosophers stone to the point where it's cool nowadays.

[@melancholyRed]

There are several Russian translations, and in one of them Severus Snape was translated as Злодеус Злей, which would be something like Villainus Evil. Imagine how Harry would have to name his son Villainus!

[@dashrubberbear]

Северус Снегг тоже было довольно тупо

[@rachelladue1572]

didnt he anyways tho? lol severus isnt much better, still a pretty weird harsh name, at least villainus is so over the top you dont even have to pretend to take it seriously

[@natalieclark5789]

“Albus Villainus Potter, you were named after two headmasters of Hogwarts”

[@khaledb8618]

Spivak ujasna.

[@evgenkhersonets880]

It's actually in the latest translation. In the first he is named as Severus Snow.

[@pingu9951]

Ah yes the sherbet lemon, the most popular candy in the UK... Circa 1900

[@mimimurlough]

I think they translated it to Lemon Sorbet in swedish. Much confusion ensued.

[@bluesailormercury]

In the Latin American dub of the movies, McGonagall said "lemon pie" (pastel de limón)

[@CelebrianUndomiel]

Dumbledore probably is that old though haha

[@hexyko4850]

@@CelebrianUndomiel He is older!

[@hanhvu6435]

in the vietnamese book it's lemon candy (kẹo chanh)

[@ANGL_A]

Kudo's to the Dutch translator! I always thought J.K. Rowling gave the translator some kind of explanation as to how she got the names, because most were spot-on.

[@marijevanachteren3886]

Quidditch = zwerkbal! Hogwarts = Zweinstein! Dumbledore = Perkamentus! Hermione = Hermelien! Diagonalley = Wegisweg!!! (street is away) Malfoy = Malfidus

[@julecaesara482]

In my Country "I am Voldemort" was supposed to be "Ich Bin Lord Voldemort". However, Tom Bchilnoorv Riddle was not exactly an option, and so they went with "Tom Vorlost Riddle ist Lord Voldemort" which would translate back to "Tom Marvolo Riddle is Lord Voldemort" which I thought quite clever.

[@Rebecca-vg2ef]

I actually always prefered that. It ties up more nicely because the whole thing makes one sentence

[@yomommasofatthanoshadtosna3479]

Germany? That's pretty clever, actually.

[@adelinakolpaktsi1827]

The title should of been ‘Harry Potter and the cursed translation’ 😂

[@MsBlulucky]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, English is not my first language, but shouldn't it be "should HAVE been"?

[@Isabellatrix110]

@@MsBlulucky you're absolutely right :)

[@AyushGupta-yj8jz]

@@MsBlulucky uh, autocorrect always makes 'shouldve' to 'should of'

[@kaninavy3119]

They had the chance and they blew it 😂

[@mantistoboggan5171]

@@MsBlulucky good on you for actually knowing that. judging from her name, it seems english isn't their first language, but a huge number of people that only speak english get this wrong too.

[@JuanMPalacio]

I didn’t realize Knockturn Alley was a pun on “nocturnally” until watching this video. And Hogwarts as an orphanage makes no sense. So many characters’ families are mentioned from the moment that they are introduced.

[@anthonyrobertson7062]

Juan Palacio I doubt any English native ever realized or got ALL those play on words in English.

[@13thxenos]

I thought it was some place that girls got knocked up.

[@rdtamin7388]

I didn't get the Diagon Alley pun either. Is it a joke among the British?

[@DobbyFreeElf]

@@rdtamin7388 Diagon Alley sounds like "Diagonally"

[@ihorlahoda4100]

Juan Palacio It’s a mistake in the video or something, I know it’s not true cuz I’ve read the Ukrainian version and there was nothing said about an «orphanage»

[@livhollender7135]

My cousin’s grandma actually translated the Harry Potter books to Swedish, Lena fries Gedin

[@vilmaattinen]

In Finnish books Hufflepuff is translated really well! It's "Puuskupuh" Puusku is like when you've done a lot of work and you can just relax, you can "puuskahtaa" Puh is there maybe because of its like connected to Puusku or then it just sounds good idk But any case the name refers to how hardworking Hufflepuffs are

[@louisacoote2337]

Also puff, to release breath during/after effort ties in nicely.

[@hi-ve1cw]

Hadworking, chill, and cosy. That word perfectly describes hufflepuffs!

