Lost in translation

[justcarol67]

A fellow list member sent me some delightful mistranslations from the
Russian HP books. Here's a small sample, exactly as they were
submitted to me, starting with those that made me laugh:


Dudley, who was so large his bottom drooped over either side of the
kitchen chair…(CoS 2) 
Translation:
…he was so fat that his flanks were hanging over the sides of the chair.
  
A garden gnome in the process of being “evicted”:
"Gerroff me! Gerroff me!” (CoS 37)
Translation: 
“Spin me around! Spin me!”
 
About the trip on the flying car:
   …they missed the dark stone wall by inches as the car turned in a
great arc, soaring over the dark greenhouses… (CoS 74).
Translation:
 In just an inch from the wall the car turned into a high arc and flew
inside the castle.
   
Harry advises Ron to write home to ask for a new wand, and :
 ”Oh yeah, and get another Howler back”, said Ron, stuffing the now
hissing wand into his bag. “It’s your own fault your wand got snapped
â€" “ (CoS 95).
Translation:
  “And get another Howler”, sighed Ron, stuffing into his bag the wand
which hissed reproachfully: “It’s your own fault!”
 
Duelling club, after the battle:
 Ron was holding up an ashen-faced Seamus, apologizing for whatever
his broken wand had done… (CoS 192).
Translation:
Deathly pale Seamus was hovering in the air, and Ron was apologizing…
 
Lucius Malfoy in Hagrid’s cabin:
 “I simply called at the school and was told that the Headmaster was
here” (CoS 262).
Translation:
 “…I made a phone call to the school and was told that the Headmaster
was here.”
 
And here are two that I found slightly disturbing because they miss
the point regarding Harry's loyalty to Dumbledore:
 
Dumbledore:
  “…you will find that I will only truly have left this school when
none here are loyal to me” (CoS 263-264). 
Translation:
 “…I won’t be gone from the school if someone here still trusts me”.

and

Dumbledore:
“You must have shown me real loyalty down in the Chamber” (CoS 332).
Translation:
“You must have shown real bravery down there…”

Anyway, I thought I'd share those (with permission from the list
member who translated them). Unfortunately, the only language besides
English that I ever took was Latin, and while there's a Latin
translation out there somewhere, I couldn't afford it even if I could
find it and it would take forever to struggle through it.

I'm wondering, though, whether other readers have had experiences with
translations that they'd like to share--funny errors or important
mistakes that missed the point.

I know that the translations of names have been a bone of contention,
and I assume that puns like Diagon Alley, Knockturn Alley, the Griffin
door knocker, and the names of the textbook authors are difficult or
impossible to duplicate. The Tom Marvolo Riddle/I am Lord Voldemort
anagram also presents problems. (The transcriptions of RAB, in
contrast, provide a pretty clear indication of his identity.)

I'm wondering especially about translations into languages that use
stylized pictographs rather than an alphabet can translate initials or
anagrams.

Anyone else have examples or thoughts on the problems of reading the
HP books in translation? I'm sure that the extent of the distortions
depends in part on the language (the closer to English, the fewer
problems the translator would face, at least in theory) and on the
individual translator's ability to capture the flavor of the books in
idiomatic Russian or French or Dutch or Spanish. (I can't imagine,
say, a Japanese translator being able to convey the humor or the
colloquial diction of the students or the various accents or the
shifts in style as the point of view changes from a limited-omniscient
narrator seeing primarily from Harry's pov to an objective
third-person-dramatic narrator, or vice versa.)

At any rate, I hope you find the first few examples funny, and I'd be
interested in hearing more on the subject from anyone who's read any
of the books in translation. What bothers you most about them, and
what do you think the HP/WW experience is like for readers, mostly
children, who read the books only in translation? What are they
missing and which elements of the translations are potentially misleading?

Carol, who sometimes needs a translation of the Briticisms even using
the Scholastic editions