Zhongwen and Harry Potter

Classes started yesterday, and they are pretty 难 (hard). We also started our language pledge yesterday morning at 8 am and it's been quite the challenge to communicate any sort of complex thought. I can already tell the difference in my fluency though.

Exciting news! I bought Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in Chinese to add it to my HP language collection! Harry Potter (哈利波特 - Ha li bo te) is not as popular in China and there are a lot of knockoffs as well. The book is a different shape and also is much thinner since it is written in characters. It is interesting to think about the translation process, especially into Chinese where the meaning of the character is very important. Most of our names mean something, but it is usually derived from another language and we don't necessarily name our kids based on the meaning, but rather how it sounds. It is interesting to think that when we hear the name, for example, Draco Malfoy, we automatically know this character is probably going to be mean and have some sort of enemy role. His name just sounds mean.

In Chinese, the job of translating names seems to be extra hard because not only do translators need to find a sequence of characters that sound like the English name, but they also need to find a name that means something menacing. They also need to understand the nuances in names that make them sound 'mean' or 'pretty', etc. so they can capture these nuances in the Chinese translation. For example, I heard that Draco Malfoy's name is something like Ma-fou, which literally means "horse shit." For all you Harry Potter fans, this should amuse you. I definitely have a bigger admiration for translators, especially Chinese, now and I think that translating names specifically would be a tough job.

CHINGLISH ALERT:
Created for bathroom harmony (the message on the toilet bowl in my dorm room)