[HPforGrownups] US Insanity and Translations

yr awen yrawen at ontheqt.org
Fri Aug 16 20:28:44 UTC 2002


No: HPFGUIDX 42775

bb_boy said:

NOW however, in recent posts, an even more insane translation has come
to light. This insanity is compounded by the fact that the translation
is from English to English; British English to American English.<<<<<

Ahh, thank you <g> I've been wondering that myself.

I can, as you do, definitely understand changes in some terminology (jumpers for sweaters and that sort of thing.) What really gets me, though, is that the publishers felt it necessary to change the title of 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' to 'Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone.' Argh! Was the first not catchy enough? Maybe it's my snotty closet Anglophile side coming out, but changing the title -- and thus the name of a fairly well-known, if legendary, alchemical stubstance -- reeks of commercialism. Which, I guess, was the whole point, but *still.* Did they think Americans would somehow mistake a children's fantasy story for philosophical dialectic?

Huff.

HF.


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