Harry Potter – Translation and analysis

Résumé du document

Everybody has heard about Harry Potter, the famous book by J.K. Rowling and the famous wizard. It is, as everybody knows, a very popular novel everywhere in the world. It is particularly popular in the country where it was written. Not only children, but also many grown-ups actually love it.

We are going to analyze the content of the first book (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone) and its translation into French.

Harry Potter is an English story; it is easy to find in it many allusions to Harry's country and civilization. Harry Potter is a wizard, but, before being a wizard, he is a young English boy. Many details show, in the text, where the story is set. Of course there are more elements that refer to the wizard's civilization; how could we find, beside them, those allusions to the British culture?

Another interesting thing is the translation of the book: how was it possible to translate such a book in French? It was probably very difficult, and it is interesting to see how the translator could avoid creating text too different from its original version. We can wonder, for instance, how he could have translated the words that J. K. Rowling had made up, referring to magic, such as Muggles, Hogwarts or Quidditch, to name just a few. We will therefore compare it to its French translation, made by Jean-François Ménard. We will see how the latter could keep the original humor from the text, and to what extend he could stay faithful to what the author had written.

Extraits

[...] Nevertheless, if the translator tried not to touch most of the names, he had to change many of them. The book was written for children, therefore J. K. Rowling made up names carrying a special meaning, to make them funnier. This kind of names needed a translation, because their meaning was intentional, and their understanding was necessary for the reader. This was the case for Professor Snape. This teacher was called after the main feature of his personality; as his name indicates us, he is a very sharp and hard character. [...]

[...] This House became Poufsouffle, where we can find these repetitions of sounds, in an easier word for French people to pronounce. This pronunciation and these repetitions were very important, in every language, to the magical connotation of the name. As far as Ravenclaw is concerned, the translator had to work on the meaning. He translated it by Serdaigle (Serre d'Aigle). Serre is the translation of the Claw, nevertheless the translator used a different bird from the raven. Indeed Aigle is the French for Eagle. [...]

[...] However we have to say that J. K. Rowling remained very imprecise about the places where the scene takes place when Harry is not yet at Hogwarts. As the story is originally for children, she might have thought it was not really important to describe all the existing places; only the imaginary ones really count. IV . Hogwarts, an English school We learn a lot, through Harry Potter, about English schools. Hogwarts is a very particular one of course, but it works as any other English school, and would therefore be totally different if it had been created by a French writer. [...]

[...] However, what is strange is that he chose to translate it as Harry Potter à l'Ecole des Sorciers. We can ask ourselves, then, why he decided to make such a modification to the title. A translator should remain as faithful as possible to the original text, especially with the title, which is the first element to be read. It is quite difficult to tell why Jean-François Ménard chose to change all its meaning. J. K. Rowling chose to mention, in the title, the Philosopher's Stone, that Voldemort is going to try to steal. [...]

[...] Harry, as he was only a baby, resisted to him. He is now expected at Hogwarts, School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, where he is already famous. He makes new friends, Ron and Hermione, and also enemies, like Malfoy, but he has a good year at his new school. He discovers the strange world of wizards and learns everything he should know about magic. But Voldemort comes back and tries to steal the Philosopher's Stone, hidden at Hogwarts. Harry tries to prevent him, putting his life in danger, and is finally rescued by Dumbledore. [...]