Статья "Harry Potter and Difficulties of the Translation"

“Harry Potter and Difficulties of Translation”

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                                               Introduction

               The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling is one of the most popular sets of children’s novels   ever existed and was quickly adapted to even more popular films. The Harry Potter series of fantasy novels is one of the most translated series of all time, with the first book, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone”, having been translated into at least 79 languages. This includes languages with fewer than a million speakers such as Basque, Greenlandic and Welsh as well as Latin and Ancient Greek. Additionally, regional adaptations of the books have been made to accommodate regional dialects such as the American English edition or the Valencian adaptation of Catalan.

           For reasons of secrecy, translations were only allowed to begin after each book  being published in English, creating a lag of several months for readers of other languages. Impatient fans in many places simply bought the book in English instead. In some cases, fans have created their own unofficial translations, either ahead of a licensed translation or when a licensed translation is unavailable.

          Issues arising in the translation of Harry Potter include cultural references, riddles, anticipating future plot points, and Rowling's creative names for characters and other elements in the magical world which often involve word play and phonology.

         One of the most problematic translations of Harry Potter series is Russian translation because of Russian cultural and language features. Let’s see how our translators managed to complete so hard work.

Purpose of the study – comparing  two most popular Russian translations of the Harry Potter series

Object of the study – Russian translation of the Harry Potter series

Subject of the study – differences between “Росмэн”’s and “Махаон”’ translations         

                                        Main Part

2.1       The history of Russian translation of Harry Potter

In Russia the fate of the Harry Potter series translation was rapid and not quite successful. The first book, “The Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone”, was published in 2000, when it was clear, that the book would become bestseller. The translation was given to a large publishing company “Росмэн”, and choice of  a translator was not made  serious . enough

The first translator of the Harry Potter series was Igor Oransky.Here is what he says: “By the way, the book is rather easy, it was written in a simple language. It is clear, that some unhappy Scotland divorced woman was sitting in the cafe and writing   without any hope of success”. Then Igor lists inconsistencies, which he has found, saying that the book is ‘walk-through’, ridiculous and of no interest to him. It is clear, that the translation turned out to be unsuccessful and caused fans’ resentment.

“Росмэн” had to hire a new translator. The translator turned out to be the professor of Moscow linguistic university Marina Litvinova. Marina Litvinova and her students translated the second, third, fourth books of the series, but this translation was unsuccessful either. There were even more mistakes and inconsistencies than in first translation, and in addition a lot of translator’s own ideas appeared. The translator herself says: “There are some changes in my translation but they were made by agreement with an author: Joan Rowling allows to change something in translation if the original text doesn’t match to translation culture”. The second book, “Harry Potter and the Chambers of Secrets” got award in the nomination “the worst translation”.

Meanwhile, the Harry Potter series become so popular, that publishing company decided to hire  a new professional team of translators.

As a  result, the fifth book was actually translated by  the team of  the  best translators: Viktor Golyshev, Vladimir Babkov, Leonid Motylev. Their translation is rather good-quality and professional, but it was done without any pleasure and passion. All these translators work with adult literature, with absolutely different writers, “Harry Potter” is completely  of no   interest to them, and they refused to translate next parts of the series.

The work on the translation was continued by other well-known translator, Sergey Ilin. His translation was  of good-quality too, but he also says, that he has done that translation without any pleasure, just because for money.

So, the Russian translation of the Harry series by publishing company “Росмэн” was done by many different translators. Because of this fact and unprofessional work of some translators, the reviews of “Росмэн” translation are rather mixed.

In 2015 rights of publishing the Russian Harry Potter books were bought by the publishing company “Махаон”. “Махаон” chose one of the first and the most famous translations – the translation of Maria Spivak. It has everything, that previous translation lack, – love of the text and personal contribution. Maria Spivak said: “I became the translator because of this series. My American friend sent the first book to me, and I   finished it in one day and felt sorry for the future translator of this book because of many neologisms, games of words, and next morning I sat to translate this book. It was very mystical, the book just bewitched me”.

Suddenly it turned out   that translation of Spivak has  more critics than fans. The petition to cancel Spivak’s translation even appeared and got more than 70000 signs. The translation of Spivak completely changed all names from “Росмэн” translation, and its style was completely different. But the publishing company firmly declared that it wasn’t going to change the translator.

              2.2  How English names are translated.

Nowadays, there is one rule how English names are translated: personal names aren’t translated. So, Mr. Brown would remain “Мистер Браун”, not “Мистер Коричневый”.

But there are many difficulties with translating literature, because some names are nominal, has got a meaning or show us a nature of the character.

           There are three main ways to translate personal names:

                      1) Transliteration. It is when personal name is translated with     

                       every single letter: Harry Potter – “Гарри Поттер”.

