Bonjour à tous !
Last week I shared with you the
French Harry Potter covers. How about talking about the translations of some words and names from the Harry Potter world in French ? This is a subject that usually sets my teeth on edge. When my friends talk about Harry Potter and use the French words and names it always makes me laugh and roll my eyes at the same time. I visited the
Harry Potter Train last year where you could see the movie sets, costumes and even animals (I saw Crookshanks and Fang but missed Hedwig...!) and sometimes wondered what the French words actually stood for. Most of the translations do make sense, meaning that they are literal, but a lot of them sound
kind of weird and often not as cute and magical as in English. Here are a few of them.
Hogwarts : Poudlard
Muggle : Moldu
Quaffle : Souafle
Bludger : Cognard
Golden Snitch : Vif d'Or
Death Eaters : Mangemorts
Dementors : Détraqueurs
Firebolt : Eclair de Feu
Knight Bus : Magicobus
Portkey : Portoloin
Floo Powder : Poudre de Cheminette
Thestrals : Sombrals
Sorting Hat : Choixpeau Magique
Remembrall : Rapeltout
Slytherin : Serpentard
Hufflepuff : Poufsouffle
Ravenclaw : Serdaigle
Not many of the characters' names were changed (yay !), but Snape is called Rogue. Hum.
I'm starting to realize that since I begun French Friday I haven't been doing French and France any justice. I should work on that. I'm French and all I keep on doing is talking about French covers and translations that I dislike. I definitely should work on that. :)
Here are a few pics I took when visiting the train (in Bordeaux).
