Monthly Archives: September 2015

The vocabulary of Harry Potter – part 2

Author: Oxyman via Wikipedia Commons

Author: Oxyman via Wikipedia Commons

Today’s blog post takes up the topic of the last blog post, namely the vocabulary of the Harry Potter books in some further languages 🙂 .

Catalan

In Catalan, Harry goes to L’Escola Hogwarts de Màgia i Bruixeria and takes part in the Triwizard Tournament or el Torneig de Tres Bruixots in Book 4. Moaning Myrtle is known as Gemma Gemec, and Dumbledore’s Army is l’Exèrcit de Dumbledore. Horcruxes are horricreus and the Death Eaters are els cavallers de la mort. The Weasleys live in ‘El Cau‘ (The Burrow).

The Ministry of Magic is called la Conselleria d’Afers Màgics and the young Voldemort is called Tod Rodlel instead of Tom Riddle. (For those among you speaking German, Tod means death or ‘mort’ in German, so it is an interesting translation for his name in Catalan from a multilingual perspective!).

Author: Ecoturtleupcycling, used with permission

Author: Ecoturtleupcycling, used with permission

Croatian

In Croatian, Harry attends the Škola vještičarenja i čarobnjaštva Hogwarts and likes to play metloboj or Quidditch. The subject Herbology is Travarstvo and Čarolije is Charms. Diagon Alley in London is known as Zakutna Ulica and the Forbidden Forest is the Zabranjena šuma and the Shrieking Shack is the Vrištava daščara. Werewolves are vukodlaci and the Smrtonoše are the Death Eaters. Fluffy, the three-headed dog from Book 1, is called Bundi.

Author: Ecoturtleupcycling, used with permission

Author: Ecoturtleupcycling, used with permission

Turkish

In Turkish, Harry attends Hogwarts Cadılık ve Büyücülük Okulu where the seçmen şapka or the Sorting Hat puts him into Gryffindor. Nearly Headless Nick is Neredeyse Kafasız Nick. The Forbidden Forest is Yasak Orman. A hortkuluk is a horcrux. The Ministry of Magic is the Sihir Bakanlığı and Diagon Alley is Diagon Yolu. The Weasleys live in the Kovuk instead of in the Burrow.

Author: Ecoturtleupcycling, used with permission

Author: Ecoturtleupcycling, used with permission

Permission to use the photos of the paper castle was kindly granted by the people from Ecoturtleupcycling, and it is available in their Etsy-shop (https://www.etsy.com/shop/EcoTurtleUpcycling?ref=pr_shop_more)

The words of ‘Harry Potter’ in various languages

Author: Ecoturtleupcycling, used with permission

Author: Ecoturtleupcycling, used with permission

Today’s blog post is about the words of ‘Harry Potter’ in various languages and how the different characters and places in the books are called in translations of the books around the world. 🙂

French

Hogwarts castle is called Poudlard in French and Muggles are les Moldus. The 4 houses are: Gryffondor (Gryffindor), Serpentard (Slytherin), Poufsouffle (Hufflepuff), and Serdaigle (Ravenclaw). Severus Snape is called ‘Severus Rogue‘ and Draco Malfoy is ‘Drago Malefoy’. Hogwart’s caretaker Argus Filch is called Rusard and his cat Mrs Norris is ‘Miss Teigne‘. The Death Eaters are les Mangemorts and the Dementors are les Détraqueurs. Le Choixpeau magique is the Sorting Hat. House elves are les elfes de maison. The Whomping Willow is le saule cogneur.

Famous places: Le Chemin de Traverse (Diagon Alley), Le Chaudron Baveur (the Leaky Cauldron), la voie 9 3/4 (platform 9 3/4)

Afrikaans

Hogwarts is called Hogwarts Skool vir Heksery en Towerkuns, Hermione is called Hermien, Snape is Snerp, Dumbledore is Dompeldorius, the Burrow is die Konynenes, Quidditch is Kwiddiek and Diagon Alley is Diagonaalstraat. Moggels are Muggles and the 4 houses are: Griffindor, Hoesenproes (Hufflepuff), Rawenklou and Slibberin (Slytherin).

Author: Ecoturtleupcycling, used with permission

Author: Ecoturtleupcycling, used with permission

German

Hermione is called Hermine in the German version, Diagon Alley is Winkelgasse, the Death Eaters are die Todesser, the Pensieve is the Denkarium and the Burrow is der Fuchsbau and Honeydukes is der Honigtopf.

Dutch

In the Dutch version, most magic places and persons get a Dutch term that is different from the English original: thus, Hogwarts is called Zweinstein Hogeschool voor Hekserij en Hocus-Pocus and Harry’s friends are called Ron Wemel and Hermelien Griffel. Draco Malfoy is Draco Malfidus, Marcel Lubbermans is Neville Longbottom. The teachers: Albus Dumbledore is Albus Perkamentus, Professor McGonagall is Professor Anderling and Snape is Sneep. The Death Eaters are de Dooddoeners. Harry lives in Ligusterlaan nummer 4 with de Duffelingen (the Dursleys). Diagon Alley is de Wegisweg and the magic bank Gringotts is Goudgrijp. Muggels are Dreuzels. The 4 houses are Griffoendor, Zwadderich (Slytherin), Ravenklauw and Huffelpuf. Quidditch is Zwerkbal and the Sorting Hat is de sorteerhoed.