[@ericko5232]

I like the spanish translation to Death eater "Mortífago" Sounds darker to me

[@kilimlicenciada5946]

Agreed

[@lauramora6047]

Yea, the translation in spanish is very good , using latin as a resource

[@SOAD4ever47]

Latin languages are the best. Greetings from cousin portuguese

[@rafaellabaez5630]

Same

[@wolfsbane1991]

Well yeah, Spanish is based on latin, and Morti (death) and fago (to eat) are latin words. And latin always sounds cool and magical

[@willparkinson]

Oh god that intro is so out of tune.

[@allwellallgood5947]

i have to replay that bit. just have to.. 😂

[@Arian545]

I think that was the point

[@DanTheCaptain]

Will Parkinson That is the point.

[@SuperHoeCakes]

I'm not sure if anyone has told you yet, but that's sort of the point.

[@sign333b]

im sure someone already said it, but that's the point.

[@kagomeakira9706]

Just a few to mention: 🇭🇺 *Severus Snape* in hungarian became *Perselus* (which is similar to the alchemist named Paracelsus) *Piton* 🇭🇺 Hogwarts became *Roxfort* 🇭🇺The founders: *Griffendél Godrik❤️, Hollóháti Hedvig 💙, Mardekár Malazár💚 and Hugrabug Helga* 💛 🇭🇺Tom Marvolo Riddle is *Tom Rowle Denem.* He says: A nevem Lord Voldemort. 🇭🇺And my favorite Diagon Ally became *Abszol út* which means abszolút=absolute. it's basically Abszol Street. 😁

[@sandradermark8463]

The street where you can find the Pokémon Absol 😅

[@lana89001]

I just want to say that in Russian “Harry” is “Garry”

[@goldpaulike5304]

Because the "h" is pronounced as "g" in russian, and in Ukrainian is the complete opposite where the "g" is pronounced as "h".

[@lurji]

@@goldpaulike5304 its actually because russian lacks /h/ and in loanwords that sound is replaced with /g/ as the closest approximation because the /x/ it has is "too harsh." as for ukrainian, its orthography didnt keep up with the sound shift that lenited /g/ into /ɦ/ so thats why the letter with the value /g/ in russian has the value /ɦ/ in ukrainian

[@danielcuevas5899]

Reminds me of Hannibal and Gannibal

[@owlnemo]

Reading various translations of Harry Potter is a great way to learn a language. I knew the French books so well that I then was able to read them in English with not much difficulty, and it was crucial to my learning of the language. I then read the first two books in German since I needed to become more fluent, and I read the first one in Spanish when staying in Colombia for a month (it helped me aquire vocabulary as well as a basic understanding of Spanish grammar). I would definitely recommend this method.

[@Schneeeulenwetter]

owlnemo i did the same for Spanish! (read the harry potter books.) And i tried it in French, but could never finish the book. then for english I read Percy Jackson first in English and then in German and was like: woah almost the same. » really helped me to learn English. it’s true you learn so many synonyms or literary words. the other day I listened to Aladin in German and I was surprised how many elevated words they used in thei telling.

[@petersoda8787]

I'm doing that for Italian, it's super helpful, especially since I practically know the English version by heart haha.

[@turtle4llama]

This is exactly what I did. It's a comfy, easy read that let's you focus on the right sort of things.

[@emmarose2671]

That’s what I’m doing right now! I’m reading the Spanish version and I hope to finish by the end of the summer

[@brennanmartin808]

owlnemo How many languages do you know?!

[@steinismo]

The brazilian translator who adapted the books to brazilian portuguese was praised by jk rowling herself for the creativity on translating terms and names to potuguese!

[@karimromero3603]

Right! That's because she lived in Porto, Portugal. She also was married with a Portuguese. The translation to Portuguese was easier for her when in touch with Portuguese as a language and culture.

[@claraborgesbr]

Came to say the same! I feel like the Houses' names are super clever!

[@lauramoreira4439]

serio? que doido

[@kevinkite3418]

Brazilian portuguese is amazing! The translation is wonderful.

[@matteushideki5803]

He really did a great job, specially with quadribol (quidditch) and its balls, besides the name changes as Severus to Severo and Albus to Alvo, although I feel like Hagrid's accent was lost in translation.

[@altherebot5593]

Gracias Spanish translator fo keeping most of the original words intact. You’re a unknown hero for many generations.

[@currymouse]

Americans trying to understand the complicated language known as British : *screaming*

[@monkeymox2544]

5:15 "Dundee is in the Northern part of England." Oh dear :/ that's going to annoy some Scottish people.

