International Editions FAQ

[Jim Flanagan]

No: HPFGUIDX 9585

Thanks for your reply, yael.  Since the most hotly debated errors are 
in GOF, I don't have any specific errors for you to look up. Instead, 
I wonder if you could provide more insight as to why the Hebrew 
translations are considered so bad?  Here are examples of problems 
with other translations:

- inept and careless translation; poor word choice and bad grammar 
(e.g., the Spanish translations)

- portions of text eliminated (e.g., the Kwik-Spell incident was 
deleted in the French version)

- books "dumbed down" (e.g., Philosopher's -> Sorcer's in the 
American edition)


Other changes have been made in translation that are not 
necessarily "bad," just "different," for example:

- culture-related changes -- (Examples: 1. the PRC (China) versions 
have changed flying broomsticks into flying wheels (rollerskates?) 
because flying broomsticks are not associated with witches in their 
culture.  2. The Iranian versions of books 1 and 3 do not use the 
GrandPre covers, reputedly because they show dogs, which are 
considered unclean.  Book 2 uses the GrandPre illustration, which is 
sans dog.)

- other unaccountable changes (e.g., Hermione's "go to the loo" was 
changed to "have a pee" in the American edition, even though the 
original is perfectly understandable to Americans, and the change 
sounds more crude.)

Thanks for any help that you can give,
Jim Flanagan




--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "yael oren" <yael_pou at h...> wrote:

> I'm sorry. Can't bring myself to read the Hebrew translation. It's 
too horrible. But if you mail me a list of errors and their 
approximate locations, i can go into a close by book store and look 
for them (only the first three books were published in Hebrew so far, 
so no wand order error to check).
> 
> Any other question you have about the Hebrew edition, I'll happily 
answer.
> 
> yael
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]