Today I was taking a look through Harry Potter en die Kamer van Geheimenisse (Afrikaans Chamber of Secrets, translated by Janie Oosthuysen). I happened across this printing error in Chapter 16. The page header says “Die Man met Twee Gesigte” (“The Man with Two Faces”) throughout the chapter. I've highlighted it in the image below,... Continue Reading →
87 Translations of Harry Potter. What Languages Could Be Next?
Harry Potter has been translated into everything from Ancient Greek to Greenlandic to Māori. So what's left?
Sherbet lemon revisited (Reader Mail)
A reader wrote in about Dumbledore's favorite sweet turning into a drink. How does he "unstick" two lemonades? Also: how are "sherbet balls" translated?
[PB Bite] Low-resource languages: what they are and why they matter
Low-resource languages present a problem for translation and for education. But translation literature of world-building works like Harry Potter can help!
Diglossia and literacy: Arabic as example
Some communities around the world use two languages for different situations. So what happens when only one of those languages is used for reading and writing?
Some observations on Croatian Harry Potter: old vs new translations
Collectors got their 100th translation in late 2022! Here are some preliminary observations on how it compares with the previous Croatian translation.
[PB Bite] Dumbledore’s favorite: sherbet lemon, lemon sherbet, and lemon drops
Albus Dumbledore loves sherbet lemon so much that it's the password to his office. But sherbet lemon is a candy specific to the UK. So when the story was brought to other countries—including the US—nobody knew what to call it in the local language.
[PB Bite] How Harry Potter differs in different languages
Harry Potter has been translated into nearly 100 languages. The very first sentence is one of the most challenging to translate. Take a look.
Three versions of Harry Potter in Arabic: read our post over at Potterglot!
Genies. Ghouls. Alchemy. And Percy staging a coup? These are all features you'll find in the Arabic editions of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
5 Christmas Comfort Foods in Harry Potter from Around the World
Foods, as a literary device, are commonly changed in translation. Here are some of the hearty holiday comfort foods from around the world that have made their way into the Harry Potter translations.