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In 1997, JK Rowling published Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
1997年，J.K.罗琳出版了《哈利·波特与魔法石》，
But most of her audience didn’t actually read that book.
然而其实，她的大部分读者都没有读过那本书。
They read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
他们读的是《哈利·波特与魔术石》（注：美国发行版本）
or Harry Potter A L'Ecole des Sorciers, Harry Potter va Sang-e Jadu,
或Harry Potter A L'Ecole des Sorciers（注：法文版译名），Harry Potter va Sang-e Jadu（注：波斯文版译名）
Harry Potter A L'Ecole des Sorciers
又或者Harry Potter A L'Ecole des Sorciers（注：西班牙语版译名）。
The bewitching Harry Potter books have reached readers in over 200 territories in over 60 languages.
风靡全球的《哈利·波特》系列吸引了跨越200多个国家和地区、60多种语言的读者。
The authorized translations came from separate publishing houses with little oversight from the author.
然而，各大出版社发行的译本很少经过作者本人过目。
So translators were not only tasked with adapting the text from english into their target languages and cultures,
所以，译者们不仅要把文本从英语改编到译入语和译入文化，
but also making assumptions about Rowling’s intentions and translating the spirit of her approach.
还要猜测罗琳的写作意图，译出作品的精髓。
Their task was particularly challenging because the Harry Potter series is filled with invented words, alliteration, wordplay, and British cultural references.
这项任务非常艰巨，因为《哈利·波特》系列里用了非常多的新造词、头韵、双关和跟英国文化有关的词语。
The main characters first names: Harry, Hermione, and Ron mostly stayed the same across languages,
书中的主要人物的名字，比如Harry，Hermione和Ron，在翻译中基本保持不变，
with small changes to accommodate different alphabets and phonetics.
只是偶尔做了调整，以适应目标语的字母和语音系统。
That’s easy enough for conventional names like Harry Potter.
这种改变对Harry Potter这种常见的名字来说并不难，
But many of the other proper names in the book carry loaded meanings,
然而，其他很多名字都有丰富的内涵，
meanings that would be lost if it’s not translated.
换句话说，不翻译出来，这些含义就会丧失。
Take Severus Snape. The name invokes severity and sounds like “snake.”
就拿Severus Snape来说吧，这个名字给人一种严厉的感觉，而且听上去有点像“蛇”的发音。
So the Italian translator made the jump and named him Severus Piton —which is basically python.
意大利语的译者略过了这一点，翻译成了Severus Piton——大体上是“蟒蛇”的意思。
In French, he’s Severus Rogue which means Severus "Arrogance".
该名字的法语翻译是Severus Rogue，Rogue也就是 “傲慢”的意思。
As you can tell, both solutions sacrificed Rowling’s alliteration.
大家看出来了吧，两种翻译都未能再现罗琳用的头韵。
The name “Hogwarts” combines two English words,
Hogwarts这一名字是一个复合词（注：hog意为“猪”，warts意为“疣”）
but because the name stayed the same in most languages, those connotations were lost for those readers.
然而，由于大多译文都保留了这一拼写，读者就无法领会原来那两个词的意思。
In an attempt to preserve Rowling’s approach to the school’s name, the French translator used “Poudlard.”
为了照顾罗琳在命名魔法学院时的写作意图，法语译者把学院名翻译成了“Poudlard”.
"Pou du lard" means lice of bacon or fat.
"Pou du lard"的意思是一片培根或一片肥肉。
The Hungarian version went with “Roxfort” a mix of the British university Oxford and Roquefort—a well known blue cheese.
匈牙利版本则用了"Roxfort"，也就是英国牛津大学和洛克福奶酪——一种很有名的蓝纹奶酪的缩写。
The house names and founders, also experienced unique adaptations in some of the target languages.
个别目标语的翻译里，学院的名字及其创始人的名字也有所调整。
In Catalan the names became: Nícanor Griffindor, Sírpentin Slytherin, Mari Pau Ravenclaw, and Horténsia Hufflepuff.
在卡特罗尼亚版本里，这些名字变成了Nícanor Griffindor，Sírpentin Slytherin，Mari Pau Ravenclaw和Horténsia Hufflepuff。
There’s a ton of word play that happens in the Harry Potter books as well.
《哈利·波特》中还有数不清的双关。
The famous Diagon Alley, a play on the word "diagonally" and the infamous Knockturn Alley from "nocturnally".
著名的Diagon Alley，就来源于"diagonally"(“对角地”）和与臭名昭著的“Knockturn Alley”（“翻倒巷”）读音相似的“nocturnally”（“夜间地”）。
This type of pun is a real puzzle for translators, and most dropped it in favor of literal translations.
这类双关对译者来说确实是一个难题，所以译者大都舍弃了这些含义而选用了直译。
The Spanish translator was able to rhyme at least with “callejón diagon.”
但西班牙语译者的翻译“callejón diagon”至少还做到了押韵。
And translators had several approaches to Quidditch,an invented game made from the invented words Quaffle, Bludger, and Snitch—the 3 types of balls used in the game.