                    2) Transcription. It is when the translator recreates original   

                       sounding of the name: Madam Pomfrey – “Мадам Помфри”.

                   3) Calking. It is when the translator translates every single 

                     morpheme apart: Griphook – “Крюкохват”. This way isn’t used  

                   with human names. It is usually used with animal’s name, street’s or

                    attraction’s name.

2.3   Examples of successful and unsuccessful translation of names

There are more than 500 characters in the Harry Potter series, it is clear, that we’re not going to review all names. But let’s choose the most interesting and difficult names to translate.

The first name we are going to consider – the brother of Harry Potter. In the original he is known as Dudley Dursley. The translators of “Росмэн” called him “Дадли Дурсль”, and in “Махаон”’s books he is “Дадли Дурслей”. Using the right way of transcription, his name is “Дадли Дарсли”. It seems, that translators of both publishing companies decided to make name of that character negative. Both variants aren’t perfect, but acceptable.

In the original one of the professors of Hogwarts University was named Severus Snape. The translators of “Росмэн” tried to connect surname of the professor with his name and called him as “Северус Снегг”, but that version isn’t successful. “Махаон” chose name “Северус Снэйп”, that is the best version of transcription. By the way, firstly Spivak wanted to call this character as “Злодеус Злей”, so everybody would  think that this character is evil. It is well, that this version wasn’t allowed.

The name of  a street where the  Dursleys live on caused a lot of problems, because the rules of translations allows liberty in translation names of the streets. The Russian version of Privet Drive from “Махаон” is “Бирючинная улица”. That translation is more exact. “Росмэн” used adapted translation. “Тисовая улица” sounds well, although is not exact.

The villain of the first book also caused a problem. “Росмэн” chose a simple way and used transcription, so Professor Quirrell was called “Профессор Квиррелл” in its book, this version sounds good, but it doesn’t contain subtext from the original. “Махаон” tried to imagine. In its version Professor is called “Профессор Страунс”, it seems, that its translators have tried to say strange, but consonance of this version with an ostrich makes it ridiculous. Even more, firstly Spivak wanted to call Professor Quirrell as “Профессор Белка”. That version almost made villain of the book a comedy character.

There are   more differences between two companies opinions of Russian versions of Rowling characters.  But, having considered, these versions, we can say, that both companies made both successful, and unsuccessful decisions.

     2.4   About styles of translation of “Росмэн” and “Махаон”

The main task in translating  literature is to convey the mood and the spirit of the story as close as it is possible. But the translator must do it without any incomprehensible phrases, so the reader should  understand everything.

Let’s consider  styles of translation of “Росмэн” and “Махаон”, comparing them on one small text passage.

That’s how “Росмэн” describes the appearance of Rubeus Hagrid:

“В дверном проеме стоял великан. Его лицо скрывалось за длинными спутанными прядями волос и огромной клочковатой бородой, но зато были видны его глаза, маленькие и блестящие, как черные жуки. Великан протиснулся в хижину и пригнулся, но голова его всё равно касалась потолка — уж слишком он был велик. Он наклонился, поднял дверь и легко поставил её на место. Грохот урагана, доносившийся снаружи, сразу стал потише. Великан повернулся и внимательно оглядел всех, кто был в хижине.
— Ну чего, может, чайку сделаете, а? Непросто до вас добраться, да… устал я…
Великан шагнул к софе, на которой сидел застывший от страха Дадли.
— Ну-ка подвинься, пузырь, — приказал незнакомец.
Дадли взвизгнул и, соскочив с софы, рванулся к вышедшей из второй комнаты матери и спрятался за неё. Тётя Петунья в свою очередь шагнула за спину дяди Вернона и пугливо пригнулась, словно надеялась, что за мужем ее не будет видно.
— А вот и наш Гарри! — удовлетворенно произнес великан.”

And “Махаон”’s version:

“На пороге стоял великан. Огромная физиономия почти совсем скрывалась в густой гриве спутанных волос и длинной неряшливой бороде, но глаза-таки можно было рассмотреть: во всём этом волосяном буйстве они блестели, словно два больших черных жука.
Гигант протиснулся в хижину, сильно пригнув голову, и всё равно подмел потолок своей несусветной гривой. Он наклонился, поднял дверь и без усилий поставил её на место. Завывания бури поутихли. Гигант оглядел всё собрание.
— Чайку можно, а? — попросил он. — Измотался как пёс.
Он прошёл к дивану, где, застыв от страха, сидел Дадли.
— Подвинься, жирный, — сказал неожиданный гость.
Дадли взвизгнул и спрятался за спину матери, которая в свою очередь испуганно жалась за дядей Верноном.
— Ага, вот и Гарри! — воскликнул великан.”