[@ngvot]

I'm not even scottish but it annoyed me so much :D

[@dansweatman3333]

and "Yorkshire is in the South of England"

[@francesatty7022]

@@dansweatman3333 well everyone knows everything south of hadriens wall is southern england, and everything north of it is northern england, obviously! (sarcasm)

[@sofsnoodles]

ikr

[@ceilidh1405]

Came here looking for this comment. As a Dundonian this hurt 😂😭

[@lauramasini3428]

In italian, Dumbledore is translated to Silente (which literally means "silent"). So it's Albus Silente. Do I like it? Yes. Does it make sense? No.

[@yarpen26]

"Did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire, Harry?" Dumbledore asked calmly. ... "Harry! Harry! DYDYAPUTYORNAYMINDAGOBLETOFFAYER???!!!"

[@Deuchnord]

@@yarpen26 "Silente asked calmly" 🤔

[@idek7438]

I love the Italian translation so much. They did such a great job with the characters' names. McGonagall and Longbottom never sound quite right to me haha

[@h34tg]

@@Deuchnord 🤣🤣

[@menopriezvisko94]

In Czech, Dumbledore is translated to "Brumbál". It doesn't have any meaning.

[@2995K]

This is so great, the Dutch translation is very well done as well!! He's really captured the humour and the atmosphere and translated that to dutch. One translation that I especially like is that of 'Horcruxes': in Dutch it's 'Gruzielementen'. Gruzelementen (without the 'i' after the 'z') means that you've shattered something to a million pieces, but he added the 'i', making it 'ziel', which means 'soul'. So it literally means 'shattered soul'. 🤯

[@Zavvorov]

In polish translation at the end of each book we had additional chapter from translator who described his struggles and choices. Pretty interesting lecture every time :)

[@BankruptMonkey]

There's a ton of cultural references to the point that a lot of the magical uniqueness to the world turned out to just be British things.

[@rachelladue1572]

so true! I think about this a lot. Especially in regards to the boarding school system, like i only found out recently that splitting the school into 'houses' is actually a very normal thing that a bunch of boarding schools do, i always assumed it was a specifically fantasy concept.

[@DECODEDVFX]

@@rachelladue1572 It's not just fancy schools either. British state schools tend to split year groups into separate "teams" too. In my school, each year was split into two bands (A band and B band), and I only ever got lessons with kids in my band. It was a purely administrative though, there wasn't really the same competitiveness amongst bands that you see in private school houses.

[@rebeccablue4818]

@@rachelladue1572 It's not just boarding schools. It was actually more bizarre to me to find out there were school that don't have houses. My primary school had 4 (Yellow, Green, Blue, and Red), and my secondary added a 5th Purple house that was dropped when I was in year 8 due to how less students were coming in. They had different names at each school, and named after vaguely famous/important people from the area.

[@hail9794]

@@DECODEDVFX We do that in all schools in our country. It's a very normal things and helps teacher in bigger schools. I never understood having everyone together if there is 15 or more students.

[@imokin86]

Don't they do bands and such in all countries? Here in Russia they do, every school has two to four groups in each year, 20 to 30 students in each. But there is no special identity attached to each band through the years, unless they have, say, different language classes.

[@TheLJShow-ys8wr]

In India they turned spells to Sanskrit

[@iamcleaver6854]

Great idea. I wonder if they turned them to classical Chinese in the orient.

[@requiem5398]

@@iamcleaver6854 That's not a great idea. Spells should be left in Latin, as proposed.

[@iamcleaver6854]

@@requiem5398 In Europe, Latin is associated with magic. I doubt it is so in India.

[@yarpen26]

@@iamcleaver6854 Umm... since when? Latin is associated with antiquity, legalism and maybe mystery but not of the purely magic variant. Most of the trademark spells that circulated before the times of Harry Potter were either made-up gibberish ("Abracadabra" or "Hocus-Pocus") or two poem verses.

[@sukritidash9358]

@@iamcleaver6854 😕😕😕 you are really

[@gpeddino]

The Portuguese versions (from Brazil and from Portugal) also differ substantially. Lia Wyler, the Brazilian translator, adapted some of the names (the houses became Grifinória, Sonserina, Lufa-Lufa and Corvinal, and the game became Quadribol) while the Portuguese version mostly kept them in their original form.

