Re: So it is true...

"Seán O'Leathlóbhair" <jwlawler@xxxxxxxxx> writes:

> Des Small wrote:
> > "Seán O'Leathlóbhair" <jwlawler@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
> >
> > > I found the passage in the UK, French, and Castilian editions.
> >
> > You could profitably have given the page numbers, isn't it? (Did you
> > study too much physics in your youth or something?)
>
> Physics up to A level. Why do you ask?

Physics papers (and applied maths and engineering) only cite to the
nearest volume; it's a model that doesn't work so well with humanities
disciplines or law where knowing which book something is in is usually
not enough information.

[...]

> > I think we can assume that the translators work from the BrE edition,
> > on the grounds that that is the one written by the author.
>
> That would seem likely. My point was to see if other editors or
> translators felt a similar need to introduce skin colour at this point.
> Of course, they may do it at other points. It is sometime since I
> read the French copy. I remember that the proper names and special
> terms frequently changed but otherwise I recall that it was quite
> faithful.

The French one is often slightly streamlined; I read volume two in
parallel with the Swedish one, and there were a lot of little touches
absent from the French. I don't think many non-American translators
would attempt to change the continuity, however minorly, but I'd be
interested to hear otherwise.

(America is different because it is the most lucrative market, and I'd
bet the editor consulted Rowling, and I'd also bet, but less, that she
didn't feel in a position to say no back when she was a struggling
author.)

[...]

> > Dutch _Harry Potter en de steen der wijzen_ (tr. Wiebe Buddingh'):
> >
> > """
> > Er moesten nog maar drie mensen ingedeeld worden. 'Turpijn, Lisa'
> > werd een Ravenclaw en toen was Ron aan de beurt.
> > """
> > (p.91)
>
> The same page as the UK edition which is a coincidence but all three of
> my quotes were from chapter 7 - an even greater coincidence.

If I was a translator I'd leave the chapters where they were, for sure.

Des
often also leaves the morphology
.