Re: Translations from UK to US

In a speech called WJednQh6mcskmVHbnZ2dnUVZ_sOrnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxx,
Ron Hunter (rphunter@xxxxxxxxxxx) spake thusly:

Thom-Madura wrote:
Ron Hunter wrote:
Thom-Madura wrote:
Fat Sam wrote:
Sue H wrote:
I don't know if this has been discussed per se; I hope it's not
repeating.

I caught what I think is a minor error. In COS, there is a
sentence alluding to "Christmas tea" whereas easier in the
books
it was called supper or dinner. I don't know why they just
don't leave everything as it originally was since it's the same
language. I mean we have technically British words here we all
get so why
change some at all (I remember the debate over put-outer etc).

And how insulting must it be for American readers



This has been gone over hundreds of times here.

1 - JKR is the copyright holder - only she can authorize changes
in
her manuscript according to international copyright law. JKR made
the changes - maybe as a result of recommendation - but
nevertheless - it was NOT a publishing house or editor or anyone
else who had the FINAL say - it was JKR.

2 - THe change was NOT made because KIDs would not understand the
term - it was a marketing move to make the book more sellable
because of the way the term Philosopher would have been thought
of
in the US. Clearly - this was to maximize sales.

3 - Most US kids did not know that the change was made - or any
changes were made. THere are probably still quite a number who do
not. 4 - That JKR chose to make a version of her books for her
largest
and most profitable audience is not insulting. I would imagine
that Brits would be insulted that she decided that he UK edition
was inadequate for the US market.






when the publishing houses
chenged the word Philosopher to Sorcerer, simply because they
assumed US kids wouldn't understand the meaning of the word.
Come on, give the kids some credit for pity's sake.

Unless of course I am mistaken and there's a special Christmas
tea drink?

PS I would have loved to have seen knackered instead of tired
... I don't know why but I like that word for some reason.

Knackered is a great word.
It can have so many meanings.


So, you are saying JKR has to learn ALL the 62 languages into
which
her books have been translated, and to approve the final
translation
of each and every one? BULL!


No - she must not speak all the languages - but YES - she must
approve any and all changes in the books. I am sure that even in
Britian - they have heard of "translators" who could help JKR in
that task.

I can't imagine she has the time to learn 62 languages, so that she
could intelligently discuss how to translate a term onto Greek, or
even Russian, let along Japanese. She would just have to trust
them,
or not hire them. Sometimes it is quite difficult to make an
English
speaker understand the exact meaning of even a German word, and
English and German share common roots, and have cross-pollinated for
thousands of
years. I can't imagine that she can be that intimately involved with
the actual process.


It's not just the meanings of words that can be difficult to
translate, it can be the meanings of phrases that can prove most
difficult. There is no equivalent phrase for "I could murder a curry,"
in Dutch - partly because The Netherlands do not have the same British
colonial history and have a less clear idea of the type of food curry
is, and partly because "murder" meaning "to really enjoy" has no
direct counterpart in Dutch. Spanish has no direct counterpart for
"shallow" (or is it "deep"? can never remember). Was it Nixon who was
described as being "so shallow, you could wade through the deepest
parts of his mind and not get your ankles wet"? That must have been
fun for the Spanish journalists.

And don't forget that many languages have tenses, cases and genders
for words which English has not. For instance, in Spanish, Death is
female. Hence, in Terry Pratchett's "Mort", Death was female in the
Spanish version. But in the later "Reaper Man", when Death is
unequivecably given a male identity, the Spanish translation had to
make Death male. They put in a footnote saying, effectively, "yes, we
know Death was a woman in the last one, but he's not now, so live with
it."

--
www.sabremeister.me.uk
www.livejournal.com/users/sabremeister/
Use brian at sabremeister dot me dot uk to reply
Sign in a shop:
"Credit will only be granted to people over 80
If accompanied by both parents"


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