Harry Potter Revisited 2
German Harry Potter Web Sites
Part 1 | Part 2 | Lexikon | Books | Links
Once the Carlsen Verlag became aware of the “Harry-auf-Deutsch” Web site, their knee-jerk response was very predictable. Carlsen viewed the amateur translations as a violation of its German-language book rights and threatened the site's young creators with legal action. Webmaster Bernd Koeleman was facing a possible law suit and his ISP was told to shut the site down. But the story has a happy ending (das Happy-End).
By the fall of 2000, when Carlsen threatened to shut them down, the Harry-auf-Deutsch partners had translated the first six chapters of the fourth Rowling book. Not long after that the Carlsen Verlag seemed to better understand the Web and Potter fans, even offering samples of its own official Harry Potter chapters at its Web site. These Leseproben are complete chapters from the various volumes in the series. The Harry-auf-Deutsch site is still online, now with Potter info and stories by amateur Harry Potter authors from all over the world. (Link to this and other German sites from our Harry Potter Links page.)
Of the numerous German Harry Potter sites, there are actually two that I like the best. The first was created by two young Berlin sisters, Saskia and Sascha Preissner. I first discovered their site in 2000. They became minor celebrities and published their own Harry Potter book (Die Zauberschule, Ullstein, München). Their “Harry-Potter-Fanclub” site is a multilingual treasure trove of Potterania, the result of their own talents and many helpers from the USA and many other countries around the world. But along with all the other Potter fans, the girls have grown up and are now university students in their 20s!
Another excellent German site was created by Cornelia Rémis, who is also the author of a book about a novel fragment by Clemens Brentano. She somehow found the time to create one of the best Harry Potter sites on the Web, “Viola Owlfeathers Harry-Potter-Kiste” - in German and English. Among other things, her site also features a “Duolingo-Seite” glossary for Potter fans. It was through her site that I found...
...the “Gurkensalat” (“cucumber salad”) pages, a chapter-by-chapter, annotated examination of translation mistakes (“Gurken”) found in the German Harry Potter books.
Here's a “Gurkensalat” example:
“Mr Perkins and his lumbago ...wird zu 'Mrs Perkins mit Hexenschuss' Nun ja, da mag ein Wortspielchen beabsichtigt sein. Hexen sind nun mal weiblichen Geschlechts.” (Kapitel 7)
In fact, it was this site that inspired me to create our Harry Potter Lexikon.
You can find the “Gurkensalat” site and many other German Harry Potter links on our links page. But first, take a look at our Harry Potter Lexikon!
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