《哈利波特》与伤透脑筋的译者

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.

但其实大部分的读者都没有读过这个版本。

They read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone.

他们读的是《哈利波特与魔法石》。

or Harry Potter A L'Ecole des Sorciers

或...（法语版）《哈利波特与魔法石》

Harry Potter va Sang-e Jadu

（波斯语版）《哈利波特与魔法石》

Harry Potter y la Piedra Filosofal

（西班牙语版）《哈利波特与魔法石》

The bewitching Harry Potter books have reached readers in over 200 territories in over 60 languages.

令人沉迷其中的《哈利波特》系列在 200 多个地区发行，被翻译成 60 多种语言。

The authorized translations came from separate publishing houses with little oversight from the author.

官方译本由不同的出版社负责，很少与作者对接。

So translators were not only tasked with adapting the text from english into their target languages and cultures,

因此，译者不仅要将英文原文翻译成目标语并本地化，

but also making assumptions about Rowling's intentions and translating the spirit of her approach.

还要猜测罗琳的用意，保留她用字遣词的精随。

Their task was particularly challenging because the Harry Potter series is filled with invented words, alliteration, wordplay, and British cultural references.

这项任务异常艰辛，因为《哈利波特》系列里满满都是自创词、押头韵、文字游戏以及英式文化的涉及。

The main characters first names: Harry, Hermione, and Ron mostly stayed the same across languages,

主角的名字——哈利、赫敏与罗恩——在大部分语言中都不做改动，

with small changes to accommodate different alphabets and phonetics.

只有因不同的字母和发音做微调。

That's easy enough for conventional names like Harry Potter.

处理哈利·波特这种传统的名字，这么做就够用了。

But many of the other proper names in the book carry loaded meanings — meanings that would be lost if it's not translated.

但很多书中的专有名词都有寓意——要是没译出来，弦外之音就会消失。

Take Severus Snape. The name invokes severity and sounds like "snake".

像是西弗勒斯·斯内普（Severus Snape），他的名字有严苛（severity）之意，发音近似于「蛇（snake）」。

So the Italian translator made the jump and named him Severus Piton —which is basically python.

所以意大利译者大胆改成 Severus Piton，Piton 基本上是指「python（巨蟒）」。

In French, he's Severus Rogue which means Severus "Arrogance".

在法语中，他叫做 Severus Rogue，意思是西弗勒斯·“自大（arrogance）”。

As you can tell, both solutions sacrificed Rowling's alliteration.

就像你看到的，两种译法都牺牲掉了罗琳押头韵的巧思。

The name "Hogwarts" combines two English words, but because the name stayed the same in most languages, those connotations were lost for those readers.

「霍格沃茨（Hogwarts）」是由两个英文单词组成，但大部分的版本都采音译法，所以读者无从得知这层涵义。

In an attempt to preserve Rowling's approach to the school's name, the French translator used "Poudlard".

为了保留罗琳在校名上的手法，法语译者改成「Poudlard」。

"Pou du lard" means lice of bacon or fat.

「Pou du lard」意思是「一片培根或脂肪」。

The Hungarian version went with "Roxfort" a mix of the British university Oxford and Roquefort—a well known blue cheese.

匈牙利的版本则是「Roxfort」，取自英国牛津大学（Oxford）和罗克福干酪（Roquefort），一种很有名的蓝纹奶酪。

The house names and founders, also experienced unique changes in some of the target languages.

学院名称和创始人在有些语言中也有巧妙的改动。

In Catalan the names became: Nícanor Griffindor, Sírpentin Slytherin, Mari Pau Ravenclaw, and Horténsia Hufflepuff.

在加泰罗尼亚语中，创始人的名字变成：Nícanor Griffindor（原为Godric Gryffindor）、Sírpentin Slytherin（原为Salazar Slytherin）、Mari Pau Ravenclaw（原为Rowena Ravenclaw） 和 Hortensia Hufflepuff（原为Helga Hufflepuff）。

There's a ton of word play that happens in the Harry Potter books as well.

《哈利波特》里也有一堆文字游戏。

The famous Diagon Alley, a play on the word "diagonally" and the infamous Knockturn Alley from "nocturnally".

大家熟知的对角巷（Diagon Alley），就取自「对角地（diagonally）」，恶名昭彰的翻倒巷（Knockturn Alley）则来自「夜里地（nocturnally）」。

This type of pun is a real puzzle for translators, and most dropped it in favor of literal translations.

这类型的双关让译者很困扰，所以最后大家都干脆只照字面翻译。

The Spanish translator was able to rhyme at least with "callejón diagon".

西班牙语译者至少还有押韵，翻译成「Callejón Diagon」。

And translators had several approaches to  Quidditch, an invented game made from the invented words Quaffle, Bludger, and Snitch—

各国译者对魁地奇也有不同的处理方式，魁地奇是书中虚构的比赛，包含鬼飞球、游走球以及金色飞贼——

the 3 types of balls used in the game.