Author: Ecoturtleupcycling, used with permission

Author: Ecoturtleupcycling, used with permission

Italian

In the Italian translation, Harry goes to la Scuola di Magia e Stregoneria di Hogwarts where Albus Silente (Dumbledore) is the headmaster and where Severus Piton (Snape) and Miverva McGranitt (McGonagall) teach. Binario 9 e 3/4 is Platform 9 3/4 and il Paiolo Magico is the Leaky Cauldron and il Platano Picchiatore is the Whomping Willow.

I Babbani are the Muggles, i Mangiamorte the Death Eaters, i Dissenatori the Dementors and La Tana is the Burrow. Neville Paciock is Neville Longbottom, Horace Lumacorno is Horace Slughorn and Sibilla Cooman is Sibyll Trelawney (why she was given this pseudo-English name is a bit of a mystery though…?) . The 4 houses are: Tassorosso (Hufflepuff), Corvonero (Ravenclaw), Serpeverde (Slytherin) and Grifondoro (Gryffindor).

Author: Ecoturtleupcycling, photo used with permission

Author: Ecoturtleupcycling, photo used with permission

Czech
Also in the Czech version, just like in the Dutch translation, nearly all Hogwarts-related vocabulary gets a Czech term: Hogwarts is called Bradavice or with its full name Škola čar a kouzel v Bradavicích. The 4 houses are Nebelvír (Gryffindor), Mrzimor (Hufflepuff), Havraspár (Ravenclaw) a Zmijozel (Slytherin). Professor Dumbledore is called Albus Brumbál, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart is called Zlatoslav Lockhart, Professor Sprout is Professor Prýtová, Professor Flitwick is Filius Kratiknot and Professor Slughorn is Horácio Křiklan.

Author: Ecoturtleupcycling, photo used with permission

Author: Ecoturtleupcycling, photo used with permission

Spanish

Hogwarts is called Colegio Hogwarts de Magia y Hechicería and the Weasleys live in la Madriguera (the Burrow) and Diagon Alley is el Callejón Diagon. The Weasley twins work at Sortilegios Weasley (Weasleys Wizard Wheezes) and the Leaky Cauldron is el Caldero Chorreante. The Death Eaters are los Mortífagos, and Dobby is un elfo doméstico. The Marauders’ Map is el Mapa del Merodeador and the Sorting Hat is el Sombrero Seleccionador. Legilimency is known as legeremancia, a Pensieve is un pensadero and a Howler is una carta vociferadora.

Author: Ecoturtleupcycling, photo used with permission

Author: Ecoturtleupcycling, photo used with permission

Bulgarian

In the Bulgarian version, the Hogwarts-related terms largely keep their English names, and are only transliterated. So the 4 houses are: Грифиндор (Gryffindor), Слидерин (Slytherin) , Хафълпаф (Hufflepuff) and Рейвънклоу (Ravenclaw). Lord Voldemort is Лорд Волдемор. The Marauders Map is the Хитроумна карта, the Shrieking Shack is the Къща на крясъците and Honeydukes is Меденото царство.

The great DIY paper castle in the photos is available from the friendly blog over at Ecoturtleupcycling https://www.etsy.com/shop/EcoTurtleUpcycling and permission to use the photos was granted.

How to learn languages time-efficiently

time efficiency

Today’s blog post is about time efficiency in language learning. Learning, and keeping up, multiple languages does not necessarily take up a lot of time. Much more important for any success in language learning is a clever use of the time you have at your disposal, not the ‘free’ time you have overall each day. The secret is to use the time which would otherwise go ‘unused’ or be lost in trivial daily activities, like grocery shopping, commuting, manual activities like housework or gardening, etc. and make it available for language learning. This is actually quite easy and does not require any special skills or methods.
1. When you are doing housework, cooking or performing similar manual tasks like gardening or making crafts, etc. listen to an audio course or a course CD that accompanies a textbook. This will train your listening comprehension while you go about your daily chores.
2. When out and about, carry a list with vocabulary to be learned with you. Learn the words when you have to wait for the bus, train or other transport or when you have to stand in line at the supermarket or while waiting in a waiting room – in short, learn them during the minutes that would otherwise be ‘lost’. These will add up over time!!
3. Learn or practise two languages at the same time by using textbooks and learning materials written in a language other than your native tongue. This only works when you already speak a language at least at an upper intermediate level, or better: at an advanced level, because you will need to understand nearly everything when using these materials to learn a new language. By learning in this way, the language you already speak will be reinforced and practised while learning a new language at the same time 🙂 .
4. Follow your usual pastimes or hobbies, but do it in your target language. For example, watch that movie you want to see or read that book you want to read in your target language instead of in your native language. Read the news in your target language. So while doing these ordinary daily activities, you will practise your language skills at the same time.

These extra minutes of language learning might seem negligible or like ‘nothing’, but they will add up over time. If you just make some extra 5 minutes for your language learning available each day in this way, this will be an extra hour spent practising your target language each week! 🙂