Officially crazy and other good things

[rowanna73]

So I am. It's not even 6 a.m. and I'm actually up and (nearly) awake and seriously considering on getting dressed and standing in a queue in front of a bookstore to be among the first to get my copy of a new Finnish translation of Harry Potter. Why then did I stay up late and watched the Finland episode of Conan O'Brien? Why

Comments

[misscam]

You only got the translation now? Wow, we got the Norwegian one three months later. They paid the translator extra to work fast like whoa, since it's so popular.

[yavannie77]

I don't think the Finnish translator would've wanted to speed up her work in any case. She is really meticulous and the translations are spot-on excellent (as a Finnish teacher I'm always ready to pimp the Finnish translations!) and she seems to prefer working at her own pace. Which, naturally is fine for us capable of reading the book in English, but the kids have had quite a wait...

[misscam]

I must admit I haven't read the Norwegian translations, but I know they've been put worth as fairly good. But everyone works at their own pace and all, and yay on the Finnish publishers for going with quality over speed.

[rowanna73]

Exactly what yavannie77 said. I don't know about the quality about other translations but the Finnish one is excellent and widely recognized as such. And since the reading in English part is no problem for myself, I don't care how long the translator wants to work, as long as the end result is good. :)

[misscam]

Heh, yeah, that's the advantage of having a second language. Plus, something is always lost in translation no matter how good it is.

But can be interesting to read original versus translated and spot the differences.

[rowanna73]

Something can also be gained in translation, if only rarely. Rowling does such magnificent wordplay and verbal gags that they must be a pain to translate - and so the translators have to come up with new ones, or clever ways to go around those. Some parts of the Finnish translation make me really appreciate a translator's work. I don't think I could do the same.

I've read all but the first two in both languages and enjoyed them all tremendously. It is very interesting to compare them.

A rather interesting article about translating Potter in different languages is found here.

[misscam]

Thanks, shall check that out!

And yes, good translation is an underappreciated skill indeed.

[yavannie77]

But can be interesting to read original versus translated and spot the differences.

It is fun, you should try it with the Norwegian versions! :) It's true that some things are always lost in translation, but then again, I think sometimes the translation brings something completely new to the reading experience. In the case of HP, the Finnish special vocabulary the translator has developed for all the spells, terms and so on have cracked me up on numerous occasions. They are hilarious. And as the deeper understanding of a language (all the small nuances) really requires the native skill, I can't help but think my HP experiences are twice as rich since the translations are so good. And I consider myself fairly fluent in English, for sure. But no matter how good I am in English, I'm always going to be better in Finnish. :)

[misscam]

I know the Norwegian one got herself an old Norwegian herbal book and borrowed names from it. Pretty neat.

And yeah, your native language stay your native language. I am very fluent in English, but I think in Norwegian still, and that's really what clinches it.