RAB is RAZ

[Miles]

No: HPFGUIDX 143260

hickengruendler wrote:
> According to a finnish member in the Leaky-Cauldron forums, the
> finnish
> translator stated, that JKR told her how to translate R.A.B. And I
> guess if she does this for the finnish translation, she probably did
> it
> for the others as well.

Miles:
I'm still in doubt a bit - but I know about the Dutch translator being
contacted for it (s/he has translated to R.A.Z., Sirius Black is Sirius
Zwarts in Dutch versions), so maybe we will get additional information soon.

hickengruendler:
> And really, I do not think how else it would
> be
> possible. If it is a totally new character it would still be okay. But
> imagine (just as an example, I really think it is Regulus and always
> thought so) that it's some relative of Ludo Bagman, who may still be
> called Bagman in the translations. If the translators changed it to
> fit
> Regulus, they would have a big problem in book 7.

Miles:
The translators had big problems in books 1 to 6 too, so this argument is a
bit weak. E.g., to make the anagram "I am Lord Voldemort" work in German,
the translator hat to change Tom Riddles second name into "Vorlost", which
sounds awful not only for me ;). German readers can be glad about their
translator, who corrected his early translation "Sirius Schwarz" to "Sirius
Black" when it was obvious, that this person is important for the story.

If Rowling really decided to inform the translators about this specific
clue, this would be kind of a shift in her information strategy. She surely
had been aware (or she should have been), that especially the Dutch
translation "R.A.Z." would spoil the secret of Regulus.

Miles, who is glad not to be a translator in globalized literature...