除此之外，在翻译Quidditch——一种融合了“Quaffle”（鬼飞球）, Bludger（游走球）和“Snitch”（金色飞贼）的游戏——时，译者们的处理方法也各不相同。
In Spanish, the words were not changed.
西班牙语译者选择了保留原词。
The French translator kept the word Quidditch but changed the names of the balls.
法语译者保留了“Quidditch”，但改变了三种球的名字。
And others changed the game’s name altogether.
还有译者甚至连游戏的名字"Quidditch"都改了。
In Dutch, quidditch is “Zwerkbal.” In Norwegian, it’s “Rumpeldunk."
荷兰文译本里变成了“Zwerkbal”，而在挪威语的版本里又变成了“Rumpeldunk”。
O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s, standardized tests in the wizarding world, weren’t always able to retain their animal acronyms.
普通巫师等级考试（Owl意为“猫头鹰”）和高级巫师考试（Newt意为“蝾螈”），魔法世界的两个标准考试，也在部分翻译中丧失了这两个缩略词所蕴含的两种动物的意思。
But in Swedish their implied meanings remained while the wording was changed.
瑞典语译本虽然保留了双关，具体含义却改变了。
OWLs became Grund Examen i Trollkonst or G.E.T, meaning goat in Swedish.
普通巫师等级考试变成了Grund Examen i Trollkonst，缩写为G.E.T，意思是山羊。
And NEWTs were changed to Fruktansv?rt Utmattande Trollkarls Test or F.U.T.T. derived from "futtig" meaning measly or mean.
高级巫师考试变成了Fruktansv?rt Utmattande Trollkarls Test，缩写F.U.T.T，意思是可怜的，或者小气的。
The infamous anagram of Tom Marvolo Riddle’s name was altered by many translators to achieve the same revelation of “I Am Lord Voldemort.”
恶贯满盈的Tom Marvolo Riddle的名字可重新排列为“I Am Lord Voldemort.”，意为“我是伏地魔”。为了保留这一语义，许多译者都对这一名字做了改动。
In Danish, Tom is named "Romeo G. Detlev Jr."
丹麦语版本中，Tom的名字翻译成了Romeo G. Detlev Jr.
and in French he is “Tom Elvis Jedusor” which was extra clever because "Jeu du sort" means “fate riddle.”
法语版本则是Tom Elvis Jedusor，这一翻译可谓妙不可言，因为“Jeu du sort”有“命运之谜”的含义。
Culturally, the Harry Potter series is unmistakably British, but translating that for a global group of readers wasn’t easy.
从文化的角度看，《哈利·波特》代表的显然是英国文化，然而，要把这些文化翻译给世界其他国家的读者绝非易事。
Some food items were changed to make them less foreign for the target country.
为了不让读者感到过于陌生，译者们往往会替换书里出现的食物。
Sherbet lemons, a popular candy item in Britain, became krembo, a chocolate covered sweet from Israel.
柠檬雪宝，一种广受欢迎的英国糖，变成了Krembo，一种裹了巧克力酱的以色列甜点。
Crisps became chips in the US and in the Arabic version, bacon became eggs.
在美国版本里，虽然都是薯条，但crisps变成了chips，阿拉伯文译本里，培根也变成了鸡蛋。
Sometimes a foreign setting undergoes translation too.
有时，陌生的故事背景也会经过翻译处理。
For the Ukrainian translation, the atmosphere of an English boarding school was swapped out for an orphanage.
在乌克兰版本里，英国寄宿学校的背景就变成了孤儿院。
In the books and films, Hagrid has a provincial west country accent.
无论是在书里还是电影里，Hagrid说话都有英国西部的乡下方言口音。
"No? Blimey Harry, didn't you ever wonder where your mum and dad learned it all?"
“没有？哈利，俺叻亲娘啊，你就没寻思过，这些你爹妈都是从哪里学来的么？”
"You're a wizard, Harry."
“哈利，恁是巫师”。
For the Japanese translations, it was replicated by using Tōhoku dialect, which is a pastoral accent from northeastern Japan.
日语版本用日本东北地区的方言再现了Hagrid的口音特色。
Other translators chose to have Hagrid simply speak more informally, while others dropped his accent entirely.
其他译者则选择了让Hagrid的语言更具口语特色，也有一些译者完全舍弃了他的这一语言特色。
Despite translators’ best efforts to remain true to the text, some things still were lost in translation.
尽管译者千方百计想忠实于原文，仍有一些东西在翻译过程中丧失了。
In the mainland Chinese editions of Harry Potter there were footnotes to explain puns and cultural references.
中国大陆版的《哈利·波特》给出了解释双关或文化内涵的注释。
The Spanish translator sometimes used italics to signal an invented word with no translation.
西班牙语译者有时会用斜体直接借用原文的新造词。
But in the end, it doesn’t matter if you’re reading Harry Potter and Philosopher’s Stone or the many translations of it.
然而，到头来，你看的是原版的《哈利·波特与魔法石》还是译本并不重要，
One thing that always seems to translate is the love fans around the world share for tales of "The Boy Who Lived."
因为有一样东西似乎总是翻译得通的，那就是全世界的哈利·波特粉对“大难不死的男孩”（即哈利·波特）的故事的热爱。