Let's analyse it in detail. In the first two paragraphs let's evaluate the style of narration and the accuracy of the transmission. “Росмэн”’s presentation is smooth, without frills. In general, the translation corresponds well to the original, so there are no complaints. The structure of phrases has been slightly changed, there are permutations, but they allow you to convey thoughts in Russian. more accurately

“Махаон” has got some rather strange solutions. "Огромная физиономия" - although in the original it's just "His face". "В волосяном буйстве" - in the original "under all the hair". "Несусветной гривой" — in the original "his head". The translation is repleted with excesses, because of which the mood of the narrative is not fully conveyed. And they don't speak Russian like that. What is a "волосяное буйство"?

Let's go further. In the original, Hagrid speaks with a rustic accent. Both versions of the phrase "Ну чего, чайку может, сделаете, а?" and "Чайку можно, а?" are quite acceptable. But then “Махаон” decided to introduce an element of its own idea. The original "It wasn't an easy journey..." transferred as “Измотался как пёс”. As the matter of fact, it conveys the idea, but the comparison isn’t quite successful.

Let’s consider two versions «Ну-ка подвинься, пузырь» and «Подвинься, жирный». The second option is more accurate, because "great lump" is "толстяк, жирдяй", although the phrase doesn’t sound very good. And "пузырь" is not exact, but this option reflects a non—offensive insult even more accurately.

Approximately the same trend persists in both versions of translations. “Махаон” translates closer to the original, but it sometimes slips strange and unnatural phrases. “Росмэн” often expands the descriptions of scenes beyond the translation, but in general the result looks quite harmonious.

                                        Conclusion

Thus .which  translation is still better? Is it possible to objectively compare the translation of "Росмэн" and the translation of Maria Spivak?

Unfortunately, it is impossible to compare them quite objectively, and this impossibility is inherent in the very essence of literary translation. A translation can never fully convey all the shades, all the meanings and associations of the original. The translator has to choose one of two (or three), and there is no way to combine everything "in one bottle".

This is clearly seen in the example of talking names, which are    mostly discussed by readers. The name has a sound that "sticks" to the character, creates an image. In some cases, the name also has a semantic component, the name tells us something about the character (such a name is called a speaker), especially often such names are found in satirical or in children's literature. As a rule, it is impossible to translate both the sound and the meaning into another language. We have to decide how important the semantic component of the name is for the author. Here, for example, is the name of one of the heroes of Longbottom — “Долгопупс” in one translation, “Длиннопоп” in another, “Лонгботтом” in the third. In English, this is an existing, normal surname. One can imagine that children in the classroom will laugh at such a surname. “Долгопупс” and “Длиннопоп” are deliberate, far—fetched names, “Лонгботтом”, on the other hand, has no comic connotation at all. What to prefer is a matter of taste of the translator and the reader.

Dumbledore in Russian was not understood at all as a speaking surname, and meanwhile, J.K. Rowling mentioned that Dumbledore is an old word meaning "bumblebee". Norwegian translators translated it so as to preserve this meaning through onomatopoeia, they have Dumbledore — Humlesnurr. And the Italians decided that Dumbledore comes from dumb, dumb, and translated the name Professor Silente from the word "silence". Professors Dumbledore, Humblesnyur and Silente seem to be completely different people.

We should not forget about another feature of names: the name merges in our perception with the image of the character, becomes part of it. Therefore, a familiar name always has an advantage over an unusual one. Over the past fifteen years, thanks to films and books, “Росмэн” translations of names have entered Russian usage, have become the only possible ones for the reader. Here, for example, the resource "Chalk" published "8 reasons why Maria Spivak should not translate Harry Potter." Reason number 6: "Maybe Luna Lovegood was a little mad. But fans of the saga liked her and seemed rather a little strange and dreamy. There are no more semitones with Psycho Lovegood “Росмэн” translation confidently acts as the original, the much more neutral English version (Luna Lovegood) is not mentioned at all.

It can be said that the text of Maria Spivak has a greater artistic unity than the texts of “Росмэн”, which were translated by "the whole school". We can say that there is more imagination in this translation, although not every reader will agree to consider this an advantage. These books seem more childish than the original, they seem to flirt with the public more. On the other hand, even with the greatest love for the book, it is difficult for a novice translator to approach the professional level of Viktor Golyshev, no matter how indifferent he may be to the text.

"Harry Potter" is a rather multifaceted and complex work, in addition, it is the main world bestseller of the turn of the twentieth and twenty—first centuries. I am sure that we will see a new translation of this book — official or not — made thoughtfully and carefully, and with love and professionalism, without impossible deadlines, with a careful study of the entire corpus of texts, taking into account the development of characters, with an understanding of genre, literary context, linguistic subtleties.

                            References.

1.                     http://ru.wikipedia.org/

2.                     https://nplus1.ru/material/2016/09/12/harrypotter

3.                     Jkrowling.com

        4.Harry Potter books, games, and activities for Muggles"

5."Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone"