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Pottermaniac · #1 (**permalink**) 10-19-2007, 08:57 PM

Translating a Harry Potter novel comes with many more difficulties than one would expect. However, Gili Bar-Hillel understands the challenge fully, as she has been translating the books into Hebrew since 1999.

Quote:

…not knowing the end has caused me a lot of anguish. I never know when something is important. The smallest fact could turn out to be significant later, and there is no way for me to know when that is the case.

Although Bar-Hillel is now a celebrity among Hebrew-speaking fans, she has often been sent letters from unsatisfied readers about the choices she had made:

Quote:

I had a child complain to me about how I translated the word ‘wand,’” she says. “The complaint was that ‘wand’ has a pleasing, round sound to it, and ‘sharveet’ sounds harsh. What can I do? That’s the Hebrew word for wand.

But Bar-Hillel has encountered many more difficulties while translating the books, and some of these go further than a simple choice of vocabulary. Hebrew, being a different language altogether when compared to English, makes translating quite a challenging adventure:

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As an example, Bar-Hillel points to a conversation at the beginning of Deathly Hallows, in which Mrs. Weasley orders her son Ron (Harry’s best friend) to clean his room. Chafing at the order, Ron starts to say, “Why in the name of Merlin’s saggy left …” before he is interrupted by his father, who scolds him not to talk to his mother like that. We never find out what noun Ron was going to use at the end of the sentence. The omission creates a problem for Bar-Hillel because in Hebrew, adjectives are placed after the nouns they modify. Without knowing exactly what item or body part of Merlin’s was saggy and on the left, Bar-Hillel will be hard-pressed to translate Ron’s question without using judicious guesswork.

“I’ll either have to decide on a noun or completely rearrange what he was going to say in some creative way,” Bar-Hillel conjectures.

Also, there are many cultural differences attributed to both languages. J.K. Rowling has said it herself: aspects and ideas observed throughout the Harry Potter novels reflect England’s culture. What must a translator do then, when their audience is not familiar with the terms used in the original novel?

Quote:

I had a friend from England send me lemon sherbets so I could understand what they were,” Bar-Hillel recalls. “They are a lemon candy with a sort of fizzy feeling in the mouth, and they are seen in Britain as a children’s treat. Adults don’t eat them so much. The point of the lemon sherbets is to tell us something about Dumbledore’s character n that this wise old wizard with a long white beard carries around a children’s treat in his pocket. The equivalent children’s dessert in Israel is the krembo. If I’d translated it as a lemon sucking candy, it wouldn’t have imparted the same image of Dumbledore.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to satisfy everyone’s expectations. The only thing Gili Bar-Hillel can do is prepare an explanation of every choice she has made, and hope it will be enough for the criticism of Hebrew-speaking fans.

The Hebrew version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is expected to be released in January.

Learn more about Gili Bar-Hillel's tough job here.

Source: HPFZ

Little Trooper · 10-19-2007, 08:59 PM

Wow thats interesting.

*Padie* · 10-19-2007, 09:46 PM

Aaah... Poor woman =/

griffin_girl · 10-19-2007, 09:53 PM

Yeah, language barrier is a bit hard...translating HP into another language is difficult because if you don't understand one english word, you'd have to look it up and try to understand the meaning too...

accio.brain · 10-19-2007, 10:46 PM

Yeah. Even translating stuff in my language class is hard enough for me. I can't even imagine how hard it is for them who translate books like HP.

Ginny GL · 10-19-2007, 11:40 PM

At least this lady really pays attention to things, 'cause some of the translators are terrible!

dancerbookl · 10-20-2007, 12:52 AM

Man! I can't imagine doing something like that it would be to hard for me

Princesspotter1234 · 10-20-2007, 06:16 AM

sure is tough on her!

HARRY LOVER#1 =) · 10-20-2007, 07:07 AM

I bet it is really hard! I really wouldnt want to be a translator....it seems like a really hard job.Plus the vocab. in some languages are WAY diffrent to the english one.

half_blood_prince · 10-20-2007, 07:26 AM

thats cool at least she knows what she is doing.

Abbie0312 · 10-20-2007, 02:11 PM

My God it must be really difficult

R&Hr · 10-20-2007, 02:28 PM

YEA!!! My firends dont know what im talking about!!! She translated Dementors sooo weird! I can not talk to my friends bout pooter...only nuts, off course...but, i mean! Ok, yes, it is hard, but, why did she change marauders into...somthing rweally weird! I have only read the books in english, but all of my friends have only read them in hebrew, so, dificult time here Gili...i was planning to send her a letter, but, nah! Whatever...i love jo...
oh, and, how was dumbeldore suppossed to carry a Krembo is his pocket? i cant even pick on up without smooshing it! and and...Janurary? god! How am i not supposed to give any spoilers to them? hehe...little suckers...ok, i mean, sorry israel! I love you! ok, i should shut up...

Mrs Felton · 10-20-2007, 03:54 PM

It must be really difficult for her!! Especially with some of the fans complaining.

**Zellanna** · 10-20-2007, 07:38 PM

Wow. I remember doing some translations from Japanese to English, and it's pretty hard to have the same inflections. I don't remember a whole lot of puns in the books, but I imagine some things are are misinterpreted must be hard to translate as well. How do you create the same careful plays on words? Or better yet, accents? When I translate something, it's hard to translate also that someone has a Kansaiban accent, for instance, to English. So I wonder what it was like translating how Hagrid or Fluer talks over to Hebrew.

marla_khulet · 10-21-2007, 02:35 PM

it is! i tried to translate a paragraph HP and i like gave up trying. you have to make the stuff as it is..its really a tiring job. so, a great applause for the translators!!