[@hannah8454]

5:14 ‘dundee is in the northern part of england’ that’s news to me because the last time i checked dundee is in scotland

[@usagi9303]

I've never read the Harry Potter series in English, only in Japanese. It always came with a paper that's basically a Muggle's guide to the story and stuff. There was always a small part in those pieces of paper where the translator shared her frustration while she was translating. I remember that she wrote how she couldn't figure out a way on how to translate Hagrid's accent while she was translating. It always made me chuckle. Also, in the Japanese version, they don't change any of the food they eat in the story. (I think. I've never read the English version so correct me if I'm wrong) The Muggles guide had a section where it briefly summarized what king of food it was so you basically had to have that piece of paper beside you while you were reading. It was useful because all of the character's names where written on it as well so I could just look at it when I forgot who a character was.

[@tealwashablemarker8886]

Do you still have a sheet like this? I’d love to see a picture.

[@kpc211]

The Polish books also had a similar guide - with a page or two-long notice from the translator and then a glossary with various words being explained why they were translated so and not in a different way. At some places, the translator even apologized for earlier errors, or told about mistakes that weren't his fault (e.g. one of the owners of the Borgin&Burkes store in Knockturn Alley was named Burkes instead of Burke in the Polish version... because in the first book where this name appeared, it was mentioned only in the shop name and from that one couldn't know if he is named Burke or Burkes). Still, I guess, not as good as the Japanese one.

[@TheOnlyArtifex]

I can talk about the Dutch translation all day. It truly is the best translation of a book of all time. The translator (Wiebe Budding) made excellent choices in trying to confey a similar meaning while also keeping the same overall 'feeling' of the name. He translated almost every name into a Dutch variant that kept the same or a similar alliteration and meaning, even the names of minor side characters. I think some names are even better in Dutch than they are in English. Many of his words actually have a double or even triple meaning. Other people mentioned Wegisweg as the translation for diagonally. That one has so many meanings. First of all it means gone is gone. Diagonally is 'gone', invisible, for Muggles. It also sounds funny. Weg also translated to road or street. So goneisstreet. And finally Weg is weg is a common saying for dutch shops when sales are happening: Op is op, weg is weg. So the name already very clearly implies that its a hidden street with shops. That's just one of the many examples.

[@ohwellhey6221]

thats amazing

[@JaneDoe-mk6vt]

I find Collectebus also a very clever translation.

[@jessevanderwijk]

@@JaneDoe-mk6vt wat is dat ook alweer in het Engels?

[@JaneDoe-mk6vt]

@@jessevanderwijk Knight Bus!

[@violettaschmieder2096]

Weg is weg also works in german! Weg also means either gon or street, depending on how you pronounce it! Except for the sales, in our sales we say "alles muss raus" "everything has to go out"

[@chad3358]

I've read Harry Potter in both English and German, but it's always much more magical and satisfying to read it in English.

[@ihsanauliarahman1057]

As movie subtitles translator, you can't best the feeling of successfully translating a pun.

[@kimberlyntinyari]

This made me grateful my country was colonised by the British... but I now wonder what I've missed out on from books translated from another language to English! Excellent work Vox :)

[@gelko2676]

Kimberly Mbogori Where are you from, I'm from Singapore, also a former British colony and all the millenials here speak English.

[@kimberlyntinyari]

+gelKo Kenya here

[@caramelcoffees]

yeah I'm in Australia and I'm glad we pretty much got the original here. as far as i know, anyway

[@yukhimli1807]

I'm from Hong Kong, God save the Queen!

[@Vempsterful]

Come back to being a British Colony, all of you !

[@MKVD]

The Finnish translator (who is amazing btw) literally changed Tom Riddle to Tom Lomen Valedro just to make the I AM VOLDEMORT anagram work in finnish. In a whole, the Finnish translation of the Harry Potter books are regarded as the best finnish translations of books.

[@valedro]

Cool! :)

[@LinariaFreeze]

Same in Norway. The translator did a fantastic job.

[@moonbased7796]

That’s really cool! I don’t speak Finnish but that’s cool that they did that!!

[@LittlefoxElle]

I agree haha this is cool, thanks for sharing.

[@lenkaubauba1221]

In Czech they changed it to Tom Rojvol Raddle.

[@_baniraaisu6711]

When i was a kid I wasn't satisfied with Indonesian translation and borrowed British english version from my school library instead.

[@hrhs26]

Atta boy!