三种自创的球种。

In Spanish, the words were not changed.

西班牙语保留原本的名字。

The French translator kept the word Quidditch but changed the names of the balls.

而法语译者保留「魁地奇」，但改了用球名称。

And others changed the game's name altogether.

其他版本的则是连游戏名称都一起改了。

In Dutch, quidditch is "Zwerkbal".

在荷兰文中，魁地奇变成「Zwerkbal」。

In Norwegian, it's "Rumpeldunk".

挪威版则变成「Rumpeldunk」。

OWLS and NEWTS, standardized tests in the wizarding world, weren't always able to retain their animal acronyms.

普通巫师等级考试和终极巫师等级考试是魔法世界里的标准考试，缩写的动物双关也没能保留在其他语言之中。

But in Swedish their implied meanings remained while the wording was changed.

不过瑞典语保留了它背后的涵义，更动了用字。

OWLs became Grund Examen i Trollkonst or G.E.T meaning goat in Swedish.

O.W.L.s变成了 Grund Examen i Trollkonst，缩写 G.E.T 为瑞典语中的「山羊」。

And NEWTs were changed to Fruktansvärt Utmattande Trollkarls Test or F.U.T.T. derived from "futtig" meaning measly or mean.

N.E.W.T.s 被改成 Fruktansvart Utmattande Trollkarls Test，缩写 F.U.T.T. 取自「futtig」，意思是「可怜的、严厉的」。

The infamous anagram of Tom Marvolo Riddle's name was altered by many translators to achieve the same revelation of "I Am Lord Voldemort".

汤姆·马沃罗·里德尔的重组字谜也是出了名的难翻，很多译者为了呈现重组后的句子「我是伏地魔」，也有所调整。

In Danish, Tom is named "Romeo G. Detlev Jr".

丹麦文中，汤姆的名字变成「Romeo G. Detlev Jr.」。

and in French he is "Tom Elvis Jedusor" which was extra clever because "Jeu du sort" means "fate riddle".

法文则变成「Tom Elvis Jedusor」，这个译法很精妙，因为其中的「Jeu du sort」意思是「命运之谜（里德尔）」。

Culturally, the Harry Potter series is unmistakably British but translating that for a global group of readers wasn't easy.

就文化来说，《哈利波特》系列的确走英式风格，但要翻译给全球的读者可就不容易了。

Some food items were changed to make them less foreign for the target country.

其中有些食物就为了让该地读者好理解而更改。

Sherbet lemons, a popular candy item in Britain, became krembo, a chocolate covered sweet from Israel.

像是柠檬雪宝，这款很受欢迎的英国糖果，就变成了「krembo」，以色列的一种巧克力糖。

Crisps became chips in the US and in the Arabic version, bacon became eggs.

英式英文的「crisps（薯条）」改成美式的「chips」，阿拉伯文版中，培根变成了鸡蛋。

Sometimes a foreign setting undergoes translation too.

有时场景设定也会因地制宜。

For the Ukrainian translation, the atmosphere of an English boarding school was swapped out for an orphanage.

乌克兰文版中，英国的住宿学院风摇身一变成了孤儿院风。

In the books and films, Hagrid has a provincial west country accent.

在小说版和电影版中，海格操着一口英国西南部的腔调。

"No? Blimey Harry, didn't you ever wonder where your mum and dad learned it all?

不？我的老天啊哈利，你难道不好奇你爸妈在哪学的吗？

You're a wizard, Harry."

哈利，你是个巫师啊。

For the Japanese translations, it was replicated by using Tōhoku dialect, which is a pastoral accent from northeastern Japan.

日文版里使用了东北方言来重现，这是一种日本东北的乡下腔调。

Other translators chose to have Hagrid simply speak more informally, while others dropped his accent entirely.

其他译者则让海格的讲话方式更随兴一点，还有些版本则是直接忽略腔调不译。

Despite translators' best efforts to remain true to the text some things still were lost in translation.

虽然译者尽可能忠于原文，但翻译中某些东西还是会不见。

In the mainland Chinese editions of Harry Potter there were footnotes to explain puns and cultural references.

像是中国大陆发行的哈利波特里，书中用脚注来解释双关和文化词汇。

The Spanish translator sometimes used italics to signal an invented word with no translation.

西班牙译者有时则是保留原本的自创词汇，改用斜体字表示。

But in the end, it doesn't matter if you're reading Harry Potter and Philosopher's Stone or the many translations of it.

总而言之，无论你是读原版的《哈利波特与魔法石》，还是翻译版本都没关系。

One thing that always seems to translate is the love fans around the world share for tales of  "The Boy Who Lived".

有一件事似乎历久不衰，也就是全球粉丝对「大难不死的男孩」这个故事的喜爱。

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