[HPforGrownups] Re: British V American

[Troels Forchhammer]

No: HPFGUIDX 101812

At 21:28 17-06-04 +0000, Geoff Bannister wrote:
>--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Mandy" <ExSlytherin at a...>
>wrote:
> >
> > It feels to me, as I'm reading the UK books, that I am more at
> > home. Some how more comfortable and the story fits in my memory
> > and my perception of the UK easier.  The language sits on my
> > tongue better too.  There aren't big changes, but many small, subtle,
> > little ones that make up to a big difference that is very subtle.
>
>Geoff:

<snipped>

>I feel that the Americanising of the text probably damages the
>English (or UK) ambience of the story. After all, do you have
>American versions of Shakespeare or Dickens?

In some respects I'd definitely agree with that (though I haven't
read the Scholastic/Levine versions) - the closer one gets to the
original language in which the book was written, the closer one
also gets to the mind-set of the author.

At another level, however, I think this discussion is quite a
luxury phenomenon. I am Danish, and though I have no problems
reading the books in English, my family is not as lucky (my 12
years old son has begun to make attempts at PS in the last half
a year or so) and I've read all of the books out to the kids in
Danish.

Obviously part of the British ambience will disappear, but it
must also be remembered that neither the Danish nor the Scholastic
versions are intended for a British audience - in general the
subtleties will be beyond most people not raised in the culture,
but the main ambience - that strong odour of Britishness that is
all that can be detected by foreign noses - will remain.

It was a pleasure, by the way, to see on Rowling's web site that
the inclusion of Dean's skin-colour during the sorting in the
Scholastic version of PS wasn't thought up by Levine, but was a
bit that was actually cut by the Bloomsbury editor - I've seen
it described in quite strong terms as a nod to American multi-
cultural political correctness, and it's good to know that it was
not.

Oh, and please don't quibble over whether it says jumper or
sweater - in Danish the Firebolt became a 'Prestissimo' and
Pigwidgeon became 'Grisligiano'! Talk about keeping a British
ambience ;-)

Troels