[@jubs9591]

In Brazil, the translation was "Eis Lord Voldemort", so they changed the middle name and it became: Tom Servolo Riddle And I think that the translator did an excellent job, because if you compare to the English version, the Portuguese one has a lot of things that just make sense, even with the names changed.

[@ASMRJey]

“Eis” in German is used for ice cream so I read this as “ice cream lord Voldemort” 😂🙆‍♀️

[@jubs9591]

@@ASMRJey lol

[@davidalves31057]

A Lia Wyler foi um gênio. Grande tradutora!

[@FrizellaTheBee]

Or in Quidditch, that became Quadribol

[@felipe258929]

A simple letter swap from the middle name made such an excellent job creating a similar effect. Eis Lord Voldemort translates roughly into "Behold Lord Voldemort" Lia Wyler translated all seven books flawlessly. She sadly passed away in 2018.

[@banana551000]

I think the Chinese translators' approach to the books were the best. Just keep everything as intact as possible while just putting in little footnotes to explain cultural references, jokes, etc. It's just like watching a Wuxia film or an Anime film or show. It's way better to just watch the original production with subtitles and translation notes; it preserves the way the film was meant to be shown while also allowing the viewer to learn more about a new culture.

[@datnguyenthe8300]

banana551000 um, no... 😐 if you want to learn about the culture, i suggest you go read fan translations or read it in original if you can. The whole point of translations is to bring it closer to the target audience which is kids. So i'm perfectly ok with changes in translation. You wanna be immersed in the story when reading it and not constantly ripped out of it wondering what the hell did i just read.

[@373816hannah]

I actually read the whole series in Chinese as a kid (I was 8 or 9?) and I quite appreciated the footnotes explaining some of the puns and other western cultural references (like holidays). I don't know why people are so against footnotes in children's books, as if our tiny brains would be unable to comprehend little extra details, and it's not like the translators explained EVERY SINGLE world play, only the more significant ones. I found it amusing, however, that most of the spells used sense-for-sense translations that sound nothing like the original (Expelliarmus had a four-character translation that literally meant "Remove your weapon!"), while Avada Kedavra was translated to "阿瓦达索命" - "Avada TAKE YOUR LIFE".

[@rurunosep]

@hannah ao "Expelliarmus" is a play on "expel" and "arms", so basically "expel your arms" or "remove your weapons". "Avada kedavra" is a play on the famous magic words "abra kadabra" and the word "cadaver" meaning dead body. All the spells are supposed to sorta sound like what they do without literally saying it, but I guess that's harder to do in Chinese than in a language with a phonetic alphabet. The translator probably did the best they could, but many things just don't translate well, so footnotes were probably the best solution.

[@joeyzh4158]

actually, in chinese, the spell names is a combination of its meaning and its prononciation. For example, Expelliarmus is unweponize you, but the translator make it sound like a slang/Chengyu in mandarin(all speells are four letter word in chinese/mandarin.) and I think everybody can get what "Avada demands your life" means. btw, I'm all for footnote. I read hp when I was 10, it's exotic and alien and fun, looking into those footnote help me learn a lot of custom of Europe/England.

[@aeksax]

banana551000 That's how it is for Thai version too. Surprised to hear all the differences the other versions made.

[@mBUSHattack]

I feel like the footnote with explanations of the original pun and author's intent are the best policy. It's the least amount of work for everyone rather than trying to come up with new puns that work in your language but may deviate from the author's original vision, you get an unfiltered view and get to learn about whatever culture the author originated from. I feel this way because there are many games from Japan that get their meaning and dialogue ruined in the localisation process, and it's frustrating because I would've been fine with just googling and learning whatever cultural reference I didn't understand. Fortunately with more modern games like Persona 5 they're taking that approach.

[@cat_pb]

Michael Bush exactly !!!!

[@loganwaffle]

True, but maybe it means the book is less meaningful just because the clever things are directly brought to attention without any mini word mystery to solve. But as to retaining the original meaning, I agree footnotes are the best 😊

[@moversti92]

But that isn't as fun to kids

[@LewisSkinner]

Unfortunately, those footnotes were wrong! Yorkshire is in the North of England, and Dundee is not in England at all, but in Scotland! :)

[@sky-is-not-the-limit]

Lewis Skinner Surprisingly, Vox’s translation of the footnotes is wrong. The original Chinese footnotes say “Kent is in the South of England, Yorkshire is in the North of England and Dundee is a coastal city in the North of England.” (The part about Dundee is still wrong though. Perhaps the translators were reading it off the map.... hmm...)

[@angell.7469]

in the Chinese translations because you would occasionally see the translator being a little sassy. In (I think?) the third or second book the sorting was put on a four-legged stool and there was a footnote that said "In in Philosopher's Stone it was a three-legged stool. The author must have forgotten." tHe aUtHoR mUsT hAVe fORgoTtEen :O

[@jaojao1768]

That's quite funny

[@kpc211]

Yes, the author must have forgotten. It's certainly not possible that they just used another stool :)

[@deadalpeca8099]

bruh there is no need for that footnote, wth was that translator doing?

[@luisa-qx8ck]

seeing this video knowing how BRILLIANT the brazilian portuguese translation is gives me so much joy

[@floritbh7640]

In german the game 'exploding snap' was translated with 'Snape explodiert' which means 'Exploding Snape'

[@SatanAteMySocks]

Guess that bugged you, Professor?

[@floritbh7640]

I couldn't sit for a whole week.

[@bojanhorckmorse6017]

😂😂😂 sucks to be you

[@copiasrats]

Lisa Traub NOOOO SNAPE NUUUUUUUUUU NOT YET U GET KILLED BY NAGINI U DONT GET EXPLODED

[@Freaky0Nina]

yes. The day I found out that it was a mistake in translation was incredibly sad. Until then, I had assumedthat it was a game the students made up which had some sort of reference to Snape. I always liked that idea.

[@dragofand]

Am I the only one who hates it when people holds their books like she did at the end? It just makes me cringe

[@its_tomothy]

dragonfand YES.

[@Heksu99]

We should hex books so the books would start to eat the fingers of the reader

[@DefenestrateYourself]

Yes, you're the only one. Bless your heart.

[@markoproloscic4492]

YES, thank you!

[@microceratus]

dragonfand where? can't find

[@JackDanger99]

This makes me glad I first got to read the books in German, where nearly all the names stayed the same or at least as close to the original as possible. They’re really very good translations and I’d recommend them to anyone familiar with the books trying to learn the language.

[@MissSydney2001]

In the Swedish translation "I am Lord Voldemort" was translated into Latin "Ego sum Lord Voldemort".

[@baronbrummbar8691]

and his name was

[@heroinasytumbas3346]

Moral of the story: Books and movies are much more enjoyable when you read them in their original languages

[@anne-mariechicoine5973]

Moral of the story: translators are wonderful creative people who bring love and a personal touch to a book while bringing the story to a lot of people who cannot read it in its original language.

[@heroinasytumbas3346]

Nana Chicoine True, but my comment isn't against translators or translations in general. I agree with everything you said, it's just that in my experience I've enjoyed the original versions way more. And I'm not blaming the transaltors here, some things just can't be perfectly translated as you can see in the video.

[@jesusduarte1988]

Candela Luna You enjoy them more because that's your first language lmao duhh and you're already use to it.

[@mrmeh9853]

Well people have read books that have had aspects lost in translation before then read the original. Naturally they would prefer the original in that case as the narrative would make better sense.

[@meInti1]

I actually chose to read the books in Dutch instead of English because the translated versions are beautiful! Our translator did an amazing job, and I even dare to say that I like some of his wordplays better. The story hasn't changed. So no, it is not as simple as 'you should read the original books because they are better'. This way I can admire the work of two great autors.

[@denisdrozdoff2926]

What about Russian translation by Maria Spivak, who tried to save all the word play but failed hilariously (like "Злодеус Злей" and "Невилл Длиннопоп", something like "Meaneus Mean" and "Nevile Longass")

[@bojanhorckmorse6017]

денис дроздов XD

[@shymon512]

XD DX longass

[@yomother8067]

Im just going to name the characters i remember Hermine Grang Harry Potter Ronny Wiltersen Gygrid Draco Malfang Albus Humlesnurr Minerva McSnurp Severus Slur Tom Venster Fred Wiltersen Frank Wiltersen (Thats all i can remember) This is the norwegian translation

[@moonhaeeun5012]

they literally changed everyone's name except harry's

[@VPharp]

McSnurp

[@Anne-id2zt]

My favourite translation fail was the german translation of "exploding snap". They accidently translated it to "snape explodes" in the first version.

[@Maffoo]

5:15 I cringed at "Kent and Yorkshire are in the south of England. Dundee is in the northern part of England" Kent is in the south of England, yes. But Yorkshire is in the north of England. And Dundee is in SCOTLAND. Also, how does explaining that bonfire night is to celebrate bonfire activities in any way help anyone?

[@jonasplays4303]

Maffoo yeah it should just say "Kent, Yorkshire and Dundee are various places in the UK, in this context it's to mean 'from all over' and connote randomness." That would convey the meaning really easily. And bonfire night could literally just be footnoted to "An annual fireworks festival on 5th November"

[@angryyogbuscus1578]

Perhaps they meant Britain? Though in that case Yorkshire is central at best.

[@killurmommy]

the footnote actually says "Kent is in the south of England. Yorkshire is in the north of England. Dundee is a port city in the north of England." ah so they still missed one. wonder how come. and for the bonfire maybe because the original one used first letter caps so the Chinese wanted to specially point out that they meant a special festival not just some summer weekend camping

[@christinamazilu2785]

bugs me cos i am from dundee

[@PristinePerceptions]

Nobody outside Britain gets the British names dude. Nobody does.

[@Abcflc]

The narrator has a very irritating voice! Her tone is borderline comatose and she doesn't enunciate properly.

[@joyjoyoo]

and she makes any context drowsy.

[@Emma-bm1pt]

Abcflc I think it's kinda calming

[@Melicioel7]

Yeah, vocal fry is cancer.

[@wildca1x1]

Modern american Vocal fry. Makes everything sound emotionless.

[@xesolor]

Abcflc how superficial can one get...

[@Deuchnord]

French for Voldemort's name has even a second word play: you mentionned the Jedusor thing, but "jeu du sort" itself is an expression and litteraly means "spell game" 😃

[@mattea4338]

hhmm, I interpreted as game of destiny...sort also means destiny...

[@gem9535]

As an American, we don't like the fact they changed it to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone either. C'mon guys.

[@carolinaestigarribia7052]

The name “philosopher’s stone” was changed too “sorcerer’s stone” because scholastic (the publisher) thought kids wouldn’t pick up a book that said “philosopher’s” on it because we are taught that philosophers are these ancient old men that created different types of maths and sciences and no kid wants to learn about a mathematician’s stone. So they went with sorcerer instead because we know that means magic, and magic means fun.

[@LouisKing995]

Carolina Estigarribia But we are taught the same thing about philosophers in Britain and yet millions of British kids bought the first book quite happily

[@Altermerea]

That sounds like advertisenent for dumbs.

[@NotAnotherKuromi]

American children have such poor relationships with their parents/guardians that they couldn't ask what it meant, nor read the blurb?!

[@JoshWitte]

Sorcerer's Stone sounds cooler AND it has alliteration 🙃

[@kalagai7987]

Josh Witte sorcerer’s stone sounds stupid, philosopher’s stone emits knowledge, mystery, and magic

[@lukeschonkeren4602]

I'm not a language expert, but i'm pretty sure you butchered half of those foreign words.

[@ItzHawkFox]

Luke Schonkeren you can’t blame the narrator too much for not speaking all the languages You can blame them for being bad narrators though

[@lukeschonkeren4602]

ItzHawk i know, besides, she probably did a better job at it then i would

[@dr.jpdixon6299]

They could ask people who speak the language to pronounce the foreing words

[@mmmbbb5680]

rowling butchered half the genre to come up with her 'original' ideas, so that works out okay

[@jacobjohnson8686]

Yup, the Swedish was totally unintelligible to Swedish speakers.

[@xo_karolina_ox]

In poland the translator also named members of the houses, students from Gryffindor are named Gryfoni (from Gryf - Griffin), from Slytherin are named Ślizgoni ( from ślizgiać - slither) from, Ravenclaw are named Krukoni (from Kruk - Raven) and from Huffelpuff are named Puchoni (from puch - puff)

[@alberteinsteinthejew]

Thank you, I’ve been thinking about this for years, now you brought this up. And yes, not only happens with Harry Potter.

[@ragamangos7768]

In Brasil the name of the houses is as following Hufflepuff - Lufa Lufa Slytherin - Sonserina. Griffindor - Grifinória. Ravenclaw - Corvinal. I think its really solid

[@onlyfacts8801]

Lufa Lufa? That sounds quite funny! The other ones are cool In French they're Hufflepuff - Poufsouffle Slytherin - Serpentard Griffindor - Gryffondor Ravenclaw - Serdaigle

[@anapaulamota0]

Sonserina eternamente casa de gente SONSA

[@I_am_Ber]

In the Polish version the house names stayed in their English version, but when used to refer to students of said houses (Griffindors, Slytherins, etc.) then those got translated to fit the grammar and explain the nature of the houses and their students.

[@stygian8049]

@@onlyfacts8801 that serpentard sounds more like an insult

[@meike8106]

In The Netherlands it's Huffelpuff = Huffelpuf Slytherin = Zwadderich Gryffindor = Griffoendor Ravenclaw = Ravenklauw 😂 I think the names are quite funny in Brasil

[@Phoenixe1986]

Severus Snape is Perselus Piton in Hungarian. I think that's a great translation because it has the same "feeling" as the English name, Piton is a snake, and it's still an alliteration just like the original one.

[@maddiesiegmund5623]

Hungarian is awesome because it's very pun-able (I'm not fluent but my dad is)

[@lazulilapis7491]

Phoenixe1986

[@xesolor]

That Random Guy eh yeah that's the point, piton means snake over there, saying "snake" over there doesn't bring any creepy slithering feeling at all? But saying piton does? That's the difference in CONTEXT? The world isn't ruled by the anglosphere, people associate different sounds with different feelings elsewhere, the feelings you associate with a sound may not even exist in a different country, so how would they get that feeling if you just say "Snape" which they wouldn't care for at all? I swear to god there is a thorough lack of intersectionality in born English speakers...

[@DefenestrateYourself]

Bless your heart...

[@lowgrasswhite]

The Hungarian translation was VERY inconsistent in adequacy when it came to proper names. Some of what the translator did made sense, right? Fudge = Caramel, Moody = Mordon, Crouch = Kupor. Sprout = Bimba. But he also left a bunch of loaded names completely unchanged, such as Lestrange, Lockhart and Greyback. If Snape must be made Piton, translate the other names too, is all i'm saying. Then, some of his solutions seemed to be motivated purely by the fear of us not being able to pronounce English sounding names. This could have happened to Crabbe and Goyle = Crak and Monstro. Skeeter = Vitrol. Hufflepuff = Hugrabug. But if already Crabbe means difficulty, then why on earth are supposed to know how to pronounce Dumbledore? Pettigrew? Shacklebolt? Scrimgeour? Trelawney? Freakin' Fawkes? (You know you had trouble with that one.) All these names were left unchanged, and the list could go on and on. But let me cite my absolute "favourite" solution from the Hungarian translator: Horace Slughorn = Horatius Lumpsluck. The pointlessness of it boggles my mind. (And finally a special mention for Quirell = Mógus in the what the f*ck category).

[@TomVanhimbeeck650]

I really like how they did it in Dutch. Everything was change but most things still work. Really brilliant translating work

Vietnamese interpreters kept almost original names and translated some nouns that easy to translate without leading to any misunderstanding in the story itself. I thank them for their hard work.

[@DameOfDiamonds]

4:02 *Elvis* can someone please draw Lord Voldemort with Elvis's hairstyle? Lol that would be so funny

[@onlyfacts8801]

Don't laught at it : As a French, I can assure you it was a clever translation, and many kids discovered Tom Elvis (Jedusor) before the Elvis Presley himself haha

[@joy7367]

it was a pretty ingenious translation but imagining Voldemort with elvis ' hair is still super funny

[@joy7367]

but I always thought elvis was better than marvolo because marvolo just makes me think about the words "morve" and "morvelle" which mean snot

[@tlotpwist3417]

He' all shook up twitter.com/MouleMan_23/status/1117355729718075392?ref_src=twcamp%5Ecopy%7Ctwsrc%5Eandroid%7Ctwgr%5Ecopy%7Ctwcon%5E7090%7Ctwterm%5E3

[@ambre4144]

Only Facts what. How many kids do you know? 😂(not being mean genuinely asking)

[@spartan0x75]

Oh man. The translators for all the character-based languages must have had a very difficult time translating this... *hats off*

[@TheJelleviA]

Can we all just agree that HP translators are the most impeccable? The Indonesian translation is GENIUS, the translator herself was a marvelous woman whose adaptability and literary sense rescued HP in Indonesian. She translated Mirror of Erised into Cermin Tarsah which rhymes and sounds good and fit into the backward spelling. Not even the original book can compare. Now I can understand the intentions behind the words Rowling coined since I became quite proficient in English but the best sense of style still belong to Bu Listiana, she rescued my sense of grammar and literature.

[@NoahOfTheArc]

I have so much respect for translators. Every time I learn more about them, their job seems harder.