Harry Potter Revisited
How’s J.K. Rowling’s German?
Die „Harald Töpfer“-Bücher und -Filme
The Harry Potter books and films in German - plus a look
at some Gurken in the German Harry Potter translations
German poster for HARRY POTTER
UND DER STEIN DER WEISEN.
See larger view.
Foto: Warner Brothers
The first Harry Potter movie had its world premiere in London on November 4, 2001. Warner Brothers' “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone” opened in North American and UK cinemas on Nov. 16. (The slightly different—original—British title of the book and the film is “Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.”) Germans had to wait until Nov. 22 to see “Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen” in deutschen Kinos. In June 2004 they were flocking to see “Harry Potter und der Gefangene von Askaban”.
Reactions to the first film in London were mostly positive. One British reviewer called it “a Willy Wonka for the new millennium...” Another wrote: “The film's 152 minutes zip by...” Ebert and Rooper also gave the Harry Potter film two thumbs up. Advance ticket sales broke records, so the release of the movie was certain to increase sales of the books - as if they needed any help. The second Harry Potter movie was judged even better. Thus, it seems this may be a good time to revisit the issue of the German translations of Joanne K. Rowling's popular Harry Potter saga.
In our previous look at the Harry Potter series, “Harry Potter” in German, we focused on “how to use the German version of the popular...series for learning German.” This time we want to zero in on what one German Web site calls Gurken, the translation lapses that crop up in comparisons between the official German translations by Klaus Fritz and the original English versions of “Harald Töpfer” (the literal translation of Harry's name).
In defense of Klaus Fritz, I should point out that good translation is a constant battle between accuracy and literary beauty. The art of translation lies in striking that delicate balance between the two. Accuracy is too often the foe of beauty, and vice versa. The odd language of wizardry and fantasy found in the Harry Potter books must have presented a special challenge. In general I would say that Herr Fritz has done a masterful job, despite an occasional lapse here and there.
The Nov. 2001 cover of
Germany's cinema magazine.
It is also worth pointing out that there are English-language Web pages devoted to pointing out errors in the original books. These mistakes go beyond mere typos to include trivia such as this: “...after Harry's turn at the sorting hat it says there are 3 more people to go, but there are actually 4...” Rowling also has a few timeline/calendar problems in her books (but you have to pay very close attention to notice).
The German sites are more concerned with lines in the German Harry Potter translations that deviate from the meaning or style of the original English written by Joanne Rowling. Since many Germans, young and old, have attained a level of English that allows them to read the Harry Potter books in the original language, this just increases the awareness of Übersetzungsfehler, poorly translated words, phrases or sentences.
»Eigentlich hatte Harry geglaubt, er sei ein ganz normaler Junge. Zumindest bis zu seinem elften Geburtstag. Da erfährt er, dass er sich an der Schule für Hexerei und Zauberei einfinden soll. Und warum? Weil Harry ein Zauberer ist.« - From the German book jacket of Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen
In fact, one of the German sites got its start because of the long delay in the arrival of the German translation of the fourth book, Harry Potter und der Feuerkelch. Impatient Potter fans grew so tired of waiting for the German “Goblet of Fire” that they bought the English version and began to post their own “inoffiziell” translation at the “Harry-auf-Deutsch-Community” Web site.
This attracted the attention of the German publisher of the Harry Potter series, and what happened next is a very interesting story...
NEXT > German Fan Sites | Lexikon | Books | Links
Der Film: Harry Potter - Warner Bros. Deutschland
Das Buch: More about Harry Potter in German (books/audio)
Harry Potter for German-Learners
A previous Harry Potter article.
Harry Potter in German - Start Page
Our contents page for all things Harry Potter.
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